News

Santa Cruz County officials are urging the public to avoid crowding the county’s beaches in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. With shelter-in-place orders in place throughout California, non-essential workers are staying home, schools and universities are switching to online classes and some...

WATSONVILLE—A Watsonville man was taken into custody on suspicion for firing off two shots from a handgun near Watsonville High School as classes were letting out Tuesday. The suspect has since been identified as Rene Alamillo, 27, according to WPD’s spokeswoman Michelle Pulido. Watsonville Police...

Thousands of people filled the streets in downtown Watsonville Monday afternoon, waving Mexican flags, carrying signs and chanting, all in observance of a Day Without Immigrants, one of numerous protests nationwide against the hardline immigration policies enacted by the new presidential administration. Staying home from...

WATSONVILLE—Three Watsonville men were arrested Tuesday after they were found with a backpack full of illegal drugs, Watsonville Police spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said. Alexis Colunga, 18, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and participating in a criminal street gang. Moises Fernandez, 21, faces drug,...

WATSONVILLE—In a bizarre ending to a Tuesday night public meeting that puzzled and agitated a majority of the Watsonville Planning Commission, the body gave no recommendation on whether a Watsonville charter school should be allowed to continue to operate in an industrial zone on...

WATSONVILLE—Digital NEST Founder and Executive Director Jacob Martinez on Wednesday was named a 2020 recipient of the prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.  Since 1937, the James Irvine Foundation has provided more than $1.87 billion in grants to nonprofit organizations in California. James Irvine, a...

A sedan is fully engulfed in flames Wednesday on the Buena Vista exit in Watsonville

Nearly 300 people marched the streets of downtown Santa Cruz May 18 to help end homelessness.  The second-annual gathering, organized by Housing Matters, reigned in a coalition of local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and public supporters in the March to End Homelessness. The event began outside Santa...

The Santa Cruz County Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services has sent out a call to area artists to create a public artwork for new and renovated areas of the Juvenile Hall Facility in Felton. The Multi-Use Recreation and Program Facility (Gym) will...

WATSONVILLE—Plans to build a four-story, 80-room hotel at the busy intersection of Main Street and Freedom Boulevard have once again stalled. Watsonville Community Development Department Director Suzi Merriam says that the permits granted to the developer, Kamalesh Patel, expired last fall. If the project is...