Local News

After a greatly stressful year, 2021 will begin with many economic opportunities for small business owners in Scotts Valley.  The newest federal stimulus package, passed by Congress on Dec. 21, will begin to benefit small business owners and many others this January. The state has...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County on Tuesday moved back to the more restrictive red tier of the state's Covid-19 reopening plan, meaning that many businesses and services must once again take a step back in their services, and in the customers they can allow in. According...

There are dream jobs, and then there are DREAM JOBS. Racing Formula 1 cars? Check. Playing for the NBA? Check. Stylist to the stars? Check. Head of marketing for Humble Sea Brewery? Check, if you’re Lee DeGraw.  Although she’s been driving the brand’s marketing for...

SANTA CRUZ—A woman died early Wednesday in a two-alarm fire that broke out in the former Sobering Center in Santa Cruz. Around 2:30am 9-1-1 dispatchers received numerous calls about a fire spreading through the two-story Victorian wood structure that had been boarded up since the...

When Fifth District Supervisor Bruce McPherson was growing up, he thought he might pursue medicine. But he was also drawn to the family business of journalism (his great-grandfather Duncan had purchased the Santa Cruz Sentinel in the 1800s). He chose to become a newspaperman. Now,...

CENTRAL COAST—The Bay Area region designated in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s regional stay-at-home order is expected to fall below its baseline Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed capacity sometime this weekend, meaning several industries will face more restrictions put in place to curb the spread of...

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on May 11 voted unanimously to delay a 25-cent fee for disposable cups at businesses in the unincorporated parts of the county until January 2022. County officials crafted the ordinance to reduce the amount of disposable cups that...

A rainbow flag was waving above Scotts Valley City Hall by 10:15am on June 2—it marked the culmination of a year of work on a ceremonial flag policy. Still, a surprise political tactic the previous night at the council meeting threatened to derail its...

In the ebb and flow of service to one’s community, Felton’s Lois Henry has waded upstream repeatedly to support her neighbors. Since 2008, Henry has been in water, and now, she’s finding her way out of the changing tides of water management, as she...

County officials warn of debris flows and high winds SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Cal Fire CZU announced Monday morning that many evacuation warnings were updated to orders for swaths of the San Lorenzo Valley, including most of Boulder Creek and various areas of Ben Lomond and Felton...