News

More than 150 volunteers took to the streets Saturday, April 21 to add some sparkle back to downtown Hollister, where the Hollister Downtown Business Association held a Spring Cleanup. Residents grabbed brooms, dustpans, garden gloves and shovels and worked up some elbow grease to get...

San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies used a combination of modern technology and good old-fashioned detective work to identify and arrest a man accused of the armed robbery of a Tres Piños store. About 2pm April 19, a man entered the Tres Piños Country Store, 6851...

San Benito High School junior Jasmine Rosales Castillo will be spending part of her summer at Stanford University, after being selected for the prestigious institution’s eight-week Summer Session Horizon Scholars program. Rosales Castillo earned the residential scholarship opportunity designated for low-income, high-achieving incoming high school...

Multiple programs at Gavilan College earned the California Community Colleges’ Strong Workforce Stars recognition for their success in improving student employment and wage outcomes, according to an April 17 announcement. A Gold Star was awarded to the Gavilan College program in Accounting. Silver Stars were awarded...

With poppies and other wildflowers in bloom, Bear Gulch filled with water and California condors soaring above volcanic peaks, Pinnacles National Park is in its peak season. Park rangers say that April is the most popular month for hikers of all ages to enjoy one...

When San Benito High School students walk into the brand new 2,000-square-foot dance studio on the ground floor of the $10.7 million Visual and Performing Arts & Academic Building, they are now welcomed by bright lights, mirrored walls, ballet bars and a spacious, enlightening...

The Free Lance was honored this month with two first-place awards in the 2017 California Journalism Awards contest of the California News Publishers Association. The Free Lance won first place in the Enterprise News category, for a series of news articles written by Managing Editor...

Mercedes Berglund, San Benito High School’s supervisor of security, became the first civilian to be honored with a Challenge Coin, was presented to her April 10 by Hollister Police Chief David Westrick. Berglund was recognized at the the district’s Board of Trustees’ meeting for earning...

The next stop is Salinas for two Hollister finalists at the finals for Start-Up Challenge Monterey Bay, a yearly entrepreneur competition organized by California State University Monterey Bay. Ohana Shaved Ice and Arti-Culture will vie for cash prizes at the finale on May 12, at...

For new Morgan Hill neighborhoods, outlying ranches, or businesses where fiber-optic cable lines haven't yet reached, getting adequate high-speed internet may not only be frustrating, but it can hinder economic progress. To help bring internet services from these areas into the fast lane, Bullet...