Local News

Students from Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley are making important contributions to United Way research and leadership projects, says the director of community impact for the organization, which was just awarded more than $800,000 to curb youth drug use. Three or four North County...

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...

Efforts to help homeless people in the North County got a boost this week when a Santa Cruz bar held a Giving Tuesday fundraiser for a Boulder Creek nonprofit. The Free Guide, one of the groups behind the Veterans Village in Ben Lomond, was the...

County health officials recently announced that seasonal cases of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and the flu have been reported earlier than usual this year, and are on the rise, causing increased hospitalizations for children. Covid-19 is also experiencing an uptick locally and in California, they...

Work continued this week to protect Scotts Valley and surrounding communities against the threat of wildfire, in a project involving two different state agencies. The California Conservation Corps and Caltrans came together for the initiative meant to eliminate chances for fire to spark along Highway...

Nine months after he moved into the Brookdale Senior Living long-term care facility in Scotts Valley, Kermit Sveen was hit with a 17.6% rent increase. He found the notice, dated Oct. 21, in his mailbox on Nov. 3. “The day that the letter arrived was another...

After a long day at the Valley Churches United storefront in downtown Ben Lomond, 70-year-old volunteer Mary Koehring is tallying up the receipts. It’s the fifth year the Boulder Creek residents assisted with the nonprofit’s Valley Christmas Project, which raises money for families in...

The Sunday before Thanksgiving was a busy day at Scotts Valley High School.  Amid the whir of electric screwdrivers, handheld drills and circular saws, students from the drama department were hard at work preparing for their newest production which debuts in December. “The Play That...

Santa Cruz Gives, a countywide crowdfunding holiday campaign, will raise funds for 63 local nonprofits in its eighth season, which started on Nov. 16 and will run until midnight, Dec. 31.  On SantaCruzGives.org, donors may browse individual profile pages to learn about each nonprofit's mission...