Local News

About 2,000 San Lorenzo Valley community members will now have access to care close to home, thanks to a new health clinic that opened at the site of a Ben Lomond historic church on Jan. 24. Where the Wee Kirk Church once welcomed parishioners to...

A 17-year-old San Lorenzo Valley High School junior was disappointed to learn, last week, that her passionate advocacy for a 4-H program on campus wouldn’t get the blessing of school district administrators. Speaking to the Press Banner just before the Jan. 19 San Lorenzo Valley...

State Senator John Laird on Jan. 18 introduced Senate Bill 850 (SB 850), a bill to ensure families of fallen officers receive survival benefits regardless of family structure.  The impetus for the bill was founded in the deaths of law enforcement officers in the county...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The union that represents some 1,600 County of Santa Cruz employees has averted a strike after hammering out a tentative agreement during all-day negotiations Monday. The agreement between Service Employees International Union Local 521 and the County came just before demonstrations that were...

APTOS—Plans were announced Thursday of a major renovation of Willowbrook County Park to honor the late Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, who was gunned down in the line of duty in 2020. The project of “reimagining” the park was announced in a brief...

It was like music to the ears of Scotts Valley politicians, last summer, when Democrats announced they’d be setting $1.4 million aside to replace a condemned after-school childcare facility at Vine Hill Elementary School, a hallmark of the Parks and Recreation Department. Schools had already...

In August of 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex tore through the forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. On the east, the fire kissed the perimeter of downtown Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond, and on the top of the ridge, the flames raced up the...

On Tuesday, new Scotts Valley City Manager Mali LaGoe went for a tour of the library building currently undergoing a full renovation and was greeted by a familiar face. Yolande Wilburn, who just succeeded Susan Nemitz as director of Santa Cruz Public Libraries after overseeing...

Though a Jan. 12 webinar about federal Covid-relief funding for local businesses was short and to the point, Scotts Valley City Councilman Randy Johnson still found time to look back on the early days of the pandemic. “Does anyone remember spraying the mail that came...

SANTA CRUZ—Service Employees International Union Local 521, the union representing the majority of Santa Cruz County workers, has called for a strike after a majority of employees voted in favor of the action. While saying that they are still willing to negotiate, union officials say...