Local News

APTOS — Nearly 3,000 fourth-grade students from around Santa Cruz County came to Cabrillo College’s Aptos campus early in March to get their first taste of college life and, organizers hope, show them that post-secondary education is within their reach.

WATSONVILLE—Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 24 revealed a new temporary housing program that aims to help agricultural workers across the state better protect themselves and their families during the Covid-19 pandemic. Housing for the Harvest will offer temporary hotel housing to workers who need to...

CAPITOLA—Work is moving forward on the Capitola Branch Library on the busy corner of Clares Street at Wharf Road. Currently, workers are installing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems overhead and in-wall, said Megan Blackwell, marketing manager for Otto Construction, the general contractor for the job. Over...

The Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission is now accepting nominations for the 2019 Trailblazers Awards.

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved nine new courses at five high schools that will bolster the district’s newly retooled Career Technical Education program. The new courses were created as extensions of the existing ones, with the penultimate...

Robert “Bobby” Salazar, the unofficial mayor of Aptos who served as security guard and maintenance man for Aptos High School for more than four decades, and who was known for his ever-present smile and exhortations for everyone he met to “keep smiling,” died March 17 after a battle with cancer. He was 62.

SALINAS—Two inmates escaped from the Monterey County Adult Detention Facility early Saturday. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said 21-year-old Santos Samuel Fonseca and 20-year-old Jonathan Salazar were both awaiting trial on unrelated murder charges along with numerous other felony charges. The MCSO said Saturday it was...

Cat & Cloud Coffee threw its doors open early Tuesday in a soft opening to invite the public to their airy indoor, outdoor walk-up counter café.

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—Five years after Michel Escobar gunned down a rival gang member, and killed a young girl when one of his bullets went astray, a jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder and several special allegations. Escobar, now 36, will likely be sentenced to...