Opinion

By Jimmy Dutra, Watsonville Mayor The holidays are typically the happiest time of the year. However, this has not been a typical year. Our businesses have taken a financial hit. Food insecurity is at an all-time high. Stimulus checks are not cutting it. Restless nights...

Thousands of families are leaving money on the table in Santa Cruz County. That’s cash that could pay for much-needed food, rent and more. The latest numbers show that 19,343 Santa Cruz County residents have claimed $5,496,402 from the cashback tax credits like the...

Letters to the Editor, Aug. 24, 2018

Watsonville Mayor's Update, January 2018

We need Marcus Pimentel and Jasmine Najera as board members of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District (PVHCD) to continue the success of Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) under community-led ownership. They’ve been in the trenches with the leadership of WCH throughout the process of...

Letters to the Editor, April 27, 2018

I didn’t know Feliciano Martinez Perea but his story is not foreign to me. It’s a story that many Watsonville residents know. It’s the immigrant’s story. Martinez Perea hailed from the small town of San Martín Peras, Oaxaca, Mexico. He came to Watsonville to...

James Franco made a movie about possibly the worst movie ever made, and somehow it might be his best movie to date. I don’t know how he did it but I do know that “The Disaster Artist” is a fantastic film about friendship that will make you care and laugh at the same time.

It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of three important friends, who I believe played a huge role in shaping the fabric of Watsonville: Jim Rector, master home builder, Peggy Avalos, site manager at the Watsonville Senior Center through Community Bridges, and Lorraine Stucki, community activist and former Couch Distributing worker.