San Benito County Local News

A new production of Luis Valdez’s “Adios Mama Carlota” opens May 10 at San Juan Bautista’s El Teatro Campesino playhouse. The play depicts Mexican Emperor Maximilian I’s short reign and dramatic fall as seen through the troubled mind of his wife, Empress Carlota.

Overnight construction continues on the Highway 156 Corridor Improvement Project. CalTrans will reduce Highway 156 to one lane between Fourth Street and Highway 156 beginning Sunday, May 11 through Wednesday, May 14, between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.

A benefit for the New Beginnings Thrift and Resale store, the first annual Special Friends Mother’s Day Fashion Show was held on May 6 at Paine’s Restaurant in Hollister.

A gas station planned for the corner of The Alameda and eastbound Hwy 156, which has been in the works for more than a decade, is moving closer to the start of construction with approval of plans to create a 450-foot right turn lane with a 120-foot taper.

The San Benito County Office of Education held its annual Certificated and Classified Employee of the Year Celebration on April 24. Each year, schools in San Benito County are invited to select one Certificated and one Classified employee who has had a significant impact on students to be honored at the event.

Local authorities this week began cleaning up homeless encampments in the San Benito River bed in an ongoing effort to remove hazardous materials and direct unhoused people to services and more stable shelter.

City of Gilroy officials are in the thick of the process to find and hire a new police chief, with Pedro Espinoza set to retire as of May 22.