News

WATSONVILLE—April Bennett was only about 2 years old when she went up on a stage with her father, Steve Bennett for the very first time. Steve was in the house band at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton for many years, and April would often join...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—When Santa Cruz County Health Officer Gail Newel revised her shelter-in-place order on May 1, she relaxed restrictions on summer programs such as daycare and day camp, allowing families to begin planning activities for their kids after months of restrictions. The announcement came...

Rev. John Juno Song, pastor at the Watsonville First United Methodist Church, shows off one of ten new "icons" recently installed in the church's sanctuary. Icons are traditionally Eastern Orthodox works of art placed into churches through a dedication ceremony. Song said he has...

SACRAMENTO—A new bill authored by state Sen. John Laird and Assemblymember Robert Rivas will fund all of the state’s share of the design and construction phase of the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, which will help move forward the long-awaited work. “Today marks a...

SANTA CRUZ—California Highway Patrol officers on Thursday arrested four juveniles and an adult male—all from San Jose—after a chase that began on Mission Street in Santa Cruz continued onto Highway 1 and ended in San Mateo County. The driver, a 15-year-old girl, had been reported...

 Two years ago, Leticia Ruvacalba opened La Misma Taqueria in Plaza Vigil, the tiny business park in the heart of Watsonville’s downtown corridor. The little restaurant is often busy, and by all accounts Ruvacalba and her husband Mario are successful members of the community. But with...

SANTA CRUZ—A man was shot and killed as he sat in a car on the westside of Santa Cruz Tuesday afternoon. He has been identified as Juan Antonio Ruiz, 28, according to the Santa Cruz County Coroner’s Office.  The initial call to emergency dispatchers reported a...

Editor’s note: This is the second entry in a monthly series about the history scattered throughout downtown Watsonville and the city at large. As my walks continue through Watsonville, augmented with jaunts to and from aboard the Santa Cruz METRO, my interest lately has been...

The staff at Freedom Meat Lockers and Corralitos Market and Sausage Company are in high production mode as they prepare for Thanksgiving. Dave Peterson, president of Corralitos Market at 569 Corralitos Road, said he has 450 smoked turkeys on deck, on top of their in-house...

Watsonville City Manager Rene Mendez has been named as the new City Manager for the City of Salinas, just two years after starting his position. The Salinas City Council on March 19 approved his contract. He will begin on May 28 and receive a base salary...