Local News

It’s been a wild ride for Scotts Valley over the past several years, as it’s watched its future pension costs skyrocket, drop down slightly and then start to rise again. Since fiscal 2013, the City’s “Unfunded Accrued Liability” (the difference between what it thinks it’ll...

The candidate nomination period for the upcoming November election closed on Aug. 12, and three people came forward to run for Scotts Valley City Council. Incumbents Derek Timm and Jim Reed are running for reelection while Allan Timms will try to unseat one of them...

Some San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District parents and students are scrambling to find a new route to school after district officials told them last week that the No. 14 “Squirrel” bus would be temporarily suspended, after Aug. 19. “It’ll be a big problem,” said...

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...

It’s back! On Aug. 20-21, from 10am to 6pm on Saturday, and 10am to 5pm on Sunday, the very best brewers, vintners and artists will collect on the lawn to celebrate the end of summer at the annual Art, Wine and Beer Festival held...

Santa Cruz County has reduced homelessness among families by 59% compared to 2019, even as overall homelessness in the county increased by 6%.  That’s according to preliminary results of the county’s biannual Point-In-Time (PIT) count released Aug. 5 by the Housing for Health Partnership. Santa Cruz...

The tie-dye and classic rock shirts abounded. Punk and heavy metal riffs wafted through their air. People of all ages beat the heat by plunging into the San Lorenzo River. It was all part of the fun at Junction Park in Boulder Creek on Aug....

Scotts Valley Unified School District students were set to return to classrooms yesterday, as administrators held their breath about how Covid-19 could affect learning during the third year of the ongoing pandemic. It may seem eons away from March 16, 2020, when schools shut down....

Nonprofits monitoring the rollout of Scotts Valley’s community grant program had positive words for the City as it put $50,000 up for grabs. Speaking during public comment at the Aug. 3 council meeting, Clay Kempf, the executive director of the Seniors Council of Santa Cruz...

In 1989, Northern California was rocked by the Loma Prieta earthquake, which was centered in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz. The 6.9 quake was responsible for $6 billion in damages (close to $40 billion in today’s dollars), 63 deaths...