Opinion

The Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) aims to give opportunities to aspiring farmers through various training programs. In the classroom and on the field, students at ALBA are taught everything from crop planning to business management.

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...

The California Certified Organic Farmers Foundation is poised to help organic farmers recover from the unprecedented wildfires burning across the West Coast, including CCOF’s hometown of Santa Cruz.  The Bricmont Hardship Assistance Fund gives grants to organic business owners affected by hardships of all kinds,...

When people hear “Watsonville Airport,” it often brings to mind moments of resilience and pride—whether it was serving as a crucial lifeline after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, playing a key emergency role during the 2020 CZU fires, or even welcoming a presidential visit...

Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board (PVHCD) Chair and former Watsonville Community Hospital CEO John Friel, who took the lead of the fledgling agency at its outset in 2022, died March 21 after battling an undisclosed illness.  Friel resigned from his position on March 19,...

Riverside Drive was closed to traffic and two homes were evacuated Wednesday afternoon between Union  Street and Marchant Street after construction crews ruptured a natural gas line. Watsonville Fire officials said the pipeline break was reported at 2:29pm in a section of the road that...

How quickly we forget. Recent activity centers around the levee system on the Pajaro River. Yet, the first flooding in 2023 was in Watsonville, when the Salsipuedes and Corralitos Creeks overflowed. There are lessons from that flooding that need to be applied to those...