Local News

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved nearly $10 million in relief for Santa Cruz County families affected by two natural disasters this year, as their Silicon Valley neighbors are just now being told they can apply too. FEMA has processed $3,539,828 worth of...

After 25 years in Scotts Valley urgent care, followed by 12 years as a health columnist at the Press Banner, Dr. Terry Hollenbeck is leaving this publication to focus on his health and family. The “Valley Doctor” leaves with these words of advice: “Take the...

5th annual Holiday Lights brings sparkle to fairgrounds The fifth annual Holiday Lights event has returned to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, and it’s bigger and brighter than ever. It features light displays including a 30-foot sea serpent, huge rooster, lighted tractors with turning wheels,...

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...

Residents of the Redwoods on the River trailer park in Ben Lomond were told to flee as fire consumed a pair of mobile homes on June 1. The blaze sent toxic plumes of smoke into the canopy above. Sgt. Jason Dunn of the Santa...

Union organizer Joe Thompson is fresh off the May 11 news that his push to unionize the first Starbucks stores in California—something that seemed unlikely just a few years ago—was successful. The 19-year-old, running for Assembly District 28, says the drive for workers’ rights in...

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...

A Boulder Creek man was arrested Sunday for the double murder of two men in the Santa Cruz Mountains a month ago. California Highway Patrol detectives today announced the arrest of 66-year-old James David Collier at 6:27am Sunday at his home on Bear Creek Canyon...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials on Friday said they will not yet join five other Bay Area counties in preemptively adhering to the regional stay-at-home order announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday. Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara counties will adopt...

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...