News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s first retail cannabis outlet, called The Hook, opens Friday. The 3,600-square-foot warehouse is located on a stretch of road on Hangar Way in a quickly growing part of the city that includes the Slough Brewing Collective and Santa Cruz Cider Co. Co-owner Bryce Berryessa...

A crew from Vacant Property Security installs one of several traffic blocks in the parking lot of the former Kmart on Freedom Boulevard. On Oct. 12, the Watsonville City Council started the process of declaring the abandoned property a public nuisance due to illegal...

APTOS—Cabrillo College’s theater arts department is finally returning to in-person performances after three seasons of virtual shows. “Charley’s Aunt” is a wacky farce chock full of love, deception, and confusion. Originally written by English playwright Brandon Thomas in 1862, Cabrillo’s production will be directed by...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Ivy League Project was launched 14 years ago with a simple idea: bringing high school students to the nation’s top universities will give them a taste of their possible options after they graduate. And the experiment has been successful. Since its inception, more...

WATSONVILLE—Residents who reported a strong odor in parts of Watsonville recently helped county officials create an “odor map” and track down the source of the smell, Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin said. According to Hoppin, the odor that some likened to sewage and others...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—All of the county’s four city police agencies—and the Sheriff’s Office—have similar policies when it comes to use of force and releasing of information to the public, according to a report released in November by the Criminal Justice Council of Santa Cruz...

In partnership with the city of Watsonville and the “Trash Talkers” volunteer group, Santa Cruz County on Dec. 17 hosted a cleanup along Corralitos Creek near Airport Boulevard and Pajaro Lane to highlight the expansion of the Community Action Board’s Watsonville Works program. Volunteers helped...

WATSONVILLE—Some 80 people gathered in the Watsonville Civic Plaza Monday evening to welcome in Jorge Zamora as Watsonville Police Department’s new chief. A homegrown officer who started with the department as a cadet at the age of 15, Zamora said in a speech before being...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to hire an independent auditor for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office who would investigate such issues as citizen complaints and use of force. The move followed a report by...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—In early November 2021, Meals on Wheels’ (MOW) congregate meal sites reopened to older adults across Santa Cruz County for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Staff and volunteers from MOW, a program of umbrella organization Community Bridges, combined their...