News

WATSONVILLE—A 20-year-old Salinas man died in a head-on crash on the Riverside Drive Highway 1 overcrossing in Watsonville on Nov. 20. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn identified the victim as Cesar Romero. Sam Courtney of the California Highway Patrol said Romero was driving...

Emergency officials deal with a two-vehicle crash on Highway 1 at Old Chittenden Road Wednesday afternoon that killed two people. California Highway Patrol officer Stephen Armfield said the male driver of a 2008 Honda Ridgeline pickup was traveling east on Hwy 129 with two other...

CORRALITOS—The 25-year-old woman who died Tuesday after an SUV struck her on the 4800 block of Freedom Boulevard has been identified as Stephanie Bell of Aptos, according to Ashley Keehn of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.  California Highway Patrol officer Alyssa Gutierrez said a...

Two people were shot Thursday night in the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor, and police from several jurisdictions are looking for the suspects. Watsonville police were among several law enforcement agencies on the scene. Santa Cruz Police officers found two victims who had been shot.  Both victims...

Health officials throughout the nation have said testing is an essential factor in the battle against the novel coronavirus, and with case numbers rising in communities near and far getting a test is critical to understanding where the virus is and how officials can...

WATSONVILLE—After more than seven decades in business, Yamashita Market—Santa Cruz County’s only store dedicated to Asian cooking supplies—is set to close its doors for good, likely sometime in July. The store’s owner Goro Yamashita says that business was steadily declining even before Covid-19 forced businesses...

UPDATE (12:57am, 10/25) Watsonville police say a third man was shot before midnight Saturday on Blackbird Circle behind Ramsay Park—a short walk from the scene of the night’s second homicide. The victim was in critical condition, Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said. It is unclear if...

WATSONVILLE—For many residents, January 1930 represents a dark time in the history of Watsonville. For five days, hundreds of armed white men took to the city’s streets, targeting and beating Filipino-American farmworkers who they claimed were stealing their jobs and women. The riots came to a head...

WATSONVILLE—When the Loma Prieta earthquake struck at 5:04 p.m. on Oct. 17, 1989, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Willy Elliott-McCrea was in Watsonville, talking about disaster preparation. It was a strange bit of irony, and it took the presence of then-Watsonville Fire Chief Gary Smith...

MOSS LANDING—Two women died after their car plunged into the water of Moss Landing Harbor sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victims as Maria Vanessa Carrango, 35, and Esther Monique Espinoza, 28, both of Salinas....