News

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously voted to delay a decision on how to resume classes in August, to give district officials time to investigate all of their options. Still undetermined is which risk level the district will use...

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.

The County of Santa Cruz has filed a complaint against several pharmaceutical corporations, alleging that they are complicit in fueling the national opioid crisis. The 140-page complaint accuses opioid manufacturing companies of racketeering, negligence, fraud, false advertising and creating a public nuisance. According to the complaint, drug manufacturers downplayed the risks of prescription opioids in order to increase sales.

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.

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...

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...

The Fourth of July parade unfolded along a section of Soquel Drive Thursday, with 103 entries in what has been branded as the World’s Shortest Parade.

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...

SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested five people suspected of looting evacuated homes on Fall Creek Drive, a small community in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Felton. Jose Gandarilla, Susana Luna, Crystal Araujo, Sara Loretz and Crystle Parstch-Lucchesi face numerous felony...

APTOS—When tasked with choosing a production for Cabrillo College Theater Arts Department’s Fall 2022 season, Abel Cornejo knew he wanted to find something that celebrated Hispanic culture. After a long search, however, Cornejo still hadn't found just the right play. That’s when he had the...