Santa Cruz County again breaks single-day record for Covid-19 cases
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County on Monday identified 22 new Covid-19 cases, breaking its previous single-day record (21) set just a week ago.
There are now 129 active cases in the county and there have been 379 cases overall. Of those residents that have contracted...
Santa Cruz County asks visitors to leave as fires spread down mountains
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Emergency Operations Center is requesting that all tourists and visitors occupying local overnight accommodations such as hotels, motels and vacation rentals leave immediately to free up shelter capacity.
Local shelters are near capacity. The Emergency Operations Center is working...
Three decades of PVUSD tales
James Baker spent 30 years in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, working his way up from a teacher to superintendent.
Over those three decades, the school district was faced with integrating bilingual education, a teacher strike, a year-round schedule, the devastation of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and many other trials and tribulations.
Gutzwiller remembered for beaming smile, passion for community
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—As arrangements are being made for the memorial of Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, who was gunned down June 6 in Ben Lomond, local colleagues and fellow law enforcement personnel are gathering their thoughts about the man with the beaming...
CZU Complex now state’s 9th-most destructive fire ever recorded
SCOTTS VALLEY—The CZU August Lightning Complex has destroyed 1,483 structures as of Tuesday morning, making it the ninth-most destructive fire ever recorded in the state.
The majority of those structures are single-family homes in the Santa Cruz mountain towns of Boulder Creek and Bonny Doon,...
Temporary aid inbound for PVUSD budget
WATSONVILLE—The road has been rocky this year for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, as the state went from a rosy pre-coronavirus budget surplus in January to the potential of $19 million in reductions in May.
Those numbers have changed yet again, after Gov. Gavin...
Dominican Hospital gets $1M donation for workers
SANTA CRUZ—Dignity Health Dominican Hospital announced Monday that it has received a $1 million donation, which will be dispersed to hospital employees who have helped fight the coronavirus.
The anonymous donor is a “long-time friend” of the hospital who wanted to thank the workers specifically...
Repairs on Soquel Drive in Aptos
The Santa Cruz County Department of Public Works has reduced traffic flow along Soquel Drive at Aptos Street to one lane to repair the road damaged by winter storms.
Running October call list casts light on domestic violence
WATSONVILLE—Every year during the month of October, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office sends daily statistics to local media, counting the domestic violence calls to which county law enforcement officials respond.
It is a grim tally and a reminder during Domestic Violence Awareness Month...
PV Quilt Show returns to fairgrounds
WATSONVILLE—Meri Henriques Vahl vividly remembers her first major exposure to the world of art quilts.
Vahl was born in New York in 1945, and years later, during a visit to the Frick Museum in the Upper East Side of Manhattan with a friend, she viewed...
