Local News

Santa Cruz County supervisors on Tuesday approved a countywide policy outlining how County employees are to respond to federal immigration enforcement activity, while also receiving updates on local safeguards tied to immigration enforcement and surveillance technology. The new “Federal Immigration Enforcement Engagement and Oversight Policy”...

Olive D. Wilson discovered her love for writing early in life, chronicling her thoughts, experiences and ideas the way many writers do. Over time, that practice evolved. What emerged from that reflective work, she realized, was both a story that needed to be told and...

Santa Cruz County officials on Tuesday opened public hearings on a proposed $1.29 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, warning that federal funding cuts, rising labor costs and growing structural deficits are forcing difficult financial decisions in the years ahead. The recommended budget includes...

The Cabrillo College Governing Board voted Monday to censure Trustee Steve Trujillo for a second time, citing findings from an investigation into professional misconduct and violations of board policies. The board approved the censure at its May 4 meeting following a two-month inquiry by an...

A Santa Cruz County-based science education group took top honors in a regional underwater robotics competition April 25, earning a return trip to an international contest in Newfoundland, Canada. The Hephaestus Robotics Team, part of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education’s X Academy Robotics...

Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Misty Navarro was appointed to the board in October 2024, joining at a time when five of the seven members were new to elected office. What followed was a steep learning curve, often marked by volatility, as members worked...

Organizers are calling on residents across Santa Cruz County to “pitch in” May 9 for a coordinated cleanup stretching from Davenport to Watsonville. The third annual Pitch-In Santa Cruz event aims to build on last year’s turnout of about 750 volunteers, with dozens of cleanup...

Grey Bears, which has been helping seniors for more than five decades, has unveiled plans to renovate an 11,000 square-foot warehouse next to its existing mid-county facility.  The space, formally a warehouse for Palace Art & Office Supply, will serve as a home of the...

In the early 1980s, when her eponymous bakery was in its infancy, Gayle Ortiz learned that a developer planned to turn the land surrounding the Rispin Mansion in Capitola into a senior living complex and several private homes. That plan did not sit well with...

Public defenders in Santa Cruz County will join colleagues across California and the nation April 23 in a coordinated protest highlighting what they describe as chronic underfunding and unmanageable caseloads that threaten defendants’ constitutional right to counsel. Chief Public Defender Heather Rogers is urging community...