News

George Couch was an ambitious 25-year-old when he came to Watsonville in 1973 and negotiated a deal to purchase a small Anheuser-Busch distributorship. It would not stay small for long. His company Couch Distributing, which he runs with his brother Geoff, has since 1973 delivered...

PAJARO—Nearly 200 people have been rescued so far from the floodwaters in Pajaro, Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said Sunday afternoon. Crews from the state’s emergency contractor are on site at the 120-foot breach in the Pajaro River Levee, as they prepare to shore up...

For 15 years, city leaders have been looking for ways to re-envision the Capitola Mall, which like many of its shopping-center brethren across the U.S., has lost a measure of the luster it had a few decades ago, the neon-colored heyday of the 80s. And...

WATSONVILLE—As thousands of students throughout Pajaro Valley Unified School District bid farewell to their summer and prepare for a new year, educators and school employees are readying classrooms, sharpening pencils and honing their lesson plans. Such back-to-school preparations have always been a normal part of...

WATSONVILLE—Empower Watsonville, a youth leadership group that aims to amplify young voices in local government, hosted its annual conference at the Gene Hoularis and Waldo Rodriguez Youth Center on Dec. 2. Empower Watsonville is a health policy program of Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance...

For the past 30 years, Bargetto Winery, one of California’s oldest wineries, has grown grapes at Regan Estate Vineyards, a plot in Corralitos overlooking the Pajaro Valley. With 40 of the property’s 53 acres planted, Regan is one of the largest and most diverse of...

I saw groups of people hanging out in the City Plaza downtown today. Scores of shoppers came and went from the Target store on Main Street. At times traffic looked near normal along Main Street and Freedom Boulevard. I saw a line of about...

Workers are busy Tuesday setting up the bigtop tent for the visiting Circus Vargas in the parking lot of the Capitola Mall.

Editor's note: Updated results of this race can be found here. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Alyssa Wall has taken a large lead over opponent Brad Williams in the race for the seven-member Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE) board Trustee Area 5. According to the votes...