Local News

The Watsonville Film Festival runs through March 21 with events and showings across Watsonville, Santa Cruz and Salinas. It remains a hotbed for filmmakers native to Monterey Bay.

The cost of nitrogen fertilizer has been going up due to the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran, Monterey County honors victims of COVID-19, a new book meticulously explores a 2019 Santa Cruz murder.

SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is caring for five baby screech owls after their tree was cut down. Plus, a new report highlights challenges Latino and Indigenous farmworkers face in the Salinas Valley.

San Benito County adopts a temporary moratorium on battery energy storage facilities. And, the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has increased nitrogen fertilizer costs as the spring planting season gets underway—are more conservation-minded farms insulated? Plus, Cal State Monterey Bay president Vanya Quiñones is stepping down.

A new book meticulously explores a 2019 Santa Cruz killing, including who the victim was, what was happening in the cannabis industry at the time, and how the murder investigation unfolded.

Monterey County honors those who lost their lives to COVID-19. And, a fire in Capitola Village on Monday night killed one person.

The Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula treated eight elderly patients after nearly 100 Monterey residents were displaced following a fire early Monday morning. And, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office hopes lawmakers will kill a bill to write into law the California State Library Parks Pass program.

The City of Soledad and County of Monterey celebrate the opening of a transitional housing facility for people who were living by the Salinas River. Plus, the Soquel Union Elementary School District board of trustees approves layoffs of 17 staff.

In this episode of Monterey Bay This Week, Monterey Bay area counties get millions from the state’s homelessness prevention program, dozens of Pajaro Valley residents are suing the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency over the 2023 flood, and more in this week's local news roundup.

The Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency expects new flood walls to go up along some parts of the Pajaro River levee within the next few days. Plus, a new transitional housing complex in Salinas will offer support for people at risk of homelessness.