Local News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) Board of Directors at its May 21 virtual meeting unanimously approved a contract extension with CEO and General Manager Alex Clifford that will keep him at the head of the transportation agency through May 6,...

About 170 students were evacuated from a science camp at the YMCA location in Boulder Creek Wednesday afternoon. The remote camp is only accessible by a small bridge that authorities worried could fail in the stormy weather. Students from Silicon Valley and the East Bay were...

The June 15 reopening date set by California Gov. Gavin Newsom will now mark another pandemic milestone: the day many Californians can go without masks in most settings. California’s Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly on Monday told reporters the state will continue...

Scotts Valley police say they don’t have much in the way of militaristic crime-fighting gear. During the April 6 Scotts Valley City Council meeting, Capt. Jayson Rutherford noted the Scotts Valley Police Department only has items that fall in a couple of the categories outlined...

A 61-year-old man from Ben Lomond died after his car veered off Highway 17 and smashed into a metal pole Sunday. Just before 9am, Thomas Jacobson was approaching El Rancho Drive northbound when his 1991 Honda left the road for an unknown reason. Investigators say it’s...

California Highway Patrol (CHP) Santa Cruz Area has reported a 32% reduction in electric bicycle (e-bike) related crashes within its jurisdiction in Santa Cruz County following the launch of Operation Safe Pedal (OSP). In 2024, CHP investigated 53 e-bike crashes, which included a fatality in...

By Stacy Cowley and Jim Tankersley, of The New York Times Aiming to put its own stamp on the Paycheck Protection Program, the Biden administration on Monday abruptly changed crucial program rules in ways intended to help the smallest and neediest companies, which have sometimes...

For months they’ve been the most vocal community voices at civic meetings, putting in their two cents about traffic safety at nearly every opportunity. And now, following a pedestrian road incident, and with new faces in key Scotts Valley administrative posts, it seems the...

Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Partnership (H4HP) has released results of the 2025 Homeless Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, demonstrating a significant drop in individuals experiencing homelessness to the lowest number in the count’s history. The 2025 PIT Count identified 1,473 people experiencing homelessness in Santa...

San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District’s Music Director Carey Liston knows the show must go on.  Despite rapid-fire setbacks for her band members ranging from elementary to high school students, Liston has somehow managed to not only maintain her current ledger of students but expand...