News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s newest charter school has moved into its new permanent location in the old Gottschalks building at 407 Main St., three years after opening at E.A. Hall Middle School. All of Watsonville Prep’s classes—spanning from transitional kindergarten to fourth grade—are now held in the new...

Observations from the Pajaro Valley and beyond.

Jean Pogue, who taught thousands of Watsonville High School students math from 1944 to 1982, turns 100 Friday.

WATSONVILLE—The makeup kit is out at the 1917 Watsonville Woman’s Club.  Thanks to a $15,000 grant from the Borina Foundation and a generous bid from Prunedale’s Masters Painting, the entire building at 12 Brennan St. is getting a fresh coat of paint. The work, which started...

A Watsonville man with an extensive criminal record was arrested Monday after he allegedly exposed himself to several women in a laundromat. Joel Navarro, 27, was charged with assault with intent to commit mayhem, rape, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and indecent...

In 2020, the CZU fires ravaged the Santa Cruz Mountains, destroying 1,490 structures and an untold number of trees. A little more than two years later, many of those downed trees washed down streams into the ocean and, during the storms in January and February,...

Aiden Niklaus attended Tierra Pacifica through middle school, graduating with a class of 18. He says it was therefore a substantial culture shock coming to Aptos High School, where his class alone boasts nearly 300 students and the sprawling campus seemed tantamount to a bustling...

WATSONVILLE—A cyber tip forwarded to the Watsonville Police Department landed a 25-year-old man in jail for possession and distribution of child pornography. Tranquilino Gervacio was booked into the county jail and charged with a felony. WPD Detectives launched an investigation after the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County health officials on Monday announced that a person who traveled to Seattle – and returned on a commercial flight in late February –  became the second confirmed case of coronavirus after a test on Sunday. The person, about whom health...