News

The County of Santa Cruz on Wednesday named Nicole Coburn as its new Chief Executive Officer, just over three-months after Carlos Palacios announced his retirement from the position. The Board of Supervisors unanimously chose Coburn after a nationwide search during which 139 candidates from across...

Watsonville Police have identified the suspect who was arrested Oct. 3 after he holed up inside a vacant home on Clifford Avenue.  Javier Diaz Baruc, 30, was charged with burglary, resisting arrest, and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, along with multiple outstanding warrants for...

Pajaro Middle School got a major landscape overhaul Saturday during a four-hour community event, which included the planting of shade trees, native plants, edible gardens, a fruit tree orchard, and other environmental conservation features. The so-called Celebration of Trees project was staged by Watsonville Wetlands...

One week after announcing that funding woes could force local Head Start and early Head Start programs to close, Encompass Community Services—which oversees the programs—announced that they will remain open through Oct. 31. The announcement means that the 250 families that depend on the early...

More than half of pregnant women in Monterey County are exposed to pesticides believed to be harmful to their fetuses, and a quarter of the pesticide used in California is applied in Monterey County. Those statistics are part of a study released Sept. 30 by...

Georgeann Cowles Eiskamp, a Watsonville native known for her volunteerism and steadfast dedication to her community, who successfully ran Cowles Berry Farm, and who helped shape the Down To Earth Women Luncheon as co-founder and the first board co-chair, died Sept. 22 of natural...

Community Bridges has chosen Hijos del Sol of Salinas to design and create a new mural in the heart of Pajaro on a wall on the 400 block of Salinas Road.  Community bridges stated in a press release that the work will portray “a lasting...

About 40,000 Santa Cruz County residents who depend on Medi-Cal—more than half of the 78,000 people with that coverage—could lose it after the passage of H.R. 1—President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). That was the message Tuesday from Santa Cruz County Human Services...

A 51-year-old male bicyclist died early Tuesday morning in a hit-and-run crash at the intersection of South Green Valley Road and Carey Avenue.  Watsonville Police said the bicyclist, who has not been identified, died at the hospital Wednesday night. The crash happened shortly after 6am. The...