News

WATSONVILLE—It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that writer and actor Sedrick Cabrera grew up at the Fox Theater in downtown Watsonville.  His family owned the My Choice Pizza & Deli Café, attached to the theater (now reopened as Slice Project by his friends Brando...

WATSONVILLE—A 33-year-old Watsonville man died in a solo-vehicle crash just before midnight Tuesday on Riverside Road, or Highway 129. California Highway Patrol officer Sam Courtney said the victim was driving a 1999 Lexus west on Riverside Road south of Lakeview Road with a 44-year-old female...

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...