News

WATSONVILLE—Footage from two body-worn cameras – and from the dashboard of a police vehicle – has disproven a claim by a man that Watsonville police officers hit and threw his 3-year-old son to the ground during a traffic stop. Officer Matt Williams stopped Jhony Argueta,...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated from a previous version first published on May 22. WATSONVILLE—Four ‘clusters’ of Covid-19 cases have been identified in the Watsonville area, all of them associated with large family gatherings, according to Santa Cruz County officials. There have been at least...

A special joint council meeting Saturday brought together Watsonville City Council, City Manager Rene Mendez, other city and county leaders and the public for a discussion of the swelling homeless problem.   In 2023, compared to 2022, homelessness overall rose by 15% in Watsonville while there...

WATSONVILLE—A small group on Monday will begin a recall against Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Georgia Acosta, an effort spurred by her attempt to oust district superintendent Michelle Rodriguez in January. The group—called The Committee to Recall Georgia Acosta—is made up of educators, community...

Thousands of people filled downtown Watsonville Saturday on day two of the three-day Strawberry Festival.  As the fog broke apart and blue sky took over, people were treated to live music, scads of strawberry-theme food and drinks, carnival rides, arts and crafts, an open-air beer...

Sometime between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, a Watsonville man died in a solo-vehicle crash on the 200 block of Amesti Road.

APTOS—The family of the 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death on the Aptos High School campus in August has filed a claim against Pajaro Valley Unified School District, alleging that the district was negligent in ending the School Resource Officer (SRO) program, and...

WATSONVILLE—A new bilingual center, aiming to provide services and resources to families across Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, will open its doors Monday in Watsonville. Located at 1205 Freedom Blvd., Raíces y Cariño: A Community Collective for Families (RC Fam) will offer a...

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that it is temporarily stopping jail tours, screening those being brought to the main jail and stopping contact visits at all facilities. The move is in response to the declaration of local health emergency by the...

Leila Veitch lights up the first candle of a menorah Thursday evening at the town clock in downtown Santa Cruz in honor of her friend Ziva Mitnick on the first night of Hanukkah. The gathering, headed up by Temple Beth El of Aptos, included...