Local News

FireSafe Council completes latest HIZ home assessor training The FireSafe Council of Santa Cruz County has completed its latest HIZ home assessor training and has broadened its reach south to meet the greater needs and range of Santa Cruz County, from Boulder Creek and Summit...

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...

SOQUEL—The Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriffs' Association (DSA) has offered a $100,000 “challenge” grant to help fund a memorial for Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, who was killed on duty on June 6, 2020. The grant is the largest donation in the organization’s history. The DSA now...

Village meeting planned for Ben Lomond this Saturday The Ben Lomond Village Alliance (BLVA) is inviting residents to attend a “Let’s Revitalize Ben Lomond Village” meeting on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 10-11:30am at Park Hall Community Center, 9400 Mill St., in Ben Lomond. This informational event...

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....

Jacob Pauka is the kind of kid most parents would love to call their own, and most coaches would love to recruit.  Before attending Scotts Valley High School, this student owned the baseball diamond, leading the Pony League in batting average (.700) and clocking 14...

At a nighttime meeting Sept. 26 at the Highlands Park Senior and Community Center in Ben Lomond, Cal Fire Capt. Frank Rodgers sympathized with those of the 30 to 40 attendees who wondered about the complexity of changing fire danger maps. They had gathered to...

No news is good news, goes the old adage. And Scotts Valley Water District officials are hoping that’s the message they should take from the amount of public comment they got before approving a 5% rate hike—virtually zilch. “We had no one,” said Piret Harmon, the...

After a bit of a snag in the legislative process, Congress approved a $1.4 million allocation to replace a Scotts Valley childcare facility that’s in such bad shape it’s a danger zone. Scotts Valley Vice Mayor Jim Reed remembers the time his own child was...

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...