News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday voted to permanently end its School Resource Officer program at Watsonville, Pajaro Valley and Aptos high schools, and to redirect the funds to socio-emotional counselors. The district will also look into creating wellness centers...

SANTA CRUZ—Dignity Health Dominican Hospital announced Monday that it has received a $1 million donation, which will be dispersed to hospital employees who have helped fight the coronavirus. The anonymous donor is a “long-time friend” of the hospital who wanted to thank the workers specifically...

APTOS—A group of business owners from the new Aptos Village complex gathered for a meeting in early March to discuss possible events and projects they wanted to do together. Their aim was to bring the community into the blooming hub.  But days later those plans...

Ofelia Garcia (right) of the Friends of the Aptos Library speaks to a crowd gathered to celebrate the opening of the walk-through garden at Aptos Library. Photo by Bek Sabedra

LA SELVA BEACH—Firefighters on Saturday night were battling a blaze on the Monterey Bay Academy campus on the outskirts of Watsonville. https://twitter.com/CALFIRECZU/status/1284721308358422530 The fire started around 10:30pm, according to Cal Fire, and was confined to an old movie theater on the private school's campus on 700...

WATSONVILLE—Every year during the month of October, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office sends daily statistics to local media, counting the domestic violence calls to which county law enforcement officials respond. It is a grim tally and a reminder during Domestic Violence Awareness Month...

SANTA CRUZ—A group of community members is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case of a man who was kidnapped from his Pleasure Point home and murdered on Oct. 1. The reward is the largest of its kind in...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Health officials on Saturday announced that the first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in the county. Officials are not releasing any information about the patient, except to say he or she is “resting comfortably” at home and does not require...

A 29-foot juvenile humpback whale is shown at the shoreline at Manresa State Beach Monday. Officials said it appeared to have been dead several days at sea before washing ashore several days ago. No cause of death was known to officials.

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved a proposal to lay off as many as 24 classified employees, a move district officials say was necessary due to declining enrollment. Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez told the board that the district has lost...