Opinion

Editor's note: Three new candidates have tossed their hats in the ring for seats on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees districts 2, 3 and 6. Those seats are currently filled by Georgia Acosta, Oscar Soto and Adam Scow, respectively. None of...

Letters to the Editor, March 1, 2019

CALIFORNIA—U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue recently announced the approval of a California and Arizona request to provide online purchasing of food to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households.  This approval will allow these states to expedite the implementation of online purchasing with currently authorized...

When a call comes in for a medical emergency, every second counts.  While an ambulance may be on its way from other parts of the county, it is often the Watsonville Fire Department that arrives first. What many people may not know is that every...

As election results continued to roll in Tuesday night, Measure N came out swinging, with 69.9% of voters approving it. That number had dipped to 68.5% early Wednesday morning just barely making the required two-thirds supermajority. Measure N would provide $116 million for Watsonville Community Hospital...

Santa Cruz County steps up environmental and community support This month, Santa Cruz County is enhancing safety, cleanliness, and access to essential services. The County has also secured state funding to sustain homelessness prevention efforts, and initiatives are underway to ensure all youth have access...

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake significantly damaged a hospital that had served the community of Watsonville for decades. Devastated by the earthquake, the nonprofit Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) had to be sold to a for-profit corporation. In 2022, it returned to community ownership.  Still,...

25 years ago on May 14, 1996 The program “Home Independent Study” is open in the PV School District at Alianza Elementary School. The 90-plus students enrolled in it are free to explore their own learning styles, interests and ideas while keeping within state and...

Business at California Pajarosa Floral, one of Watsonville’s last remaining large flower growers, has altered drastically since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year. Already dealing with an evolving industry before the pandemic due to growth in offshore production, things came to a sudden halt at...

Elaine Johnson was 15 before she realized that the “aunt” who lived with her grandmother was actually her grandmother’s partner of four decades. In those days, LGBTQ largely had to live in the shadows, lest they draw scorn from a society not yet evolved enough...