News

WATSONVILLE—A familiar face has stepped in as the new operator of Pinto Lake City Park. Jesus Madrigal, the president of the Watsonville Farmers Market, was recently named concessionaire for the city’s share of Pinto Lake. His company’s vision for the 78-acre park—70 of which are...

WATSONVILLE—The building at 55 Brennan St. has in the past housed a Ford dealership and Baker Brothers Furniture. Most recently, it held a thrift store run by Teen Challenge Monterey Bay. Now, that organization has plans to convert the space into Grace Harbor Women’s Center,...

Growing strain on the health care system has triggered a stricter stay-at-home order for Santa Cruz County and the rest of the Bay Area region identified in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recently issued regional order. Intensive care unit (ICU) capacity in the Bay Area region, which...

WATSONVILLE—Vanessa Quiroz-Carter leads Frank Barba in the race for the vacant District 2 Watsonville City Council seat. Unofficial results released by the Santa Cruz County elections department at 8:57pm on Tuesday night showed Quiroz-Carter had a 59-vote lead on Barba.  Only 339 votes had been counted...

SAN JOSE—Watsonville native Matt Mahan is on the ballot in San Jose and could become the mayor of Northern California’s largest city if voters select him in the two-way race. The mayoral candidate grew up on the outskirts of Watsonville in the 1980s and ’90s,...

WATSONVILLE—Two local organizations are hoping to shine a brilliant holiday light during troubling times. The Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation and the Agricultural History Project are in the midst of crafting the first-ever Holiday Lights Drive-Thru event as an alternative celebration for the holiday season...

Monterey County Public Works officials close down the Main Street bridge from Watsonville into Pajaro above the Pajaro River Wednesday morning as the possibility of the river breaching rises. Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said that though Pajaro has been under mandatory evacuation orders,...

WATSONVILLE—Deep in Second Harvest Food Bank’s cavernous warehouse on Thursday, a group of New School Community Day School students was hard at work, surrounded by pallets of produce and crates of canned goods. The volunteer activity, which centered around preparing the food for distribution, was...

WATSONVILLE—Planners have identified five sites throughout downtown Watsonville that, if renovated, they believe could become potential economic catalysts for the historic but currently sleepy business corridor. Those plans include the razing of the Old City Hall building and current Watsonville Police Department headquarters between Main...

WATSONVILLE—The city of Watsonville must pay attorney fees and court costs to a business at Watsonville Municipal Airport after losing in a civil case earlier this year, a Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge ruled Monday. In the Dec. 6 ruling, Judge Timothy Volkmann ordered...