Scotts Valley police chief says gung-ho recruits reason for increased arrests
Scotts Valley Police Department may not quite have enough officers yet to restart its investigations unit, but the patrol department is finally fully staffed, Chief Steve Walpole Jr. told the Scotts Valley City Council on May 17.
This addition of novice law enforcers and lateral...
Scotts Valley Housing Element workshop features little community input
Scotts Valley hosted a virtual public workshop May 30 to discuss the draft Housing Element that was released May 19, but the meeting yielded few comments and was cut off after less than an hour—before all comments could be aired verbally.
The all-important residential development...
Judge rejects Caltrans’ effort to quash Hwy 9 verdict
A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge threw out the California Department of Transportation’s request for a new trial in a case where a jury decided a key thoroughfare in the Santa Cruz Mountains was so dangerous it contributed to the 2019 death of...
Staff turnover keeps Scotts Valley from improving infrastructure
Scotts Valley Council members remained poised, asking constructive questions, as they were told about just how bogged down some of their infrastructure improvement projects had become, during a regularly-scheduled session May 17.
Staff blamed this on high turnover at City Hall and pointed to one...
Driver who hit and killed pedestrian lambasts Caltrans
Every time Jeremy Paul Shreves rides the bus past the place where he accidentally killed pedestrian Josh Howard with his SUV in 2019, he says a prayer.
“‘I hope to dear God that his family is OK, and that my family will be OK,’” is...
Felton a testing ground for new wildfire prevention philosophy
While meeting in the scorching heat at Trinity Bible Church in Felton on Friday afternoon, a group was awaiting a tour of Fall Creek where they’d receive a history lesson about the complex interplay between tan oaks, Douglas fir and coast redwoods over the...
ATM stolen from Spanky’s Café
After consecutive break-ins, Spanky’s Café in Ben Lomond is now missing an ATM.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office confirmed deputies responded to a report of a burglary at an establishment along the 9500 block of Highway 9 on May 12.
“An ATM was stolen from...
Cliff plunge kills Texas man
A Texas man was killed Friday afternoon when his car shot off of Highway 1 near Davenport and careened over a steep cliff into the sea.
The California Highway Patrol said the 29-year-old man, from Dallas, was driving a black 2017 Subaru Outback north of...
San Lorenzo Valley community members stage protest over Pride Flag
As one father took to the microphone, at the May 3 San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District board meeting, to voice his dismay over the District’s plan to fly Pride Flags from its flag poles in support of the LGBTQ+ community the following week,...
Battered by storms, Big Basin reopens more park trails
Over the past couple weeks, flames have once again been flickering up from the terrain of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, a place that was almost entirely destroyed in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire.
But this time, the fuel being consumed was vegetation and...
Final paving, striping on Highway 9 continues this week
A major maintenance paving project continues on Highway 9 between El Solyo Heights Drive in Felton and California Drive in Ben Lomond.
Travelers on Highway...