News

By Jazmin Juarez, Special to the Pajaronian SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The coronavirus has brought many changes to people’s everyday lifestyle. Among them, the transition from in-person to online classes for students. In Santa Cruz County, Cabrillo College switched to online courses on March 16. The school has...

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...

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.

If there is one place in Santa Cruz County where World Cup fever is expected to burn brightest, it may be Watsonville. “Soccer in Watsonville is extraordinarily unique,” Watsonville Parks and Recreation Director Jason Hall said during a countywide World Cup kickoff press conference on...

APTOS — The sprawling Aptos Village Project got its newest neighbor on May 20 when Santa Cruz County officials officially opened the Aptos Public Safety Center.

Robert “Bobby” Salazar, the unofficial mayor of Aptos who served as security guard and maintenance man for Aptos High School for more than four decades, and who was known for his ever-present smile and exhortations for everyone he met to “keep smiling,” died March 17 after a battle with cancer. He was 62.

More than 150 volunteers gathered Saturday at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz with a simple mission: make sure thousands of Santa Cruz County students are ready to begin the school year. Working assembly-line style during the 17th annual Stuff the Bus Stuff-A-Thon, volunteers filled...

SOQUEL — The Celtic Society of the Monterey Bay will present guitarist and singer/songwriter John Doyle on June 5 at 7:30 p.m. at a house concert in Soquel. The Irish musician has long been known for his guitar and bouzouki work, from his early days with Irish supergroup Solas, to his duo work with fiddler Liz Carroll, to his work with Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O'Leary as the Alt, to his collaboration with Scottish fiddler John Mckusker and piper Mike McGoldrick.

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors retooled the county’s syringe exchange program during its Dec. 10 meeting, limiting the amount that people can trade for clean ones on behalf of other people.  This practice, known as secondary exchange, is believed by advocates to...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — Thousands of people throughout Santa Cruz County could lose power this weekend if Pacific Gas and Electric Company conducts a Public Safety Power Shutoff in advance of predicted hot, windy weather. Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin said that 45,000 people could...