Local News

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...

Up until mid-December, the Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District had seen just a single case of Covid-19 in its student body this school year. And before that, it had only recorded one other case during the entire pandemic. Now, the school system currently...

Valley Churches United (VCU) has been assisting members of the San Lorenzo Valley community since 1985. From financial support to a plentiful food pantry, residents who have fallen on hard times have turned to VCU in times of trouble, finding respite in the nonprofit’s...

Now that the congressional boundary debate’s been settled—with the old 18th and 20th districts seemingly evaporating from the local map, leaving in their place the new 19th District—politicians have begun adjusting to the new reality. And for current Rep. Anna G. Eshoo, who’s represented the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to hire an independent auditor for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office who would investigate such issues as citizen complaints and use of force. The move followed a report by...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors took the first step in updating the county’s climate action strategy, a response to global warming and its effects on infrastructure and the people who live here. Updating the County’s Climate Action Plan—first adopted in 2013—is...

NORTH COAST—The 40-year-old Santa Cruz woman who fell to her death following a mysterious two-car crash Monday on the North Coast of Santa Cruz County has been identified as Wendy Edwards, according to Ashley Keehn of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators have...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—At least 4,000 Santa Cruz County residents have been infected with Covid-19 during the current winter surge sparked by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. That figure posted to the County Health Services Agency’s online dashboard, however, is likely vastly...

A man who was convicted of rape and looking to move into Bonny Doon had another hearing in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Monday. Judge Syda Cogliati approved Michael Cheek’s placement at a home on Wild Iris Lane in November, but the District Attorney’s Office...

CALIFORNIA—Every year, state lawmakers send hundreds of bills to the governor in hopes they will be signed into law. Many do not make the cut, and fall victim to the state’s lengthy legislative process. But last year 770 bills became law, and many became effective...