Local News

American Lung Association has released its annual State of Tobacco Control 2023 California Local Grades, and each of the five Santa Cruz County jurisdictions earned an overall grade of an A or B, ranking highly among the 482 incorporated cities and 58 counties in...

Cabrillo College has announced the introduction of its inaugural Wine Studies Associate in Science (A.S.) degree, officially approved in October.  The degree, set to debut in the 2024-25 Course Catalog, will take effect beginning in the fall of 2024. This milestone initiative underscores Cabrillo’s commitment...

Learning about the dangers of surveillance technology can be empowering, the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury writes in the introduction to the new report they published June 20. Its latest 20-page look at spy tech and data collection at the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s...

There was some grumbling from neighbors about potholes in the vicinity, and disappointment a pedestrian cut-through will disappear, but the Scotts Valley residents at the final hearing about the subdivision seemed relatively pleased overall with it. The nine-unit Casa Way classic suburban development from East...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a temporary ordinance prohibiting new cannabis cultivation licenses within 500 feet of residential structures. The moratorium stemmed from the supervisor’s Aug. 24 meeting, during which they discussed potential conflicts between residential parcels and...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved this year’s budget, a behemoth $932 million spending plan that represents an 8% reduction in spending from the previous year. That decrease came as the county recovers from the CZU Lightning Complex...

In line with state and local efforts to develop a statewide Master Plan for Aging, the County of Santa Cruz has announced it has been designated an “Age-Friendly Community” by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). The County’s Human Services Department sought the designation...

Last year, Scotts Valley was the envy of Santa Cruz County and South Bay regions, holding a Fourth of July parade when almost no other locale was able to pull one off. This year, as communities like Boulder Creek brought theirs back, now that...

As Scotts Valley tried to convince the State Department of Housing and Community Development that it’s up to the task of planning for more than 1,220 homes for people across the income spectrum in less than a decade, the report card on its last...

A 5-year-old boy died Wednesday after his twin brother reportedly stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife. Ashley Keehn, public information officer for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies were dispatched to a report of a stabbing at a home on...