Creative masks still a hot item
WATSONVILLE—Battling the pandemic for nearly a year now has spurned a wealth of creative avenues to keep Covid-19 at bay. From crafty outdoor dining patios, equipped with heaters, sun umbrellas and all kinds of tents and landscaping, to attention-getting homemade signage, face shields and...
Photo: Utility lines entangle school bus
Watsonville firefighters and police secure a school bus that tore our utility lines in front of MacQuiddy Elementary School in Watsonville Thursday. About eight young students were aboard the bus when the incident occurred around 2:30pm. Police shut down surrounding streets while firefighters freed...
Watsonville Film Festival taking submissions for community project
Last March, film director Melissa Elizondo was about to board a plane from Mexico bound for the Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) when she got a call from Executive Director Consuelo Alba. The festival had been canceled due to the pandemic, and international travel was...
Local agriculture workers receive vaccine
WATSONVILLE—In the span of less than a week, Dignity Health-Dominican Hospital was able to set up a mass Covid-19 vaccination clinic on the outskirts of Watsonville to inoculate 1,000 people in the agriculture industry.
Dignity Health’s parent corporation, CommonSpirit, said it would have 2,000 extra...
Second Harvest’s Holiday Food & Fund Drive exceeds goal
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—On Tuesday Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County (SCFB) announced that its annual Holiday Food & Fund Drive (HFFD) raised the equivalent of 5.5 million meals—more than 1 million beyond its original goal.
Prior to the pandemic HFFD co-chairs Megan Martinelli and...
Central Coast soaked by recent rains
CENTRAL COAST—Recent heavy rains, ushered into the Central Coast from the Gulf of Alaska, have helped alleviate low water levels in an otherwise dry winter.
Ryan Walbrun, meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Monterey, said that since October Watsonville has taken in 9.7 inches...
Santa Cruz METRO gets additional Covid-19 funding
The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) will receive an additional $13.5 million of emergency funding through the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act.
Approved by Congress in December of last year along with the $1.4 trillion spending bill, the CRRSA Act...
Watsonville Staff of Life set to open March 30
WATSONVILLE—Staff of Life grocery store has for a half-century been a backbone of healthy eating and living in Santa Cruz County, selling organic food and natural products long before those concepts hit the mainstream.
Founders Richard Josephson and Gary Bascou launched the business as a...
New historical novel explores Watsonville’s Croatian history
Author Barbara King was holding an event at Kelly’s Books for her novel “The California Immigrant” when inspiration for her next project, “The Apple King,” struck.
A woman approached her and recommended that King read a book called “Blossoms Into Gold,” which follows the history...
Fired PVUSD chief: Board president used unofficial Zoom account for private meeting
Before Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board President Georgia Acosta called for a vote to oust Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, she sent a non-district authorized Zoom link to her fellow board members for the closed-session meeting.
Former Rodeway Inn to become 120-bed residential treatment center for Janus...
A former Watsonville hotel is set to be converted into a 120-bed residential treatment facility for men, significantly expanding substance use disorder treatment capacity...
