News

The Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds are more than the annual one-week autumnal event, which itself undoubtedly takes a Herculean amount of work. There are also numerous events throughout the year including horse shows, conventions and celebrations such as quinceañeras and the Evening of Wine...

For Michelle Martinez Kamalani and her mother, Judy Martinez of Watsonville, Memorial Day meant setting time aside to visit Valley Catholic Cemetery.  With an electric weed-whacker, a whisk broom,  hand clippers and two bunches of fresh flowers, the pair wandered through the rows of flower-festooned...

Dozens of students and teachers gathered along Freedom Boulevard in front of Aptos High School Friday morning to send a message to Pajaro Valley Unified School District administrators and to the public: potential layoffs and cuts could mean an end to the school’s 7-period...

WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Unified School District will return School Resource Officers (SROs) to Watsonville and Aptos high school campuses, and pair them with mental health workers. The district’s Board of Trustees approved the plan after a late-night special meeting with hours of impassioned public testimony inside...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) has introduced a number of new incentives aimed at attracting qualified bus operators to address an “unprecedented crisis in staffing levels” in public transportation. Thanks to a recent contract extension between METRO and the three unions...

WATSONVILLE—Thanks to Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s Extended Learning Program, students at Cesar Chavez Middle School are learning unconventional but practical skills, like how to make pasta, homemade salsa, enchiladas nopales, and seasoned fruits and vegetables. The class, Fitness For Life (which is under the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Last weekend the Santa Cruz Symphony (SCS) brought two powerful performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 to the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium and the Henry J. Mello Center in Watsonville. The concerts marked the Symphony’s mid-season point. Two more are planned: On March...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved a proposal to lay off as many as 24 classified employees, a move district officials say was necessary due to declining enrollment. Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez told the board that the district has lost...

Mount Madonna School announced Cecily Kelly, Mariah Cohen and Samuel Kaplan as the 2023 co-valedictorians and Zoey Ocampo-Sobkoviak as salutatorian. Mount Madonna School's 2023 high school graduation ceremony will be held at the school’s upper campus on June 15 at 10:30am. “The graduating class is comprised of academically strong and creative students,” said Head...