Local News

Nine months after he moved into the Brookdale Senior Living long-term care facility in Scotts Valley, Kermit Sveen was hit with a 17.6% rent increase. He found the notice, dated Oct. 21, in his mailbox on Nov. 3. “The day that the letter arrived was another...

As National Travel and Tourism Week reaches its midpoint in the United States, Visit Santa Cruz County (VSCC) announced that the local tourism industry grew by just over 3% in 2024. National Travel and Tourism Week began on Sunday, May 4, and continues through Saturday,...

The humming, buzzing and echoing inside the Boulder Creek facility that prepares drinking water for the San Lorenzo Valley makes one feel like they’re at an aquatic center. That the San Lorenzo Valley Water District uses a chlorine disinfection process (sodium hydrochloride)—alongside the tiny...

In a shaded outdoor area behind the Scotts Valley Community Center, local officials gathered with the public for one of the first times since the start of the pandemic, as they outlined the community’s health in the “State of the City Address.” Hosted by the...

When it rains, it pours—especially in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is designated as a temperate rainforest biome. While Southern California has dabbled in drought for years on end, the Santa Cruz region has a feast-or-famine approach to rainfall in the winter months. The...

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...

Scotts Valley High School star distance runner Jeremy Kain continued his record-breaking season with a victory in the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 10.91 seconds at June 26’s California State Track and Field Championships at Arcadia High School. “It ranks probably as number one,” Kain...

While the three-year window for some adults to file lawsuits under a landmark childhood sex abuse statute has now closed, one of the cases that emerged through the #MeToo movement is inching its way toward trial. Plenty of paperwork has been flooding into Solano County...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) on Thursday discussed the future of the county’s rail line, and possibly setting it aside for future use while first focusing on building a bicycle and pedestrian path. In a report to the commission, RTC...

With the donation of a conservation easement from private landowners to Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, 120 acres in the Upper Zayante watershed will be protected in perpetuity. The land includes more than 67 acres of redwood forest, mostly second-growth trees with some residual...