Deeply-rooted Aptos tradition returns
The parade, which typically boasts nearly 200 entries every year, will feature floats, dance groups, dogs, children, civic groups, antique cars, the Watsonville Community Band and more.
Evacuation center at Lakeview Middle School opens
WATSONVILLE—An additional evacuation center for Santa Cruz County residents fleeing the CZU August Lightning Complex Fires opened Friday night at Lakeview Middle School in Watsonville.
The center is a partnership between the County of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville and the Pajaro Valley Unified...
Findings released for 2022 Oral Health Needs Assessment
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The 2022 State of Oral Health Needs Assessment has revealed the continued massive gap in dental care for low-income residents in Santa Cruz County.
The findings are part of a 2022 study conducted by dental healthcare research firm Barbara Aved Associates. They found...
Local students, future explorers
Arturo Sejudo, 19, of Watsonville is shown with a robot that he and other students competed with in the Second Annual NASA Swarmathon at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Photo by Tarmo Hannula
Aptos celebrates 100 years of the S.S. Palo Alto
This year marks the S.S. Palo Alto’s 100th anniversary. The concrete ship, built in 1919, has been situated in the water off Seacliff State Beach since January 1930. On May 18, the Aptos History Museum kicked off a series of events planned to celebrate the milestone with a special History Talk.
Cabrillo sees enrollment drop following fires, pandemic
APTOS—When Covid-19 began to sweep the U.S.—and brought with it an economic recession—Cabrillo College officials expected a jump in enrollment that typically comes with a battered economy.
But the college is now seeing a significant drop in those numbers, which it pins on the double...
Thousands pour into Aptos for World's Shortest Parade
The World’s Shortest Parade in Aptos lived up to its standard of drawing thousands of people, from babies to seniors, to the street — many with their dogs in tow — for a view of the action.
From Little League baseball teams and realty groups, to fire engines, elected officials and modern dance troupes, the parade sent 102 different groups along Soquel Drive under cloudy skies.
With nine California Highway Patrol officers lending a hand in traffic control and in shutting down a short section of Soquel Drive, the festive event proved to have a greater showing of entries than any mid-week Fourth of July parade, said Karen Hibble, co-executive director of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce.
Officers balancing enforcement, education of COVID-19 orders
Additional reporting by Todd Guild
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—With the onset of warmer, sunny days, droves of people have been showing up at area beaches and parks, especially on weekends, even as the shelter-in-place order has hit day 41.Â
And beginning April 25, Santa Cruz County also...
A giant falls: Fire destroys Aptos radio tower
APTOS—A blaze that Aptos/La Selva Fire said was likely started by a homeless person seeking warmth has felled one of the towers that once reached into the sky alongside Highway 1 in Aptos.
The tower was part of a quintet of now-silent radio antennae that...
Brothers save girl from drowning
The boys recently rescued a 4-year-old girl from drowning.
That happened on March 24, while they were attending a birthday party for a friend of their sister at Santa Maria Beach, which lies at the end of 21st Avenue in Santa Cruz.
