Local News

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville High School graduate Kayla Cabrera will be attending virtual classes at UC Berkeley when the fall semester begins on Oct. 1, where she will double major in legal and ethnic studies for a pre-law track. Inspired by social justice issues she encountered while growing...

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If1_8sX1Enk

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declared a local emergency in response to the increasing numbers of coronavirus cases. The board also ratified a Mar. 4 declaration by Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel of a local health emergency. Health...

APTOS — Last year, the Aptos High School robotics team took top honors in both state and international competitions for building a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that performed a series of complex underwater tasks. In doing so, the team bested competitors from around the globe. The group of 12, who are aged 15-17, is called Watsonville Firefighters Seal Team 1272 after the group that sponsored them. “The competition was an amazing experience and a great place to observe and learn from the machines other people built,” team programmer Pratham Rathi said. ROVs are human controlled robots that are employed to solve a variety of jobs in places where humans cannot reach. The ROV Jason, for example, was used to observe the wreckage of the sunken Titanic. The team’s ROV is Argo V, a nod to the ship of Greek myth in which Jason and his compatriots sailed to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Now, having again won the Marine Advanced Technology Education center annual ROV competition at Watsonville High School on May 12, the team is once again preparing to defend its international crown. That competition — held this year in Seattle, Wash. from June 22-25 — draws elite young engineers from around the globe who pit their homebuilt, underwater robots against each other.

The Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission announced the four winners of the annual Trailblazers Awards recently.

More than 70 glass works by Santa Cruz artist Heather Richman are currently on display at the Santa Cruz County Building, 701 Ocean St., through an ongoing series put on by Arts Council Santa Cruz County. The works, showing on the first and fifth floors, showcase a wide range of her work, from fused/slumped glass, lampwork, and powdered glass on copper and will be showing through the first week of July.

The Aptos High Theater Department is presenting Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” opening Friday. The school is putting its own spin on the classic tale by re-imagining it in the 1980s. In this production directed by teacher Stacy Aronovici and senior Quinn Youngs, the audience will experience the lives of the young housemaid, Cinderella (Ella), played by senior Kaylee Leal, and Prince Christopher (Topher), played by senior Ryan Yeaman. Ella lives with her stepmother, Madame (senior Desiree Hardin), and her two daughters Gabrielle (senior Sara Pedro) and Charlotte (junior Grace Romeu).

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Massage therapy, nail salons, tattoo parlors and other personal services can reopen in Santa Cruz County on Friday, the county announced Monday. The county said those businesses should follow state guidance released by the California Department of Public Health June 12 which requires...

By Jake Pierce, Good Times OAKLAND—The Ben Lomond man charged with killing a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy on June 6 was also the gunman in the shooting of two law enforcement officers in Oakland last month, U.S. Attorney Dave Anderson alleged Tuesday. Millbrae resident Robert...