Christmas tree sellers optimistic despite national shortage
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, tree farms across the nation are thrust into the spotlight and sellers start their busiest time of year.
This year, the industry is holding steady, despite a nationwide shortage that is pushing up prices. Heatwaves and fires that...
Movie Review: Solid cast saves underwhelming 'Tag'
Movies like “Tag” keep me curious as to why Jon Hamm is not a bigger thing. Sure, he was a massive star during the “Mad Men” television series, but since the end of that show, he hasn’t turned into the movie star that he so clearly has the potential to become. I guess seeing him steal the limelight time after time in key supporting roles will have to do for now.
The circus comes to town
The Circus has come to town, this time at Ramsay Park on Main Street in Watsonville.
Circus Royal Spectacular—out of Las Vegas—rolled into town Tuesday, and crews quickly began driving giant tent stakes into the softball diamond to set up their mammoth bigtop tent.
Circus spokesperson...
Letter: Cabrillo’s costly name change
Sandy Lydon’s recent articles on the Cabrillo College name change were informative and represented the voice of a majority of Santa Cruz County residents.
The Trustees mean well, but wow, $400,000 to $600,000 to change Cabrillo’s name when they have only raised $2,500 at this...
Students’ academic careers are adding up
Brianna Vasquez is a 13-year-old about to begin her 8th-grade year at Rolling Hills Middle School.
As the days of her summer vacation wane and the academic year looms, many of her friends are enjoying their break.
But on Thursday, Brianna was taking a different path....
Sandy Lydon: The legacy of the county boundary in the river
Back in three successive Pajaronian columns (July 1, Aug. 5 and Sept. 2), I laid out the convoluted story of how a group of Yankee (white) residents in and around Santa Cruz seceded from Monterey County and the two were born side-by-side in 1850.
Monterey...
Guest View: Showing up with love
With nearly three feet of rain in three weeks, national news picked up on the big impacts in our small county. Folks from Nebraska to North Carolina saw images of our battered coastline and the wreckage of Seacliff State Beach and Capitola Village. But...
Concerned residents say ‘no’ to pesticide sprays
On Aug. 24, four of five Santa Cruz County Supervisors, except Greg Caput, from Pajaro Valley’s District 4, rejected the County Civil Grand Jury’s recommendation that they support an online pilot program to provide the public with advance notice of hazardous pesticides being applied...
Movie Review: Bay, stop making 'Transformers' movies
The plot? Well, it’s there. Does it make sense? No. Do the filmmakers care? It doesn’t feel like it. The exposition is excessive and most of the time it just complicates what could have been a simple action romp through the past.
PVUSD Trustees to revisit teacher layoff vote
A little more than one week after voting to eliminate roughly 80 teacher positions, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will...


















