Opinion

On Saturday morning, 48-year-old Gerardo Gutierrez was one of about a dozen men sitting in the day room at Salvation Army’s Watsonville location, quietly watching an old Vicente Fernández film playing silently on a television mounted to the ceiling. The men—most of them homeless—had stayed...

Water surges through the asphalt along the 300-block of Ford Street Monday afternoon where a man reportedly ran into a fire hydrant with his Chevy Silverado pickup. Watsonville Police said the man struck the hydrant just after 5pm, triggering a water main break beneath...

Fourth grade students from Mar Vista Elementary School get an up-close view of a Robinson 22 helicopter Tuesday during a tour of the Watsonville Municipal Airport. Now in its third year, the community outreach program by the Municipal Airport exposed kids to various aspects...

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,...

As a pilot based at Watsonville since 1980, I am shocked at the Watsonville council’s decision to close the crosswind runway. The dissenting four council members (Montesino, Salcido, Quiroz-Carter and Orozco) voted against a compromise that would have retained the cross wind runway AND...

In a little more than a year, Ramsay Park in Watsonville will boast a new dog park, a new multi-use synthetic sports field, a new state-of-the-art nature center and new lights for its pathways, parking lots and athletic fields. Plans also include an all-inclusive playground,...

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,...

After being incarcerated on death row for 35 years, and after surviving a multiple hours-long botched lethal injection attempt 16 months earlier, on Jan. 25 Kenneth Smith became the first person in the world to be executed with nitrogen gas.  Alabama state officials described his...

The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday voted to close the crosswind runway at the airport, a move city officials say will open up more of the city for development of housing and commercial space. Airport Director Rayvon Williams told the council that closing the shorter...

Watsonville City Manager Rene Mendez has been named as the new City Manager for the City of Salinas, just two years after starting his position. The Salinas City Council on March 19 approved his contract. He will begin on May 28 and receive a base salary...