Local News

Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:50am on April 10 with new information. Watsonville officials said Friday that a proposed plan to house a designated sexually violent predator at a Main Street motel has been halted after the property owner withdrew, citing community opposition. The...

During the winter of 2006-2007, beekeepers across the country began noticing a steep decline in bee populations. It was Colony Collapse Disorder: a phenomenon in which a large percentage of a hive’s worker bees disappear, leaving behind their queen and a handful of bees to care for everything. Often, the hive will eventually perish. Emily Bondor of Santa Cruz Bee Company thinks that the collapse which occurred a little over a decade ago is what kickstarted a sort of “beekeeping renaissance” in North America. People began noticing the inactivity and decline of honeybees and were inspired to take action.

Standing in front of a large audience at Santa Cruz County’s first human trafficking symposium, Pembrook said that, when she was a young girl, a trusted family friend brought her to truck stops and seedy motels to sell her for sex.

In October, marking National Teen Driver Safety Week, teenagers across California tallied distracted driving outside their schools during the eighth-annual Roadwatch assessment, an activity organized by the California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP).

SANTA CRUZ—Defense attorneys came forward in the Superior Court of Paul Marigold Tuesday to represent the four suspects in the Oct. 1 kidnapping and murder of tech executive and Pleasure Point resident Tushar Atre. Stephen Lindsay, 22, Kaleb Charters, 19, Kurtis Charters, 22, and Joshua...

WATSONVILLE—When April Ortiz became pregnant during her senior year at Watsonville High School, severe morning sickness and other complications sidelined her education. Then came the birth. “Mothering was a new life and a new experience,” she said.  Ortiz, now 26, received her GED on May 22 from...

SEACLIFF—The new Seacliff Skate Park opened Saturday in Seacliff Village Park.  The park is nestled in a curving section of McGregor Drive at Canterbury Drive and beside the State Park exit from Highway 1. It features “skateable art,” features a view of the Monterey Bay...

The number surpassed the nonprofit's goal of 4.8 million meals, and is a record for the annual drive.

APTOS — Renovation work is moving forward on the Rancho Del Mar Shopping Center. Terramar Retail Centers, the company that owns and operates the center, began demolition work on Oct. 9. The construction work will be divided into three phases and should take about a year to complete, TRC announced Friday.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County Health Officer Gail Newel on Tuesday revised her shelter-in-place order to align most of the county’s restrictions with that of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order. The new county order will open places of worship, in-store retail, outdoor museums and limited...