Local News

Another illegal opium poppy field has been discovered on the Central Coast. This ninth field was found in Santa Cruz County. It’s located by a vacant house on Riverside Drive just outside Watsonville.  

Highway 1 at Mud Creek will open sooner than expected.  The road just south of Gorda was wiped out by a massive landslide in May of 2017.  

Why were thousands of opium poppies growing in Monterey County? And where were they headed? That’s what the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is trying to figure out. Deputies discovered eight fields full of the illegal flower in and around Moss Landing.

Farmworker housing is in crisis. There’s not enough of it and much of what’s available is lousy. A growing number of agriculture companies are building seasonal housing for their workers. But that has it challenges.

On a Monday night in Live Oak’s grange hall, Seth Smith stands before a room full of veterans sitting in folding chairs.  They range in age and distance traveled to get here.  Some are local.  Others drove three to four hours.

Santa Cruz is a place of natural beauty, ocean breezes and family-friendly tourist attractions. But a new collection of short FICTION stories explores a seedier side of this beach town filled with murder and mystery.  Susie Bright edited the collection called Santa Cruz Noir.

The schools in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District need more than $200-million for repairs.   The school district is asking property owners to pay for it.  Voters decide on Tuesday if they want to do that when they vote on Measure I.  

Wednesday AM Update: Monterey County Supervisors voted 4-1 to lower the county's taxes on the cannabis industry. The new rate for cultivation in greenhouses is $5 per square foot of the foliage area. And for indoor cultivation, the new rate is $8 per square foot of the foliage area. 

When the oil companies, landowners and mineral rights owners sued Monterey County late last year, the plaintiffs’ side of the courtroom was packed with lots of lawyers.  

Union workers at the University of California Santa Cruz are calling their three day strike a success. Thousands of workers participated in the statewide walkout at UC campuses after contract negotiations failed over a year ago.  

The practice of yoga dates back thousands of years.  Records of goat yoga go back about two years.  Now, this unusual practice has arrived in Carmel Valley. 

Santa Cruz’s main water source of water is once again running low. So this week, citywide water restrictions went into effect.  

Monterey County is joining a lawsuit over the 2020 U.S. census. The lawsuit aims to stop the Trump Administration from asking about citizenship status in the upcoming nationwide population count.

You can now listen to the sounds of the deep sea whenever you want. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has released a live stream of the audio from a hydrophone.

Thursday AM Update: The CDC reports one person from California has died in connection to this E. coli outbreak from contaminated romaine lettuce. At last count, there are 121 cases with 52 hospitalizations. The cases now span 25 states. 

The Monterey Bay’s multi-billion dollar farming industry depends on thousands of farmworkers. But a new study finds there’s a tremendous lack of housing for them.

Friday is April 20, or “420”, a code word for marijuana and an annual, unofficial celebration of pot.  Every year on 4-20, thousands gather in a meadow at UC Santa Cruz to smoke weed. It’s always a busy and long day for campus police. Now, recreational marijuana is legal in California. But don’t expect the new law to change this event.

Earth day will bring out volunteers for beach clean ups this Sunday.  The one thing they’ll likely be picking up the most is cigarette butts. 

It’s a fact that has long bothered State Assembly Member Mark Stone who represents the Monterey Bay Area.  This year is the third time he’s proposed legislation to make cigarettes sold in California filter-less (AB 2308).