Local News

Last week, Scotts Valley held the unboxing of the $79,873 wastewater study it ordered for itself from Kennedy/Jenks Consultants Inc., during its regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Aug. 17. But unlike a small gadget shipped from Amazon, what the elected officials do with the...

Richard F. Cortez, the top elected official in Hidalgo County, at the southern tip of Texas, is so full of anticipation for the federal stimulus money that is about to flow into his county that he has memorized the precise amount and happily recites...

As Tanya Krause, the superintendent of Scotts Valley Unified School District, prepared her welcome letter for parents, she began how she might have in any other year: “We are pleased and excited to start school with students on campus, Wednesday, August 11, for full-time,...

Last year, Scotts Valley was commended for its ability to overcome pandemic obstacles to bring back its Fourth of July Weekend fireworks display, although it took $70,000 from the General Fund to make it happen. But at its regular meeting Feb. 15, the Scotts Valley...

When it rains, it pours—especially in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is designated as a temperate rainforest biome. While Southern California has dabbled in drought for years on end, the Santa Cruz region has a feast-or-famine approach to rainfall in the winter months. The...

When Zayante firefighters got the call at 7:11pm on Aug. 4 that their services were needed on the Dixie Fire, they had just hours to pack and deploy. It would be two weeks of grueling attacks, sleepless nights and ever-present danger, battling what would turn...

During the post-pandemic rebound, and with the addition of Target, money flooded back into municipal coffers. However, in recent months, the City of Scotts Valley has watched as its sales tax revenue declined somewhat. And, during the mid-year budget update at the regularly-scheduled Council meeting...

Each year, the State of California leads the way when it comes to establishing new laws that will benefit the populous state of over 39 million residents. In 2023, get ready for some laws that will govern workplace pay transparency, traffic, and official holidays....

The County of Santa Cruz has released its Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26, outlining a comprehensive plan that balances fiscal responsibility with strategic investments in community well-being, infrastructure, and environmental resilience. The $1.23 billion budget includes a General Fund budget of $793.5 million and...

Santa Cruz resident Daniel Lamothe, a 38-year-old firefighting trainee, has died after a mishap during a firefighter training program in the San Lorenzo Valley over the weekend, according to authorities. At a session on Sunday at the Ben Lomond Training Center, the volunteer became "medically...