News

When Santa Cruz author Jean Mahoney was a little girl, she discovered an old, battered scrapbook in her family’s home.

Elaine Johnson was 15 before she realized that the “aunt” who lived with her grandmother was actually her grandmother’s partner of four decades. In those days, LGBTQ largely had to live in the shadows, lest they draw scorn from a society not yet evolved enough...

WATSONVILLE—Caitlin Bayaca is on track to earn the highest award of the Girl Scouts organization.  The Gold Award is designed for high school-age scouts and ambassadors, who create, propose and lead a major community service project. Bayaca, a senior at Aptos High School and part of...

Owner works from Watsonville’s El Pajaro CDC For Kim Tush, the best part of her job is being able to work on her feet. Just a few years ago, Tush was paralyzed after a surgery complication. Following her recovery, she decided to take a big step—literally...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—When Diversity Center Santa Cruz County established its LGBTQ+ Covid-19 Emergency Aid Fund last year, the organization expected to get some applicants, and then grow slowly by word-of-mouth. They ended up handing out close to $16,000 in just the first six months to...

A crew from Granite Construction continue to nibble away at demolishing the storm-battered wood pier at Seacliff State Beach Tuesday. Only a few pilings were left standing by Thursday.

It’s no secret that traffic around Ceiba College Preparatory Academy can get heavy at the beginning and end of the school day, when hundreds of parents drop off and pick up their children and scores of students brave the intersections and walkways on foot. School...

WATSONVILLE—At their core, Veterans of Foreign Wars halls and American Legion centers are places where former military members can gather to find camaraderie and a shared bond unique to their life experiences. “It’s a big part of what they consider their mental health treatment,” said...

After a career in law enforcement that spanned nearly three decades, with assignments that included the downtown walking beat, Watsonville Police Officer Kraig Kliewer hung up his hat Wednesday, with a send-off from his colleagues. Kliewer says he wanted to be a police officer for...

WATSONVILLE—When author Edward R. Weingold was only 8 years old, he was scanning through his parents’ world atlas when he came across a life-changing photograph. The graphic image showed a pile of corpses—victims of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Weingold said he remembers his...