News

According to PVUSD Chief Business Officer Joe Dominguez, the district has 340 fewer students than last year, far more than the 191 district officials predicted would be lost to a new charter school that opened in August.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—After nearly three decades running the county’s elections department, Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin will retire at the end of the year. Pellerin made the announcement Thursday, a little more than a week after what many are calling the most significant election...

A 31-year-old Watsonville man died Friday night when he crashed his motorcycle on Highway 1 in Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Beginning in December, Santa Cruz County will have another tool in its belt to tackle crime, one considered an alternative way to help the community, victims and offenders find solutions to deal with low-level crimes. The Santa Cruz Neighborhood Courts program will use...

SACRAMENTO—A contract with a San Jose diagnostics company will allow the state to increase its Covid-19 testing capacity up to an additional 150,000, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Aug. 24. Under the deal with Perkin Elmer, the state will be able to process up to an...

PAJARO—A 30-year-old Royal Oaks woman died in a two-vehicle crash in Pajaro Wednesday. California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Jessica Madueño said the woman, who has not been named, was traveling eastbound on San Juan Road at 12:47 p.m. while passing unsafely through a two-way turn section...

WATSONVILLE—This year’s Santa Cruz County Fair began with a bang, attracting thousands of people to the five-day bacchanalia of food, agriculture and art, and was on track to match last year’s blockbuster attendance. That changed on Sunday, when a rare late-summer rainstorm doused the region,...

CENTRAL COAST—Summer came out swinging on its first day Tuesday, dishing out a high in Watsonville of 99 degrees and a whopping 104 in Corralitos. “We had a high-pressure system over our area and much of the state, bringing very high temperatures,” said National Weather...

Thirteen Hero awards were issued to community members on June 15 for “their acts of courage or compassion,” the American Red Cross said.

A large section of Valencia School Road in Aptos slid down a hillside, taking a PG&E utility truck along with it just past midnight on Thursday. A 50-foot swath of asphalt road and earth gave way, making the road impassable. California Highway Patrol officer...