Santa Cruz County Local News

Sen. Mike McGuire of Healdsburg takes over as Democratic leader in the state Senate from Sen. Toni Atkins. He terms out in 2026, so has limited time to push his agenda.

One year after California became the first state to require its public universities to provide the abortion pill to students, basic information on where or how students can obtain the medication is lacking.

San Diego State’s Dual Language & English Learner Education department requires students in the credential program to visit schools in Tijuana.

Local author Manjula Martin’s new book, “The Last Fire Season,” reflects on the 2020 fires with natural history and personal experience, with insights on language, Indigenous land practices and the enduring power of gardening.

After halting services for about four years, a sobering center that county leaders say is a critical boon to the community, local health care providers and law enforcement is back online in Santa Cruz.

In the wake of a fatal bus crash and a damaging California Highway Patrol report that called UC Santa Cruz transit operations “an imminent threat to public safety,” students shared their frustrations.

Capitola Mayor Kristen Brown muses about the 75th anniversary of the city’s incorporation as a time to reflect on history while considering the opportunities that lie ahead.

The Santa Cruz Planning Commission voted unanimously to renew a controversial RV overnight street-parking ban for at least the coming five years, several months ahead of its expiration.

As Jay D. Aronson and Dr. Roger A. Mitchell explore in their book “Death in Custody,” that lack of data is a national problem.

Learning loss during the pandemic hit California’s low-income students hardest. An agreement requires the state to focus spending there.

When wildfire smoke and extreme heat combine, they create “a synergistic effect” or an “additional burden” on people’s health, researchers say.

Big changes are coming to Santa Cruz Metro's downtown transit hub as officials push forward into the next phase of a major, multi-agency redevelopment project.

Some automakers are reducing production of electric cars and Tesla sales have dropped. Can California sustain its record pace and meet the state mandate?

An extinct species of walrus was unearthed in Santa Cruz County, evoking a time when California was teeming with odd creatures that feel closer to fantasy than reality, researchers said.

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America bag deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

James Dean’s last stop before he died in a car crash was at Blackwell’s Corner, a gas station in rural Kern County. His memory isn’t the draw it once was.

A sweeping change to California elections took a step forward. The proposed constitutional amendment aims to allow the lieutenant governor to be installed if a governor is recalled.

Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, estimates that work will begin in late summer or early fall, starting at the Corralitos Creek Bridge.

Lawmakers introduced a package of bills designed to tackle some forms of reparations. The measures may face budget constraints and opposition.

The California Legislative Black Caucus released a list of 14 bills as a first set of reparations for the descendants of African Americans who were enslaved.