Jeanette Bent
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — Around 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday night, there were reports of a house fire in Salinas.
This fire taking place on West Market Street, where the home billowed out smoke with many fire crews from Salinas and Marina working to put out the fire.
Firefighters told KION that everyone who was inside the building got out safely.
This is a developing story. We will have more details as they become available.
jose.romo
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — On July 3, the City of Salinas submitted petitions to the City Clerk looking to repeal four rent-related ordinances — Rent Stabilization, Tenant Protection and Just Cause Eviction, Tenant Anti-Harassment, and Rental Registration.
The city says that the referendum petition was accepted because it had no less than 10% of Salinas voter signatures.
Now, the Monterey County Registrar of Voters is set to review the petitions and determine whether they meet the criteria with a sufficient amount of signatures to be placed on the ballot, according to the City of Salinas.
“The effective date of the ordinance adopted by the City Council on June 3, 2025, is suspended, and the four rent-related ordinances are once again effective,” according to the city. “The Registrar of Voters has thirty (30) calendar days excluding weekends and holidays to complete the verification of signatures.”
The city says that the four reinstated ordinances require landlords and tenants of rental units to be aware of their requirements and restrictions.
The Office of the City Clerk is available for questions at cclerk@ci.salinas.ca.us or 831-758-7381.
10,000 signatures gathered to revisit Salinas’ rental ordinance referendum
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — A major milestone passed July 2 for a rental ordinance referendum in Salinas.
After months, over 10,000 signatures have been gathered to either have Salinas City Council vote to reverse the repeal of the ordinances or allow voters to decide for themselves during the next election.
“The council is going to have another crack at the apple to make the right decision that doesn’t hurt the community,” said councilman Andrew Sandoval.
Before these options, however, the City Clerk needs to count the signatures and then verified by the county, which could take up to 30 days.
After being verified is when the signatures will be voted on by city council or during the next election by voters.
“I fear [the council is] going to call for a special election that could cost the city of this residents over a million dollars–wasteful tax taxpayer money,” commented Sandoval, worries that the council may lean towards the costly third option. “They could just hold the election at the next regularly scheduled election… and I hope my colleagues do the right thing.”
During the verification process, the repeal from four previous rental ordinances will remain on pause and the laws will stay in place for the interim.
We reached out to Salinas mayor Dennis Donohue for comment on these developments, to which he replied; “We will continue to focus on rental assistance and making sure our residents know their rights and resources.”
The rental ordinances being a hot topic in Salinas for nearly a year.
Protect Salinas Renters hit 8,400 signatures ahead of their deadline
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) — The looming deadline to gather enough signatures for a petition that would look to send rental ordinances to a public vote is near.
Monday morning, renters, activists, and members of the community joined outside the Salinas City Rotunda. This, just days before having to submit nearly 10 thousand registered voter signatures to the city council.
“The message is clear,” says Nidia Soto, member of Protect Salinas Renters. The general sentiment of the community, she adds, is that they want these protections to be put back in place. Over the last 30 days, these volunteers have canvased at events looking to meet the required number of signatures.
The community organization set an internal deadline of July 1, with the city officially requiring them to submit the signatures by Thursday, July 3, and with only days before that, these volunteers say they have gathered 8,400 signatures.
“Our internal check, which will be done beginning 5 p.m. tomorrow, John Silva, a member of the organization, says they would like to first do an internal verification of the petitioned signatures. He adds they have to make sure all those who signed are, in fact, registered Salinas voters.
Dr. John Silva says they have had many people who are unhoused and were told to sign with a different address. To this, Dr. Silva states they will double-check if this is allowed before submitting signatures. If it is not permitted, “we will discard those. We’ll discard illegible ones. You know, we’ll be responsible with our list.”
At the beginning of the month, Mayor Donohue made his stance clear. “We weren’t stripping away rights. It wasn’t going to solve the problem of rental relief that people wanted.”
He added the four ordinances doubled on protections already in place by state law. The city clerk is adding just how hard the process for a referendum is. In a statement, the city clerk’s office adds, “If that threshold has been met, the City Clerk will submit the petitions to the County Elections Official, who must determine whether the petition contains the requisite number of valid signatures. The County Elections Official has a thirty-day period to do so.”
If it gets enough signatures, the referendum will be brought to the council to decide whether to hold a special election or wait for next year’s primary.
Jeanette Bent
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) — The Santa Cruz City School District announced that it will bring back free meals to all students during this upcoming school year.
They said that the return of free school meals will apply to every school and for all students regardless of their household income or any other factors.
“We’re thrilled to once again be able to give the support and the comfort of good meals to all of our students,” said Santa Cruz City Schools Director of Food and Nutrition Services Amy Hedrick-Farr. “Reliable, easy access to healthy food is something we’re very proud to provide.”
California Universal Meals Program will be offering the meals at every district school: Bayview, Gault, Westlake, Delaveaga & Monarch Elementary Schools; Mission Hill & Branciforte Middle Schools; Santa Cruz, Harbor, Soquel & Costanoa High Schools; and Delta School, AFE, & Ark Independent Studies.
To participate in the program, families just need to fill out a quick online application at https://www.sccs.net/.
The school district says that completing the form also qualifies families for a potential discount on internet, phone bill, college applications and SAT testing.
jose.romo
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) — The Monterey County Agriculture Commissioner announced historic product values for strawberries in the 2024 Ag report. Looking into the role of artificial intelligence, the report also looks at other uncertainties in the industry.
After a rainy 2023 season, the Monterey County Agriculture Commissioner, Juan Hidalgo, mentions that last year saw historic numbers for strawberry gross product value.
The value this year (2024) of almost $5 billion is a 14.7 percent increase compared to last year’s crop report. The number one commodity in Monterey County in 2024 was strawberries, topping the $1 billion gross production value,” said Hidalgo.
He adds strawberries lead lettuce, broccoli, and celery production with a 15 percent increase in comparison to last year. Strawberries account for more than 11 thousand acres in the county.
“Labor remains a very costly part of the input of production of our crops, and immigration enforcement is presenting new challenges for our growers as we move forward.” Norm Groot, director of the county’s farm bureau, says they have been looking at artificial intelligence as a potential solution, yet makes it clear these incorporations will only look to assist workers.
“We’re not eliminating jobs,” he adds. “We’re continuing to integrate them into this new technology that we have, and this again highlights that CALOsha needs to change the regulations so that we can use autonomous equipment in the fields and retrain those workers into new jobs.”
Groot adds that technology is being implemented on weeding tractors and other tasks, looking to help their overall efficiency.
On top of elevated production costs in the region, the Ag commissioner also spoke about the anxiety immigration issues have provoked among an already small workforce.
Christopher Valadez, president of the Grower-Shipper Association, said questions remain about the protections for the ag industry spoken about by President Trump.
“The President has commented, we want to see, we want some stability. We want to be mindful and helpful to the employer.” He anticipates that further pressure for the use of H-2A visas will be seen, prompting other questions about housing and job security for the current labor force.
The Agriculture Commissioner says throughout this year, they will continue to study the potential effects tariffs had on the agriculture industry.
jose.romo
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) — The city of Santa Cruz is marking a major milestone this week, with two-way traffic now restored to West Cliff Drive.
The iconic coastal road was severely damaged during winter storms over 2 years ago.
Dan Cunningham says he enjoys walking down West Cliff on his visits to Santa Cruz. “We’ve come over here several times from the time it washed out to you know, seeing all the construction stages, and it’s nice to see it reopen.”
For the first time in years, cars could be seen driving in both directions down West Cliff Drive on Sunday.
The city announced that the road has been fully restored to pre-storm conditions.
People who live in the area are relieved to see the construction crews gone. “You had to go on Woodrow,” says Benjamin North. “You had to go like way, way around, and it was terrible. I love driving the whole length of Westcliff. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s great scenery.”
Hemang Vaidyf, who lives in the area, says, “Every time I pulled my car out, it was really tough to back out with cars going every which way till they blocked off some parking spots and so on, which helped, but it took a long time.”
With these traffic headaches in the rearview, locals are happy to see West Cliff coming back to life.
“Everything came out really looking nice and all the residents are happy,” says Kim Stoner, long-time Santa Cruz Resident. “The surfers are happy, the folks that live on Westcliff are happy. Now we’ve got our, what I call our 17-mile drive, which is only three miles long.”
Stoner says it was important for neighbors to keep the two-way traffic after talks of incorporating a bike-only path. That would have reduced West Cliff to one lane.
“Some people you know, they’re either visiting for a short period of time, and they may have health issues and they can’t ride their bike or walk, so they can drive by as well,” says Don Iglesias, who lives near the area. “It’s been a long time, it has been two years.”In May, the city adopted a 5-year roadmap for West Cliff, the first step in a 50-year community vision.
Iglesias adds that the concern remains for another similar cliff erosion in the future, yet he’s confident the city will continue to work with neighbors. “I mean, if the road were to wash out or something, yeah, the city will have to regroup and come up with a second plan,” said Iglesias.
The city of Santa Cruz is inviting community members to a special reopening event on August 15th. The reopening celebration will kick off at 5 pm and go on until 8 pm at Lighthouse Point, 701 West Cliff.
Ata Shaheen
SEASIDE, Calif. (KION-TV) — Seaside Police say that fireworks around this time of year are some of the biggest problems throughout the city.
They say that they’re going after people who set them off by monitoring dozens of cameras and microphones set-up throughout the city, as well as with drones.
Police intending to catch each incident and track people down. They say that they’ve already responded to four calls for fireworks over the past 24 hours.
“The amount of the reports that we get of fireworks is actually overwhelming,” said Seargent Jon Martinez of the Seaside Police Department. “We put on a spare records clerk just to take in calls for fireworks and we don’t even have the ability to keep up with the computer. The computer actually gets overloaded with how many calls are coming in. On the 4th of July, we’re well into three, -400 calls that are coming in.”
The department has set up about 50 Flock cameras around the city, mainly to read license plates, but during this time of year they are also listening for “booms.”
Police saying that they can distinguish between a firework and a gunshot.
And, operators will be flying drones around to triangulate where said “booms” are coming from, then they said they’ll respond.
According to police, depending on the situation, people who launch illegal fireworks can get citations, infraction or even criminal charges.
This, with a new curfew starting June 28 on safe and sane fireworks — fireworks that do not go up into the air and those that can be purchased at any roadside firework stand.
The 10 p.m. curfew and safe and sane firework allowance happens simultaneously and will run through July 5.
After 10 p.m., all fireworks of any kind are illegal.
Jeanette Bent
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) — Bike Santa Cruz County released a first-of-its-kind report on Thursday looking at where, why and how local bikers ride.
The organization finding significant safety concerns.
According to the report, 89% of bike riders saw or experienced a crash or near miss in the last year, with only 2% of riders feeling safe on local roads.
“We don’t feel safe because there’s just way too many cars going way too fast,” one cyclist, who was with his son, told KION.
Fifty-five percent of cyclists say that protected bike lanes on busy streets are the most important upgrade to make them feel safer while biking in the county.
The study also identified problem corridors.
Six corridors were identified: Soquel Avenue and Soquel Drive, Mission Street at Highway 1, Capitola Road, River Street and Water Street.
The report says that those streets — alone — account for nearly half of all the county’s bike-related crashes in 2024.
People in Santa Cruz hoping that the recent survey results will help them shape safer bike routes throughout the county.
Jeanette Bent
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. (KION-TV) — Saturday evening at 7:34 p.m., an earthquake registering 3.1 shook homes throughout the Central Coast.
The quake’s epicenter was less than 2 miles from San Juan Bautista, with a depth of 3.85 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
There have been reports of people feeling the quake as far north as Prunedale, according to one KION viewer.
There have been no reports of damage or injuries.
Mickey Adams
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) — Nerds of all stripes will be descending on the Central Coast this weekend for the 5th annual Nerdville Comic Con!
It’s happening Sunday, June 29 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Watsonville High School.
Local vendors, game tournaments, celebrity panels and more will be featured.
There will also be performances scheduled from the Watsonville Community Band and folklore dance group Angeles Danzantes.
It promises to be a fun filled weekend!
Associated Press
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) — The Monterey County District Attorney announced Friday that a Salinas Valley State Prisoner was convicted of first degree murder and assault three years after a stabbing at the prison.
The District Attorney says that life prisoner Lawrence Adams stabbed fellow inmate Robert Tunstall more than 15 times in the prison’s yard in October, 2022 using a makeshift weapon.
Tunstall died within minutes of the attack, according to the DA’s office.
Adams now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Inmates die after being attacked in California prison yards
FOLSOM, Calif. (AP) — Two inmates serving life sentences have died after being attacked at California prisons, corrections officials said Wednesday.
Robert Tunstall, 64, died Wednesday morning after another inmate attacked him in the recreation yard at Salinas Valley State Prison, according to a statement from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Life-saving measures failed and Tunstall was pronounced dead about a half-hour after the attack, authorities said.
An inmate-made weapon was recovered and a suspect identified as Lawrence Adams, 42.
Tunstall was admitted to prison from Solano County in 1976, to serve life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, corrections officials said.
Adams was admitted from Tuolomne County in 2007 to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole under third-strike convictions for arson and other charges. He also was serving additional years for two attacks on other inmates at separate prisons, authorities said.
Meanwhile, authorities were investigating the death of an inmate at State Prison, Sacramento on Tuesday afternoon.
Two fellow inmates assaulted Felipe Rodriguez in the prison yard and the 36-year-old was pronounced dead about a half-hour later.
Two inmate-made weapons were recovered, authorities said.
Rodriguez was serving life sentences, including one without the possibility of parole, for crimes including mayhem, extortion, attempted murder and kidnapping resulting in death. He was first sent to prison from San Bernardino County in 2015 to serve nine years for carjacking, authorities said.
Investigators named two suspects: 41-year-old Selso E. Orozco Jr. and 36-year-old Mike A. Calderon.
Orozco is serving a 23-year sentence on robbery and weapons charges. Calderon received a life-without-parole sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder.
