Local News

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) on Friday announced it has named Michael Tree its new CEO/General Manager. Tree has nearly three decades of experience in the public transit industry and city management, most recently as Executive Director of the Livermore Amador Valley...

WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Services showed off its new South County facility Friday, a building that has allowed the agency to more than double its space and bring an expanded offering of mental health services to the Watsonville area. The building at 1430 Freedom...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Peace Officers Research Association of California has established a fundraiser for the family of Damon Gutzwiller, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Deputy who was shot and killed in the line of duty Saturday in Ben Lomond. The account has collected more than...

SANTA CRUZ—A man was shot multiple times early Saturday morning on the west side of Santa Cruz. The victim was reportedly walking on the 100 block of West Cliff Drive at 2:34 a.m. when he was confronted by another person, said Joyce Blaschke, Community Relations...

At Cabrillo College, budding architects are gaining experience where many of their peers in the same major do not: by helping to build the homes they design.

In that vision, thousands of people using that trail will significantly reduce the load on Highway 1, thus improving commute times and solving a problem that has long plagued the county. That vision is different from that of the county’s rail advocates, who hope that a passenger train will one day serve more than 3,600 people daily. On Tuesday, a group of Greenway supporters handed a stack of petitions with more than 10,000 signatures to Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s new director Guy Preston. Supporters say the petition shows overwhelming support from county residents to convert the rail line into a pedestrian and bike trail.

The Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County on Monday will begin accepting applications for the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants program. Announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom in mid-April, the program will provide roughly 150,000 undocumented adults a one-time payment of $500 per...

WATSONVILLE—The Covid-19 community testing site at Ramsay Park in Watsonville is now open to all residents of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. First opened to frontline healthcare workers, first responders and employees working in essential services and roles, the site will now test everyone, including...

By Michael Moore, of the Morgan Hill Times SANTA CLARA COUNTY—Gilroy resident Alan Viarengo, who taught math at Gavilan College for nearly 20 years, was arrested last week on suspicion of stalking and threatening Santa Clara County’s public health officer, and police say he has...

Kids2Parks offers free educational field trips in local State Parks to select Title 1 elementary schools in Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Teachers apply online for the free field trips and will be informed by May 8 if their application was selected.