Local News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County Health Officer Gail Newel on Wednesday issued new restrictions on the county’s beaches, restricting their use between 11am and 5 pm starting on Saturday. The new restrictions came after hordes of people crowded the beaches and ignored social distancing rules...

Additional reporting by Todd Guild SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—With the onset of warmer, sunny days, droves of people have been showing up at area beaches and parks, especially on weekends, even as the shelter-in-place order has hit day 41.  And beginning April 25, Santa Cruz County also...

By Jazmin Juarez, Special to the Pajaronian SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The coronavirus has brought many changes to people’s everyday lifestyle. Among them, the transition from in-person to online classes for students. In Santa Cruz County, Cabrillo College switched to online courses on March 16. The school has...

RIO DEL MAR—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Monday arrested two men for drug and gun charges after one of them pointed a loaded gun at another driver in a road rage incident. Damian Hernandez, 20, and Israel Ibarra, 18, both Morgan Hill residents, were...

SOQUEL—A fire that broke out in a trailer spread into a garage and a collection of classic cars Monday evening on the 600 block of Olive Springs Road. Central and Aptos/La Selva Fire spokesman Mike DeMars said the 5:50 p.m. incident began in a Casita Travel Trailer and then spread...

Almost all Americans will soon receive one-time payments from the federal government thanks to the nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill approved by Congress on Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press. Details of the unrivaled package are expected to change as leaders continue negotiations...

LOS GATOS—A 22-year-old man died early Tuesday morning in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 17 in Los Gatos.  The 2:55 a.m. crash, south of The Cats restaurant, forced the California Highway Patrol to close both southbound lanes for 45 minutes to allow for an investigation,...

SANTA CRUZ—More than 175 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Santa Cruz County, and 24 of them have come back positive.  That’s according to county Health Services Director Mimi Hall, who at Tuesday morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting said that the county is still limited...

SANTA CRUZ—A Santa Cruz man was arrested Saturday night on suspicion of homicide, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said. Leif Ames, 35, was arrested around 8:50 p.m. after deputies were dispatched to a home on the 800 block of Brommer Street in Live Oak...

A South Lake Tahoe resident was arrested last week on 99 felony counts related to child sex abuse, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said. Christopher Scott Flanders, 51, was previously a resident in several areas of Santa Cruz County, including Watsonville, Boulder Creek and...