Local News

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County will hire a company to handle the permitting process for residents rebuilding homes damaged or destroyed in the CZU August Lightning Complex fires.  The County Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the plan to hire Pleasanton-based engineering firm 4Leaf, Inc....

BOULDER CREEK—A 24-year-old Santa Cruz woman died late Thursday night in a solo-vehicle DUI crash in Boulder Creek. California Highway Patrol officer Sam Courtney said Chyanne Pilgreen, 21, of Ben Lomond was driving a 2004 Nissan Xterra northbound on Highway 9 north of Boulder Creek...

When asked about how dire the situation is for local businesses despite the recent relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the state, Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Danny Reber did not hold back. About a handful of businesses have already shuttered, and...

This is the third entry in a multi-part series about debris flows. Read the first entry in the Dec. 25, 2020 edition of the Press Banner and the second in the Jan. 1, 2021 edition, or visit pressbanner.com. Tony Nuńez, Editor Parker Blunts is bound to...

The San Lorenzo Valley Water District Board of Directors on May 6 was busy interviewing, and ultimately welcoming, its newest director. Jayme Ackemann, a Ben Lomond resident who has lived in the San Lorenzo Valley for 15 years, swept the vote and was appointed to...

The number of people contracting Covid-19 in Santa Cruz County has been giving pause to community health leaders, but according to statistics from the county’s Health Service Agency, the area may be in a trend of receding cases.  Since the arrival of the Delta variant,...

Holiday gifts come in all shapes and sizes, but the best ones come from the heart.  Just ask Kendra Kannegaard, 27, a former Scotts Valley High School student who loved theater. She has since become the school’s English and drama teacher, and theater juggernaut.  Kannegaard...

On July 2, Melissa Chowning, the woman who accused former San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District administrator Ned Hearn of sexually abusing her as a teenager (when he was in his late 20s and her swim coach) told the Solano County Superior Court they...

In August of 2020, local artist Mary May Tartaro almost lost it all. She and her family lived on 25 acres in the San Lorenzo Valley with multiple buildings on their property, including their family home, Tartaro’s artist studio, her son’s cabin, a guest...

Two years ago the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) established Project Roomkey in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea behind the program was simple but important: protect people experiencing homelessness from coronavirus. The success of that program led to the development of...