Santa Cruz County

A wildfire that quickly spread to 150 acres forcing evacuations near Morgan Hill Friday evening is the result of a prescribed burn, Cal Fire officials say. 

Santa Cruz county has reported its first two COVID deaths among vaccinated residents. Public health officials are urging the public to get vaccine booster shots if eligible.

Face masks are no longer required indoors in most places in Santa Cruz County.

A desperate search and now recovery effort has been launched in Santa Cruz County for a teenage swimmer who went missing while body surfing off Laguna Creek Beach.

As California Highway 236 winds its way into Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County, there are signs of a fire fight, lost to Mother Nature. Charred bark and downed trees abound. But there are also signs of a rematch that’s already underway.

A woman and two boys were rescued Friday morning from the ocean off unincorporated Santa Cruz County after their vehicle went into the water, California Highway Patrol officials said.

Santa Cruz County sheriff’s investigators are continuing their search for a motive in a deadly high-school campus stabbing.

A 17-year-old student at Aptos High School was stabbed to death on campus Tuesday, and two students were arrested in connection with his death, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's officials said. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Tuesday afternoon. The majority of the park burned in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire one year ago this week.

Police in Santa Cruz and the FBI are investigating a bank robbery that occurred Friday.

A woman was rescued after driving off a Santa Cruz cliff when a stranger opened her car door on Thursday, police said.

Four Santa Cruz County residents were hospitalized due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Felton Music Hall, forcing the venue to close again just one month after reopening.

A power outage at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Monday left visitors temporarily stranded on rides.

Santa Cruz police arrested two men suspected of using a vehicle to leave skid marks on a Black Lives Matter mural in the city's downtown area.

Napa County has now joined the majority of Bay Area counties that recommend its residents wear face coverings indoors when in public to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the highly-infectious Delta variant takes hold. 

After a man turned himself in, police in Santa Cruz are seeking the public's help in investigating the killing of a 33-year-old woman inside a recreational vehicle that she had been living in.

Bay Area doctors warn no one is fully protected against the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19, and say people who are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated are at the highest risk of getting infected and suffering severe illness.

At the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk it's warm, but not too warm, and there's a breeze off the ocean.

Authorities have recovered nine vintage guitars that were stolen nearly a year ago in a $2 million heist in Southern California.