News

Thomas James Paul Watson became Watsonville’s first baby of the new year, weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long when he was born at 3:36 a.m. He is the first child for mother Zenaida Mena, 27, and Nick Watson, 29. Swaddled and...

Watsonville Brillante, the massive, 10-phase outdoor mosaic project in Watsonville, has just been named Best in Show in the Mosaic and Glass Arts International 2023 exhibition series in Buffalo, New York.  Lead artist Kathleen Crocetti of Watsonville learned of the prestigious announcement Wednesday. “When I first...

Around 300 people joined forces to repair a giant Black Lives Matter mural Sunday in downtown Santa Cruz. The work was a community response to the mural being damaged by two men in what prosecutors described as a hate crime for felony vandalism when they...

WATSONVILLE—After seeing declining enrollment in the lower grades of its Virtual Academy, Pajaro Valley Unified School District has canceled that portion of the online school. But the District will keep the school’s 7-12 grades, since that portion has more robust student numbers. The District Board of...

Gina Castañeda, who founded Aztecas Youth Soccer Academy, received this year’s Kim Crabbe Game Changers Award from the  U.S. Soccer Federation.  She received the award in Atlanta, Georgia Saturday for creating Aztecas in 2008 and for being a driving force behind a wealth of local...

Michael Trabue Day, 19, of San Jose, and Enrique Rocha, 20, of Watsonville, were charged with attempted homicide, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and participation in a criminal street gang. They were booked into Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $900,000 bail, jail records showed.

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA—In 2013 Galeria Tonantzin, one of San Juan Bautista’s few art galleries, closed its doors after more than 20 years. Its absence, said artist and gallery co-founder Jennifer Colby, has been noticeable in the small community. “I know how much people have missed having...

Sergio Carranza Ramos, the man suspected of killing two people early Tuesday morning at a Pajaro bar, turned himself in that night at Watsonville Police Department. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of Ramos, who lives in Watsonville, a description of his vehicle...