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Watsonville
February 9, 2026

Empower Watsonville hosts annual leadership conference

WATSONVILLE—Empower Watsonville, a youth leadership group that aims to amplify young voices in local government, hosted its annual conference at the Gene Hoularis and Waldo Rodriguez Youth Center on Dec. 2. Empower Watsonville is a health policy program of Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance...

Smoke drift triggers air quality advisory

Smoke from wildfires burning in northern California and southern Oregon drifted over the Monterey Bay Area Tuesday and has degraded air quality in parts of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties.  The Monterey Bay Air Resources District (MBARD) said concentration of smoke has reached...

Pajaro Valley Arts reopens gallery after six-month closure

pajaro valley arts
WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Arts’ gallery at 37 Sudden St. has once again open its doors after six months of being shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The State of California is now allowing most counties to reopen museums, aquariums and galleries at a limited capacity, after...

County artist turns city street into colorful gallery

Santa Cruz County’s shelter-in-place order hasn’t put a lid on Santa Cruz artist Janas Durkee’s creative energy.  Recently the Pacific Coast Charter School art teacher took her skills out of her studio and onto the street, turning the sidewalk in front of her home into...

Santa Cruz County fares well in national health rankings

WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz County outpaces most of California’s 58 counties, placing ninth in several quality-of-life and health areas. That’s according to the annual County Health Rankings report released March 29 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. According to the report, 13% of County residents report being in...

County clears out | About Town

A few days ago I rode my bike through downtown Santa Cruz and out by the wharf and the Beach Boardwalk. It was empty. Almost lifeless. Our mostly blue sky was sure a welcome sight Monday. So was the cooler air that drifted in from...

Into the woods: Watsonville to plant thousands of new trees

Over the next two decades, the city of Watsonville plans to add thousands of trees to its landscape, create a plan to take care of them and train crews of young people to aid in that effort. This comes thanks to the city’s Urban Forest...

Jimmy Dutra’s civil trial begins

jimmy dutra
Watsonville City Councilman Jimmy Dutra was in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Tuesday, where jury selection began for his civil trial.  The trial is expected to last through Sept. 13, Judge Timothy Schmal told the mostly empty courtroom.  Dutra is accused of sexually abusing a boy...

56 highway fatalities during New Year holiday

DUI totals
Editor's note: This story was updated from a previous version. There were at least 56 fatalities on the highways and 709 DUI arrests across California over the New Year’s holiday, California Highway Patrol officer Sam Courtney said. The totals are a steep climb from last year’s...

Woman dies in ATV crash

Driver was arrested at the scene.
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PVUSD board to mull ‘stay-away letter’ for Medina

Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board Trustee Gabe Medina could be restricted from entering the Pajaro Valley High School campus after a confrontation with...

MioCar is in Watsonville