Local News

SOLEDAD — Hartnell College broke ground last Thursday on a new Career Technical Education (CTE) facility in Soledad, beginning construction on a two-level building that will become the dedicated home of the college’s Advanced Diesel Technology program and expand hands-on workforce training in South...

GREENFIELD — A Greenfield man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the 2009 rape of a Salinas woman after DNA evidence identified him as the suspect more than a decade later. Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced that Juan...

SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas is serving as acting governor of California on Wednesday while Gov. Gavin Newsom is out of the state. Under the California Constitution, the speaker of the Assembly assumes the role of acting governor when the governor, lieutenant governor and...

$33.2M broadband grants approved for Central Coast expansion CENTRAL COAST — California Public Utilities Commission has approved up to $33.2 million in grants to expand high-speed internet access across the Central Coast, including nearly 1,300 locations in five counties. The funding will support two Surfnet Communications...

SOLEDAD — Eight custody staff members at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad were treated at a medical facility after falling ill Friday afternoon in the prison’s Facility C visiting area, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. At about 4:41 p.m. on...

SALINAS — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has informed Salinas-based Taylor Farms that a laboratory test indicating one of the company’s iceberg lettuce products from central Mexico was contaminated with cyclospora was a false positive, according to the company and an updated FDA...

CENTRAL COAST — Broccoli and other brassica growers along California’s Central Coast are bracing for another devastating season of infestations of the diamondback moth, but state regulators appear in no hurry to approve a new federally registered insecticide that could alleviate the damage. The moth’s...

SALINAS VALLEY — Taylor Farms has awarded scholarships to 32 new recipients through its 2026 annual scholarship program, distributing $575,000 in higher education assistance to employees and their children. According to the company, the latest awards bring the total amount of scholarship funding distributed since...

CENTRAL COAST — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is warning customers about a new variation of a utility scam that uses barcodes and QR codes to collect fraudulent payments, as reported scam losses continue to rise across the Central Coast and statewide. Nearly 150...

GREENFIELD — Greenfield Police Chief Guillermo Mixer said Thursday the department remains focused on solving the June 22 double homicide at a local gas station. In a message posted on social media, Mixer offered condolences to the families of the victims, 32-year-old Elizabeth Saavedra of...