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Watsonville
January 15, 2025

Santa Cruz County Health Officer announces retirement

gail newel
Santa Cruz County Health Officer Gail Newel on Thursday announced that she will be retiring in June. Newel was appointed to the position in July 2019. During that time, she led the county through the Covid pandemic, considered to be the largest public health crisis in...

Watsonville’s senior community gets flood update

watsonville community flood meeting
Watsonville City officials hosted a community meeting Monday evening to address unresolved issues and “misinformation” from an April 11 City Council meeting regarding storms and floods that hit the Central Coast at the close of the year and into 2023. The two-hour meeting, at Ann...

Pandemic-initiated emergency allotments from CalFresh end

calfresh second harvest food bank
A Santa Cruz County resident and Second Harvest Food Bank client who received $281 per month in CalFresh benefits for more than two years saw those benefits decrease to $40 in April. The woman, who asked not to be identified, says the recent ending of...

Watsonville High Hall of Fame inductees honored for 2023

Wildcatz logo
The Watsonville High School Foundation on May 12 honored this year’s inductees into the school’s Hall of Fame. The awards ceremony was launched in 1986 as a way to showcase the achievements of Wildcatz alumni. This year’s honorees are Charles Johnston, who graduated in 1961, and...

Hundreds relocated from unpermitted housing in Royal Oaks

A property owner in Monterey County is facing dozens of citations and nearly $60,000 in fines after more than 200 people were found living in several unsafe “greenhouse-like” structures. Officials discovered several greenhouses on the 1100 block of San Miguel Canyon Road in Royal Oaks...

Briefs: PVUSD students to screen films; summer lunch program returns

pvusd trustees
PVUSD students to screen original films Students in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District will showcase their own film creations Tuesday at the Henry J. Mello Center during the district’s fourth annual Oscars Night. Put on by the Watsonville Film Festival and the Latino Film Institute’s...

Local students heading to national Invention Convention

Alyssa workman-tortes ceiba college preparatory academy invention convention
It’s no secret that traffic around Ceiba College Preparatory Academy can get heavy at the beginning and end of the school day, when hundreds of parents drop off and pick up their children and scores of students brave the intersections and walkways on foot. School...

Freedom Rotary recognized for membership development

freedom rotary Trina coffman-gomez el vaquero
Freedom Rotary celebrated the Mike Kutsuris Award it recently received in recognition of the club that has been most successful in membership development during the Rotary year. They are in District 5170, a collection of 61 community clubs. The clubs are located in the...

Pajaro Middle School to remain closed next year

pajaro middle school flood
The flood-damaged Pajaro Middle School will remain closed for the entirety of the next school year as work crews make repairs, Pajaro Valley Unified School District Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez told parents in a May 8 letter. Students from Hall District and Ohlone elementary schools who...

Fairgrounds shelter for Pajaro flood victims closes

santa cruz county fairgrounds flood evacuation shelter
On Monday, Beatriz Lopez stood in the doorway of the Pajaro residence she shares with 10 family members, recalling the 45 days she spent in the emergency shelter at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Back home for just a week, she said the shelter was...
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