Two Cabrillo College trustees say they experienced incidents of harassment because of their support for changing the name of the college. Adam Spickler says he was the subject of a transphobic petition. Steve Trujillo says he has been the target of homophobic emails, and that Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora told him to carry pepper spray and had officers escort him home from dinner because of a tip that someone was following him.
Watsonville
Posted inLatest News
Substitute teacher seen in racist video no longer working in Pajaro Valley Unified schools
A video posted on social media platform TikTok earlier this week shows a woman shouting at someone as he records an interaction on Highway 1 in Capitola after the drivers pulled over to assess a minor collision. The woman shouts expletives and racist comments directed toward Mexicans as he records.
Posted inRecreation & Sports
Everything you need to know to attend the Santa Cruz County Fair, running Wednesday through Sunday
Wallace Baine and Lily Belli bring you the details of this year’s Santa Cruz County Fair, which opens for business at noon sharp on Wednesday and runs through Sunday.
Posted inK-12 Education
Six months after levee breach flooded their classrooms, Pajaro Middle School students settle into new normal
The March 11 failure of the Pajaro River levee forced the closure of Pajaro Middle School until at least fall of 2024. Now at the start of a new academic year, the middle school’s more than 400 students are settling into their temporary academic home inside Watsonville’s Lakeview Middle School. Students say they’re getting into a routine but still miss their school.
Posted inLatest News
Fast food workers to get wage hikes in last-minute deal on bill that featured prominently in Santa Cruz County
A deal announced Monday by labor groups and the fast food industry would give workers a $20 minimum wage and pull a measure off the 2024 ballot. The Legislature has until Thursday to approve it. The agreement is detailed in changes to Assembly Bill 1228, a proposed law that the fast food industry had lobbied heavily against in Santa Cruz County
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
More than just the fair: Cultural events take center stage in Watsonville’s big upcoming weekend
Beginning with next Friday’s Fiesta Mexicana at the downtown plaza, continuing Saturday with a celebration of music and culture at the Mello Center and winding up Sunday with a Mexican Independence Day festival, next weekend is shaping up to be an excellent time to visit Watsonville. And the Santa Cruz County Fair is happening, too.
Posted inCoast Life
After a stormy offseason, Zeke Fraser is hustling to get the Santa Cruz County Fair up and running
Less than three months into his tenure as Santa Cruz County Fair CEO, the pressure is on for Zeke Fraser to pull off this year’s version, which runs Sept. 13-17. The longtime local talks about getting up to speed, what’s on tap for this year’s fair and bridging the North County-South County divide.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
Survey shows support among residents for potential Watsonville Community Hospital property tax
Out of the 400 voters surveyed in the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, 75.5% said they would vote yes on a bond measure to support Watsonville Community Hospital and 2.5% said they were leaning in that direction. About 61% of voters supported a tax at an annual rate of $19 per $100,000 of assessed property value versus a total of 54% of voters who said they would support a higher rate of $24.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
Watsonville’s first new park in 20 years a boost to ‘underserved’ area
Santa Cruz County is getting its first new park in more than two decades after county supervisors voted unanimously late last month to approve the purchase of 35.5 acres of land at 188 Whiting Rd. in Watsonville.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
California is its own sort of slave state — we need to enact farmworker rights now
Ann Lopez, the executive director of the Center for Farmworker Families, believes California farmworkers “make up a slave subclass modeled after the slavery model from the South.” Farmworker families experience poverty, live in fear of family separation and are suffering high rates of pediatric cancer, birth defects and pesticide-related illnesses, she says, because they lack rights and government safeguards. Here, she offers three steps we all can take to help transform the lives of farmworkers in Santa Cruz County.
