School districts brace for looming budget cuts
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 14 released an updated state budget that calls for a 10 percent cut to school districts across the state.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said that the district is looking at a $19.18 million slash.
Watsonville/Aptos/Santa...
UCSC fires 74 striking teaching assistants demanding higher wages
SANTA CRUZ—A graduate teaching assistant who worked at UC Santa Cruz until she was fired on Friday says that a protest for higher wages has grown since it started in December to include several more UC schools.
Brenda Arjona, who is in her third-year seeking...
Virtual graduation to be PVUSD’s first
WATSONVILLE—For the first time in Pajaro Valley Unified School District history, the stadiums, athletic fields and auditoriums that traditionally fill with cheers, tears and the nostalgic strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” will stay silent this graduation season, all to be replaced by the electronic...
Early morning fire levels Aptos restaurant
APTOS — An early morning fire roared through the popular Hideout restaurant in Aptos Monday.
Salinas romaine lettuce recalled
SALINAS—The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, public health and regulatory officials in several states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas Valley.
Thus far there have been...
Soquel man arrested for child sex crimes
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...
Second Harvest food distributions to run through August
SANTA CRUZ—Second Harvest Food Bank hosted a drive-thru community food distribution Friday at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
Supported by numerous volunteers and members of the California National Guard, the distribution unfolded under overcast skies as part of ongoing county-wide distributions that alternate between the...
Santa Cruz man charged with sex crimes involving minor
SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Monday arrested a Santa Cruz man on several felony sex crimes, sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said.
Lucas Klatt, 39, was charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a child, annoying or molesting a child and burglary.
Klatt is known...
Aptos man shot, killed by San Jose Police
SAN JOSE—A 29-year-old Aptos man was shot and killed Saturday by police on Highway 85 during a vehicle stop, San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Wednesday.
San Jose Police say that the man, who has not been named, was the passenger during the stop...
PVUSD bids farewell to longtime board members
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Dec. 12 said farewell to members Willie Yahiro, Leslie De Rose and Jeff Ursino during the annual organizational meeting, which also was a time to swear in three new trustees.
The district boardroom was packed with teachers, administrators and community members, who came to pay tribute to Ursino,
