Local News

Hundreds of people packed city and county meeting chambers throughout the day on Tuesday to ask local elected leaders to pass resolutions demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict. The action resulted in the Santa Cruz City Council creating a special meeting to discuss...

Melissa Arana, 3, pays visit to Santa Monday at Ramsay Park in Watsonville after Santa and one of his helpers landed in a helicopter. More than 100 people lined up to watch the landing in a soccer field and then stepped up to greet...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency declaration for the damages sustained in the storm surges on Dec. 28 and 30. County officials estimate that the waves, which inundated Capitola Village, slammed Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and wreaked havoc...

About seven years ago, Marie Riggs was living in a homeless shelter and addicted to alcohol, wondering how she would survive this low point in her life. “I was a hopeless mess,” she said. “I had no idea how to live, I didn’t know how...

Two teenagers were arrested recently by Capitola Police after officers found them with a large amount of drugs. Capitola Police said the two juveniles were stopped  for public intoxication. During a search, police found hundreds of Xanax-style pills, 30 grams of psilocybin “magic mushrooms,” several...

Before hundreds of people began a march Monday morning in downtown Santa Cruz to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a solemn hush fell over the crowd as political chanting briefly ceased and the good-natured whooping died down.  “Finally,” 6-year-old Brianna Hodgkins said, sitting astride...

Editor's note: This is the final part of reporter Tarmo Hannula's trip to the Sacramento area. Stay tuned to The Pajaronian for his future travel exploits. One the last day of the short road trip my wife, Sarah and I took from Watsonville to Sacramento,...

The annual Obon Festival will take place July 21 at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple. Open to the public, the event will include entertainment, a vendor’s market, childrens’ games and an array of traditional foods. The festival culminates in a dance, known as Bon-Odori, which participants practice...