Opinion

Many believed 2021 was supposed to be a year of recovery. I remember attending a press conference during the late spring in which county health officials said that they expected the pandemic would largely be winding down as we reached the final quarter of...

On New Year’s Eve my neighbor Jan invited me to join her and a bunch of our neighbors for a bonfire in her front yard to help close out 2019 and usher in a warm beginning to 2020. By 7 p.m. she had an...

Hospital rating is unacceptable This is the type of news that does us no good. This is not the only article that has placed Watsonville Community Hospital in a less than positive view for the general public. What is to be done about this current...

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...

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...

WATSONVILLE—California’s strawberry season is coming to a close. While sales remained strong throughout the summer, growers have seen production dip slightly. Carolyn O’Donnell, communications director for the California Strawberry Commission (CSC), said that after the season’s initial hardships, things eventually leveled off and demand actually...

By GREG CAPUT The Santa Cruz County Fair was facing bankruptcy when Dave Kegebein entered his position to save our county fairgrounds. The state had pulled back funding and thus threatened the existence of the fair. Many county fairgrounds have shut down in California due to...

As long-time elected representatives for the northernmost and southernmost reaches of Santa Cruz County, we believe the community conversation over the Rail Trail should be thoughtful, respectful, and inclusive. We have sought to model those ideals both through our respective roles within county and...

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...