Queer Youth Leadership Awards to be held this Saturday
SOQUEL—The 21st annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards will be held at Soquel High School, 401 Old San Jose Road, this Saturday.
Works by Scotts Valley artist now showing at county building
Twenty-four oil paintings by Scotts Valley artist Shirley Lehner-Rhodes are currently showing at the Santa Cruz County Building, 701 Ocean St.
A professional artist and art instructor, Lehner-Rhodes primarily works in watercolors and oils. Her ongoing series of paintings are figurative works in landscapes, local...
Focus Agriculture announces next batch of graduates
November brings graduation to the locally-based national award-winning Focus Agriculture program.
5% containment in 1,500-acre Big Sur fire
A wild land fire in the rugged mountains of Big Sur near Palo Colorado Canyon Road and the famed Bixby Bridge has led to the mandatory evacuations of residents, according to Cecile Juliette of Cal Fire.
The fire, which could be seen from Santa Cruz...
Q&A: Graciela Vega on Cinco de Mayo
The community is invited to gather and celebrate Cinco de Mayo on May 5 from 4-7pm in the Watsonville City Plaza. Co-presented by the Farmers’ Market, Poesía en la Plaza and Ballet Folklorico Ollin, the event will feature music, poets, dancers and booths.
We spoke...
Pajaro Valley Arts reopens gallery after six-month closure
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...
Smashing pumpkins: WHS students showcase engineering prowess with trebuchets
WATSONVILLE—Roughly two dozen Watsonville High School students launched pumpkins into the sky with their class-made trebuchets, a large wooden catapult from a bygone era, at the school’s campus Friday morning.
Two Advanced Placement (A.P.) physics classes of juniors and seniors lined up 11 trebuchets at...
Watsonville’s Environmental Science Workshop hammers on
WATSONVILLE—With the whir of a jigsaw in the background, the buzz of an electric kitchen mixer and the tapping of a hammer filling the air, Pajaro Valley’s young people were busy last week completing their projects at the Environmental Science Workshop on 2nd Street.
The...
Thousands amass in Watsonville, Santa Cruz for No Kings Day
This story has been updated with more photos from the Watsonville event.
Thousands of people gathered at the Governmental Center in Santa Cruz and in City Plaza in Watsonville Saturday for No Kings Day.
The first-of-its-kind event was held in 2,000 cities nationwide to protest President...
County voting in ‘unprecedented’ numbers
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—More than 116,000 of roughly 170,000 registered Santa Cruz County voters had already turned in their ballots by Tuesday afternoon, an “unprecedented” turnout for the coastal community according to County Clerk Gail Pellerin.
“I've been doing this job since 1993 and I have...
Jim Barsi—owner of Barsi’s Liquor Store—dies
James Joseph “Jim” Barsi, who ran his eponymous liquor store on East Lake Avenue for a half-century before selling the business and retiring in...





















