Fire at Circle Church possibly arson
Santa Cruz Fire Department investigators believe that a fire that broke out Tuesday inside the former Garfield Park Church was deliberately set, the department announced on Facebook.
According to SCFD, firefighters responded to multiple calls of smoke and flames seen at the now-closed church—also known...
Friend announces he won’t seek reelection
Santa Cruz Supervisor and current Board Chair Zach Friend announced Friday that he will not seek a fourth term on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors.
Friend was first elected in 2012, and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2016 and 2020. His current term ends...
Watsonville’s Earliest Schools—The Pajaro School and the School for Black Children
In 1853, the Methodist Church housed the first group of school children taught by Seneca Carroll in the village of Pajaro (later known as Watsonville).
The church was on the corner of Main and East Fourth (now East Lake).
Ten years later in 1863, the first...
Community speaks out on pesticide plan
Members of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation presented a plan Monday that aims to strengthen the way the state regulates agricultural pesticides.
The seven-page Draft Strategic Plan 2024-28 was presented in Watsonville to a crowd of about 50 people at the Ramsay Park Family...
Pajaro floods two years later: many still waiting for recovery funds
In 2023, the California legislature approved Assembly Bill 102—the Budget Act of 2023—which among other things allocated $20 million to Monterey County to help Pajaro recover from the flooding that occurred after the levee breached and caused widespread flooding.
But one year later, just one-quarter...
County supervisors hear flood risk report
Since a series of storms ravaged Santa Cruz County earlier this year, county officials have been preparing for another potential winter of heavy rains.
This includes clearing debris from creeks and rivers and repairing three damaged portions of the Pajaro River Levee system.
All of this...
PHOTO: Car stop reveals handgun in Watsonville
Watsonville Police ready their guns during a high-risk car stop Wednesday on Main Street near Ohlone Parkway. Police initially got a tip that two males aboard a white Nissan sedan were handing a handgun back and forth between them, Michelle Pulido, spokeswoman for WPD...
Sandra Day O’Connor, first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93
Sandra Day O’Connor, the retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died Friday morning in Phoenix, Ariz. of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness. She was 93.
O’Connor, who was a close friend of the late Diane Porter...
Man arrested in Capitola assault
A Capitola man was arrested after he allegedly assaulted two people with a metal pipe on Sept. 18.
Antwain Tiliman, 55, was charged with attempted...
