Opinion

By John Gallagher, Grand Jury Supervising Judge  We need the Grand Jury and the Grand Jury needs you. In this time of political polarization at all levels of government, the need for a neutral Grand Jury to investigate, report on government performance and offer solutions...

Alyssa Wall for County Office of Education After eight years on the Santa Cruz County Office of Education board, I am stepping down. I am very pleased that Alyssa Wall filed to run. She grew up in San Jose, fell in love with Santa Cruz...

Letters to the Editor, July 12, 2019.

As a member of the Committee for Planned Growth and Farmland Protection that is putting Measure Q on the ballot, I want to address some of the claims that have been made against us by certain Watsonville City Council members and others. We have...

City must update general plan to build around airport At the Aug. 24 Watsonville City Council meeting, while discussing the housing project at 547 Airport Blvd., some council members implied that the Watsonville Pilots Association (WPA) had been involved in lawsuits with Target, Home Depot...

Recently, the attorney general’s office completed paperwork for an initiative that, if qualified for the 2024 ballot and approved by voters, would require California’s nearly 6 million public school students to take a course in personal finance. The proposal, by an organization called Californians for...

As we move into the rainy season, we know that many share our concerns about the Pajaro River and the stability of the levee system.

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.

There are some moments that are similar to “Chronicle,” Josh Trank’s 2012 film about three teenagers that stumble upon super powers, but there are also moments when director Dean Israelite’s “Power Rangers” feels like a Saturday cartoon.

My fellow property owners in portions of Watsonville, Pajaro and surrounding agricultural areas are being offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end our region’s long, heartbreaking history of catastrophic flooding. We would be crazy to turn it down. Our area has suffered eight floods in the...