News

Residents of a Watsonville neighborhood are pushing back against a proposed housing project meant to help homeless people staying along the Pajaro River levee. They say that local officials have ignored their concerns over crime and safety and are moving ahead without addressing complaints...

More than half of pregnant women in Monterey County are exposed to pesticides believed to be harmful to their fetuses, and a quarter of the pesticide used in California is applied in Monterey County. Those statistics are part of a study released Sept. 30 by...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council approved two housing developments at its Tuesday night meeting, paving the way for 103 new apartments on two of the city’s major arterial roads. Both projects nearly received unanimous approvals. Bill and Neva Hansen’s 50-unit, market-rate apartment complex on Main Street,...

Santa Cruz County on Monday named Sandra Mendez as its next chief probation officer, selecting a veteran corrections administrator with more than 20 years of experience in community-based justice programs. Mendez will take over leadership of the county’s Probation Department on Feb. 2, county officials...

A man was arrested Wednesday at his Watsonville home on suspicion of arranging for sex with a minor, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (SDPS).  Officials at the SDPS received information that Pablo Taskey, 27, used an online social media application, and arranged...

WATSONVILLE—Over the summer, Pajaro Valley Unified School District completed 65 maintenance, construction and upgrade projects to the tune of $30 million. That was all thanks to Measure L, the $150 million bond approved by voters in 2012. That bond is nearing the end of its...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—As Thanksgiving edges closer, the folks at Corralitos Market & Sausage Co. and Freedom Meat Lockers say now is the time to get orders dialed in. “I’ve been at this since April, getting ready and dealing with supply, price changes and everything else,”...

The city of Watsonville will celebrate the Fourth of July with the Spirit of Watsonville Neighborhood Parade, a Mayor’s Bike Ride and a Red, White and Blue Concert, organizers announced Tuesday. In the Spirit of Watsonville Neighborhood Parade, residents and businesses between July 1-4 will...

Watsonville firefighter Aaron Netzel sprays water on a fire in an abandoned structure on the 1900 block of Freedom Boulevard at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.