News

Watsonville-raised Matt Mahan is favored to become the next mayor of America’s 10th largest city. The San Jose city councilman’s lead over Santa Clara County supervisor Cindy Chavez grew slightly Wednesday, to 4,766 votes, as ballot counting at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville High School community last year was shaken when a beloved three-decades old mural on the wall of the school’s cafeteria was painted over during a construction project. The move, directed by site administration and the district facilities department, outraged the artists involved in...

WATSONVILLE—A man was seriously injured late Saturday night after he crashed his vehicle on Beach Road and was hurled into an agriculture field. The bizarre chain of events started around 10:30pm when the man, who has not been named, was involved in a hit-and-run crash...

Watsonville’s Freedom Bakery—the oldest family-owned bakery in the Monterey Bay region—is celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer, marking five decades of providing the community with cakes and other desserts.  The bakery was founded in 1975 by Tony Liu, a Taiwanese immigrant who came to the...

NEW BRIGHTON STATE BEACH—A Watsonville man died Thursday morning after he reportedly fell off of a towering cliff at New Brighton State Beach. Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said Edward Murillo-Jimenez, 32, was pronounced dead at the base of the cliff. A hiker...

WATSONVILLE—A new bakery that offers a dazzling and colorful line of pastries, cakes, fancy cookies, cupcakes and more has recently opened in downtown Watsonville. Ricarmi Panaderia y Pasteleria at 11 East Fifth St. is the realization of a longtime dream for Ricardo Lopez and Armida...

WATSONVILLE—Just hours after a group of roughly 150 nurses amassed in front of Watsonville Community Hospital to drum up public support and stop its closure, they received a welcome bit of news. The Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project (PVHDP) has reached a preliminary agreement to...

WATSONVILLE—It has been one century since Granite Construction was founded,  and since then it has become a construction juggernaut, with subsidiaries throughout the U.S. and projects that include dams, interstate highways, airport runways and skyscrapers. The company celebrated its centennial birthday on June 23 at...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Ariadne Symons on Monday announced she will retire from the bench at the conclusion of her current term in 2020. Symons issued a press release outlining her nearly four-decade career. “Serving for more than a decade on the bench...

The man who was shot when he reportedly charged at an officer with a knife after threatening to kill his 3-year-old stepdaughter has been released from the hospital, and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail without bail. Joshua Gonzalez, 25, now faces murder charges for...