Local News

The Coastal Rail Trail includes numerous projects that, together, will provide a 32-mile long separated bicycle/pedestrian path along the coast between Watsonville and Davenport. It is a part of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network Master Plan.

The County of Santa Cruz has filed a complaint against several pharmaceutical corporations, alleging that they are complicit in fueling the national opioid crisis. The 140-page complaint accuses opioid manufacturing companies of racketeering, negligence, fraud, false advertising and creating a public nuisance. According to the complaint, drug manufacturers downplayed the risks of prescription opioids in order to increase sales.

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...

CAPITOLA—Too many housing units. Not in line with Capitola’s “unique” feel and community. A fiscal “wash.”  These critiques and concerns—and several others—came to light at the Capitola City Council’s Nov. 14 meeting concerning the planned redevelopment of the hollowed Capitola Mall. The council took no action...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday arrested a Soquel man suspected of more than a dozen counts of sexual assault of a child. Luis Ortiz, 59, was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail. According to Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley...

WATSONVILLE—Cabrillo College got its start six decades ago in several condemned buildings in an unused corner of Watsonville High School.  More than 800 freshmen began classes there on Sept. 1, 1959. The community college has since evolved into a mid-county educational centerpiece, serving more than 15,000...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Office of Education on Thursday evening announced that all schools in the county will be closed from March 16-20. The announcement was emailed to parents throughout the county one day after a case was confirmed in a person with...

SANTA CRUZ—Hundreds of people filled the streets of downtown Santa Cruz Monday to participate in the third-annual Martin Luther King march, an event co-sponsored by the NAACP and the Santa Cruz Police Department. “This is a business model of the Santa Cruz Police Department,” said...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A Santa Cruz-based community organization this month publicly stated its opposition to a proposal that would increase the distribution of needles to drug addicts, saying that similar efforts have led to increased numbers of used ones found in public places. The letter by...

Zach Friend is running for his third term as Santa Cruz County Supervisor in the 2nd District against a familiar foe. Becky Steinbruner, an outspoken community activist living in rural Aptos, will challenge the incumbent for the second time. She lost to Friend in 2016,...