Local News

San Benito High School is now at the halfway point of its first six-week semester during the ongoing era of distance learning.   Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum said on Sept. 9 in a newsletter that he was pleased with the progress they’ve made despite having to jump...

Special to the Free Lance The Hollister City Council agreed Feb. 22 to update the city’s current noise ordinance to establish a more defined decibel level requirement. Hollister Police officials stated that the department has received “numerous complaints” for noise in the residential areas of the...

For Elizabeth Zepeda Gonzalez, vying for the San Benito County Board of Education District 1 seat hits close to home. She has watched her younger sister struggle to stay on top of her schoolwork as their home has spotty wifi reception.

It’s been 31 years since the corner of San Benito and Fourth Streets was occupied by something other than an empty grass lot.  However, Gary Byrne, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for San Benito County, along with Rebecca and Randy Wolf on Sept....

The final list of candidates is in for the Nov. 3 election for mayor, two city council seats, two county board of supervisor seats and two trustees’ seats in the Hollister School District.  Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez will run to retain his seat against challenger...

The state of California has announced a regional stay-at-home order in the San Joaquin Valley region—which includes San Benito County—due to the declining availability of hospital beds that may be needed to treat the growing surge of Covid-19 patients.

The Amazon logistics center broke ground nearly seven months ago on a dirt lot that sat on Flynn and San Felipe roads in Hollister.  The new building was officially opened Sept. 29 with a ribbon cutting ceremony that included brief remarks from Amazon site general...

It’s Friday afternoon and Linda Lampe is running later than usual preparing more than 100 meals to be distributed throughout San Benito County.  This was right after coming back from delivering food boxes to 165 families in San Juan Bautista, followed by putting together food...

A tentative agreement between San Benito Foods and the City of Hollister will force the downtown tomato cannery to fork over millions of dollars in fees if it wants to continue operating at full capacity, according to city officials. But the cannery manager said...

Two people—one from Hollister and one a Gilroy resident—suffered major injuries in a May 27 collision on Highway 25, according to authorities. One of the drivers was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Police and emergency personnel responded to the scene of the accident about 11:15pm,...