News

Come December, the Bockius-Orr House and Gardens at the Pajaro Valley Historical Association (PVHA) on West Beach Street will be decorated more than ever before, with strands of garland, Christmas touches and twinkling lights adorning the nearby oak trees. This year, PVHA’s annual No-Attendance Mail-In...

SANTA CRUZ—A Watsonville man already on probation for two DUI convictions was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for striking and killing a woman while driving drunk one year ago, Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell announced.  Alejandro Rocha Fernandez, 28, was drinking...

Emergency officials on Wednesday recovered a body near the area where a missing woman’s vehicle plunged off a cliff on Aug. 24 in Big Sur.

WATSONVILLE—Last October, members of Watsonville’s Filipino community and other residents came together for a special “Community Call Out” at the Freedom Branch library. Participants brought with them old photographs, newspaper clippings and other artifacts. Families told their stories and revealed their histories.  Organizer Ray Recio said...

“Celebrating the Dignity of Labor,” a series of 16 mosaic medallions, has been recently completed and embedded in the sidewalks along three intersections on Main Street.

WATSONVILLE—Starting on Oct. 1, anyone receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known in California as CalFresh, will see a slight increase to the amount they receive each month. The changes to the federal Thrifty Food Plan comes thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture...

Editor’s note: This story was updated from a previous entry. WATSONVILLE—A man driving on southbound Highway 1 early Monday afternoon was arrested after an altercation that ended when his passenger was shot in the face, California Highway Patrol Officer Sam Courtney said. Michael Stuckey, 48,...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—At least nine Santa Cruz County Jail correctional officers have tested positive for Covid-19, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office announced in a press release Monday. All nine are now off work, and six officers have been quarantined based on contact with infected...

A construction crew continues was at work on a lengthy underground sewer project along Freedom Boulevard Friday in Watsonville. • Rain fell most of the night and into Monday morning around the Central Coast. Early showers welcomed the day as another weather system meandered through the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials are mulling a plan to retool the county’s public defender’s office, transitioning from its current private delivery system to a public one. The move comes as the county’s contract with Biggam, Christensen and Minslof (BCM)—which has provided indigent criminal...