News

"Try This" is a weekly column that celebrates local businesses — especially eateries, watering holes, coffee shops and the like. • Tarmo Hannula FUN: First Friday I’ve trumpeted my excitement about the monthly First Friday event in downtown Santa Cruz in this column before, but I feel a...

Special events 8 Tens @ 8 Short Play Festival (Jan. 18-Feb. 9)  The annual 10-minute play festival celebrates its 25th anniversary as the longest-running and most respected short play festival in the U.S. Sixteen awarded-winning short plays, from the annual international playwriting contest, are performed and...

WATSONVILLE—Three organic Pajaro Valley farms will be featured in the 2020 EcoFarm Conference bus tour Wednesday—and a handful of seats are still available. Participants will visit Lakeside Organic Gardens, JSM Organics and Coastal Sun Cannabis/Moon Berry Farm during the tour, which kicks off the...

APTOS—Ten years ago, former President Barack Obama made a Presidential Proclamation deeming January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, intending to raise awareness and equip people with the tools to recognize and combat the problem. It was only 10 years prior to that, that...

CAPITOLA—Work is moving forward on the Capitola Branch Library on the busy corner of Clares Street at Wharf Road. Currently, workers are installing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems overhead and in-wall, said Megan Blackwell, marketing manager for Otto Construction, the general contractor for the job. Over...

WATSONVILLE—A group of young inventors who earned accolades in local and state competitions last year visited the state capital Monday, where they met with lawmakers and showed off their winning creations. The visit to Sacramento was in advance of Kid Inventors Day on Jan. 17....

WATSONVILLE—Tony’s Auto Service, nestled in a crunch of busy shops and the ebb and flow of Freedom Boulevard traffic, has been a staple auto repair spot in Watsonville for the past 26 years. If it’s new wiper blades, a smog check or full-blown valve job...

WATSONVILLE—The U.S. is a country built on the backbone of its roadway system – a vast network of lanes, roads and freeways that connect us to home workplace, and untold adventures. But all of that travel largely depends on vehicles, which in turn rely on...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz Police arrested a 41-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped his 18-month-old daughter on Friday morning, ending an hours-long search and standoff in the Beach Flats area of Santa Cruz. Brian Sellen, of Hollister, allegedly kicked in the door of the hotel where his...

Tarmo Hannula: Heavy rain, laced with hail and strong gusts, whipped through the Pajaro Valley before noon Thursday. A friend called me to say he was in the middle of a heavy snow shower on Highway 17 near the summit. Thunderstorm activity could come...