District 4 Dairy Princess, alternates crowned
Ellie Dyt knows a lot more about the California Dairy Industry than most seventeen-year-old high schoolers.
Dyt was raised on a dairy farm her whole life in the small town of Crows Landing, home to thousands of dairy cows, gaining first-hand experience by working there...
Letters to the Editor, Oct. 16
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...
Understanding housing | Mayor’s Update
By Rebecca J. Garcia, Watsonville Mayor
Soon after I was elected to the Watsonville City Council I had the opportunity to visit several farmworkers’ housing conditions. What I found was five adults and four children living in a 2-bedroom duplex, eight adults living in a...
From the editor's desk, June 20: A surprising meeting
A seemingly routine item on the Watsonville Planning Commission’s agenda has turned out to be full of surprises.
Mordechai Ben-Menachem, Aug. 17: Woe to exigencies of false scholarship
Free speech is one of the most basic articles-of-faith for existence of a democracy; vigorous debate of public polices is an integral part of free speech. Both of these values lie at the core of everything “Western Values” stand for and need to be guarded assiduously by us all.
PVUSD trustees approve new superintendent contract
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a three-year contract for its new superintendent.
Heather Contreras’ contract shows her start date of May 1. Her base pay will be $242,000 per year, with a 2% raise after one year,...
An economy of neighborliness
I recently heard an interview with Hebrew Bible scholar, Dr. Walter Brueggemann. When asked about the atonement—a much discussed and much argued Christian theological concept—Brueggemann replied, “I’m much more interested in the economy than I am in atonement.” He went on to explain that...
California ranches, farms take a hit
CENTRAL COAST—Pandemic-related losses to California farms, ranches and agricultural businesses will range between $5.9 billion and $8.6 billion this year, according to an economic study released June 23.
The analysis says the state’s $50 billion agricultural sector has already suffered $2 billion in losses so...
Ag industries buoyed by federal loans
CENTRAL COAST—The Paycheck Protection Program helped save at least 17,000 agricultural jobs throughout the tri-county area, according to data released by the Small Business Administration on July 6.
The program, a part of the more than $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES)...
Watsonville Plaza project moves ahead
A crew from Community Tree Service removed several large trees and trimmed back several others Monday and Tuesday at Watsonville Plaza as part of...




















