News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will consider restoring its School Resource Officer (SRO) program, just over one year after they canceled it.  The trustees voted unanimously on Wednesday to discuss the issue during an emergency meeting on Sept. 15. The meeting will...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Saying that she has not yet seen reliable data that a countywide masking mandate would alter personal behavior or lower Covid-19 cases, Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said she does not plan to issue a new order any time...

WATSONVILLE—On Nov. 28, Watsonville joined the annual nationwide shopping movement known as Small Business Saturday, which aims to encourage shoppers to support businesses in their community. The event had a number of small stores at the East Lake Village Shopping Center opening for special...

Continuing a local tradition of honoring Memorial Day, a section of Freedom Boulevard  and area cemeteries were lined with over 300 flags Monday, thanks to the effort of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1716 and of the American Legion Post 121.  Local cemeteries were also...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the 2022 Active Transportation Plan, a 200-page document that outlines dozens of projects which aim to increase the county’s system of bicycle and walking paths. “The vision is to create a network of...

The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Santa Cruz County (NAMI) cut the ribbon on its new Watsonville headquarters on Oct. 24, a space that offers twice as much space as its previous location in Santa Cruz. The move to 35 Penny Lane is the...

Patricia Gospodnetich Solano, a lifelong Watsonville resident who raised five children and variously worked as a teacher, a telephone operator and a legal secretary, died Monday after an illness. She was 78.

SANTA CRUZ—For the purposes of this article, Maya and Sebastian Laing’s story begins on Oct. 20, when a group of strangers paid a late-night visit to their grandmother’s house where they had been staying.  After trying unsuccessfully to convince the kids to come with them...

SCOTTS VALLEY—As the acreage continues to grow in the CZU August Lightning Complex fires, the number of people fighting the blaze on the ground and from the air is also growing. According to Cal Fire, there are 1,611 firefighters fighting the 78,000-acre blaze out of...