Local News

Jennifer Wadsworth and Mat Weir, Contributing Reporters If you ask beauty salon owners in Santa Cruz County, they’ll tell you the on-and-off lockdowns during the pandemic have been downright backward when it comes to their industry.  Deborah Riley, owner of Lavish Salon in Santa Cruz, says...

Rich Ambris, 60, was ferrying packages around in the lead-up to Christmas but was forced to turn around when he got to 13203 E. Zayante Rd. because of a landslide covering both lanes. “There’s no other way to get there,” he said, referring to the...

During an aerial performance, Alana Del Chiaro, 11, had a chance to show off the hoop skills she’d been practicing over the past three weeks. “It’s kind of scary,” she said after her performance. “It was fun.” Somala, her mom, beamed, as hundreds of people milled...

These days, everything is “smart.” Smartphones. Smartwatches. How about a smart laundromat? Behold The Mat in Boulder Creek, formerly the Village Wash. Run by third-generation laundromat owner Brandon Parker and his fiancé Erin Hexem, it’s the first smart laundromat in Boulder Creek, and one of...

The small outdoor pool at Siltanen Park will remain closed throughout the summer as renovations continue. Upgrades have been in the works for months, but when crews got to the site, they discovered things were worse than City staff had realized. Santa Cruz County’s Environmental Health...

Over the past year, the financial world has been playing the big guessing game of what will happen to interest rates as authorities seek to calm inflation without causing too much pain. School officials had been zoned-in for just such an exercise here in...

When art enthusiasts assemble at Canham Farm Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Scotts Valley for a Plein Air Painting Workshop, alongside instructor Elvira Rascov on the evening of Oct. 1, organizers predict it will generate more than a few dabs of creativity. Julia Hyde,...

Police say they believe a man arrested by Fremont police is responsible for a number of break-ins at Scotts Valley small businesses. Eight local restaurants were hit in recent weeks—on top of other establishments further afield—according to the Scotts Valley Police Department. “After we had a...

Pacific Gas and Electric Company is moving into the next phase of wildfire clean-up efforts—clearing out thick tree trunks it chopped down previously. According to Santa Cruz County’s Office of Response, Recovery & Resilience, the electricity provider is taking action in the wake of a...

Santa Cruz County has long been at the forefront of progress, both in California and the nation. Mainland surfing in the U.S. originated here (sorry, Huntington Beach), the area used to be renowned for its agriculture, and the logging industry brought lumber mills and...