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Watsonville
June 6, 2025

A community united: cleanup day draws hundreds

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning on beaches, in neighborhoods and along riverways to participate in the second-annual Pitch In All Santa Cruz Cleanup Day. The event is organized by the Trash Talkers, a group of elected officials, community members, nonprofits and governmental organizations, formed...

Queer Youth Leadership Awards set for Saturday

It has been almost three decades since local organizers launched the Queer Youth Leadership Awards, an event created to highlight young people whose work has benefitted the LGBTQ community, as well as the people and organizations that help them. This happened in the early days...

Countywide history fair set for Watsonville

In the late 1800s, Claus Spreckels ran a mill that processed locally grown sugar beets, a thriving industry that is generally credited with seeing Santa Cruz County through troubled economic times. But when Spreckels tried to underpay the Japanese community—cutting their wages in half—they walked,...

PVUSD trustees reject Medina censure

Editor's note: This story has been updated from a previous version. The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees rejected a move to censure Trustee Gabriel Medina during a clamorous public board meeting on May 7 that included public outcry and bickering among board...

Health Fair runs Friday in the plaza

The 27th Annual Health Fair, hosted by Community Health Trust of Pajaro Valley, runs from 2-6pm Friday at Watsonville City Plaza.  The event brings together over 40 local partners offering free health screenings, live CPR demos, culturally-rooted performances, and more in a family-friendly setting. The fair...

Public invited to participate in countywide cleanup day

cement concrete ship seacliff state beach
On May 10, people are expected to gather in more than 60 locations to participate in the second-annual Pitch In All Santa Cruz Cleanup Day. Last year’s event drew more than 430 volunteers, who removed in excess of 1,500 pounds of trash from local neighborhoods,...

Photo story: Car smashes into utility pole

A car shot off of northbound Green Valley Road at Doering Lane around 5:30am Tuesday and sheered a utility pole off at the base.  The car then careened across a sidewalk and through a wood fence before coming to a stop in an agricultural field.  California...

Teen arrested with sawed-off shotgun in vehicle

Capitola Police arrested a 17 year old male after they found a sawed-off shotgun in his car during a traffic stop. According to CPD, officers saw the juvenile driving a pickup on Capitola Road on a license that was suspended for prior hit-and-run crashes. During the...

Cinco de Mayo Festival hits 35th year

Thousands of people showed up for the 35th annual Cinco de Mayo Festival in downtown Watsonville Sunday for live music, food, dancing and arts and crafts. Hosted by Fiestas Patrias, the free seven-hour event unfolded on a closed section of Main Street, across the plaza...

Speaking out against pesticide use

Prominent farmworker activist and organizer Dolores Huerta joined several other speakers at a public meeting in Watsonville Saturday to raise awareness about the dangers of agricultural pesticide use on farmworkers, children, consumers and residents throughout Santa Cruz county.  Childhood cancer rates in Santa Cruz county...
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Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo

How Farmworkers Outlawed ‘El Cortito’ 50 Years Ago

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept...