Local News

SAN JOSE—A former executive at an international Watsonville berry giant was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in federal prison for embezzlement, United States Attorney David Anderson announced. Marc Marier, 42, was sentenced to 29 months in prison and ordered to pay more than...

WATSONVILLE—A man and woman were found dead inside a van parked in the parking lot of the Rodeway Inn in Watsonville on Tuesday afternoon. Watsonville Police Department Sgt. Juan Trujillo said police were dispatched to the Rodeway Inn on West Beach Street near Highway 1...

WATSONVILLE—A man died Friday around 12:45pm when he lost control of his motorcycle while exiting Highway 1 southbound at the Riverside exit. California Highway patrol officer Israel Murillo said the motorcyclist shot off the pavement on the curve of the exit, plunged through a...

WATSONVILLE—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office released the names of the two men who were shot and killed on Saturday in Watsonville in separate shooting incidents. The first victim, who was shot near Marchant and E. Front streets around 5:30pm, has been identified as Rafael Salcedo,...

WATSONVILLE—When the Loma Prieta earthquake struck at 5:04 p.m. on Oct. 17, 1989, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Willy Elliott-McCrea was in Watsonville, talking about disaster preparation. It was a strange bit of irony, and it took the presence of then-Watsonville Fire Chief Gary Smith...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Watsonville man arrested last month for allegedly killing his stepdaughter 16 years ago in Florida has died after severing the femoral artery in his leg while in jail and suffering hemorrhagic shock, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn said Tuesday. Raul...

UPDATE, Aug. 19: Federal investigation into fatal plane collision underway ORIGINAL ARTICLE: WATSONVILLE—Two men, a woman and a dog died in a mid-air collision between two small private planes above Watsonville Municipal Airport Thursday just before 3pm. One witness, who went by the name Steve, said he...

WATSONVILLE—Work began over the weekend on a major restoration of a long-standing outdoor mural at the La Manzana center. Muralist Guillermo “Yermo” Aranda, who is the creative drive behind scores of murals around Santa Cruz County, Salinas and San Diego, said it was time to...

WATSONVILLE—Ella’s at the Airport opened at Watsonville Municipal Airport in 2015, and since then has garnered a large following of customers. Owner Ella King, who at the time also owned the popular Cafe Ella, took the building—closed for one year after the previous restaurant was...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated from a previous version first published on May 22. WATSONVILLE—Four ‘clusters’ of Covid-19 cases have been identified in the Watsonville area, all of them associated with large family gatherings, according to Santa Cruz County officials. There have been at least...