Cover Story
Don’t like the NRA but love the Second Amendment and liberal ideals? There’s a club for that
Depressing the trigger, kickback hammers my body as the bullet exits the barrel. The polished wooden stock jams into the part of my shoulder where it’s nestled, rocking me back as I open my closed eye, hoping to catch a glimpse of what I hit more than 300 yards away. There isn’t a dust cloud,…
Gallery Los Olivos hosts pastel and watercolor duo show, Home and Away
Central Coast-based artists Kris Buck and Karen McLean-McGaw have been friends and painting partners for more than two decades, but this month’s exhibition at Gallery Los Olivos marks the duo’s first joint show. “I’ve known Kris and painted with her for over 20 years, so it really is natural to show our work together,” said…
Wildling exhibition showcases landscapes from George Rose’s new book, Wine Country: Santa Barbara County
Starting Nov. 16, guests of the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature can expect to find a new photography exhibition inside the museum’s Valley Oak Gallery. The showcase, titled Santa Barbara County and Beyond, features more than 20 landscapes from Santa Ynez-based photographer George Rose. Although the exhibit’s coverage area ranges from all over California,…
Orcutt Community Theater presents ‘Annie’
Orcutt Community Theatre’s production of Annie opens at Klein Dance Arts Studio on Friday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. This classic Tony Award-winning musical is based on the popular Great Depression-era comic strip, Little Orphan Annie, by Harold Gray. The setting is New York City during the 1930s, and the plot follows an orphan as…
Heart of the Valley series hosts guest speaker Joe Dana
Heart of the Valley, a free monthly history series presented by the Santa Maria Public Library, hosts its next event on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 10:15 a.m. This month’s meeting will feature guest speaker Joe Dana, who will host a presentation on his ancestor, William Goodwin Dana, the famous sea captain who settled down in…
Solvang Antiques holds annual Holiday Art Show
Solvang Antiques Fine Art Gallery’s annual Holiday Art Show opens on Friday, Nov. 29, and will run through Tuesday, Dec. 31. A special champagne reception to celebrate the show’s debut will take place on Saturday, Nov. 30, from noon to 4 p.m. Artists will be present during the reception, and all artwork will be available…
Cured and Cultivated online deli now delivers gorgeous meat and cheese ‘tables’ to Central Coast foodies
About the same time their 15-month-old daughter, Zoia, took her first steps, Anatoly and Katherine Vorontsov launched the most happening cheese and charcuterie business around, Cured and Cultivated. And now, just in time for the holidays, the couple recently began offering online ordering and delivery of their boxes, boards, and “tables” of imported wares up…
Punk and reggae group Mad Caddies kick off 25th anniversary tour at Solvang Fall Festival
More than 25 bands will shift on and off two stages—Solvang Park and the Copenhagen stage—during Solvang’s inaugural Fall Festival, which runs Friday, Nov. 15, through Sunday, Nov. 17. Ska punk band The Mad Caddies is headlining the festival, with a performance in Solvang Park on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m. Four of the…
Political Watch: November 14, 2019
• State Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) released a statement on Nov. 6 condemning Facebook’s refusal to respond to a subpoena California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued. “Facebook has a legal obligation to comply with subpoenas, and its refusal to fully comply with this subpoena is extremely troubling,” Cunningham said. “The company’s unwillingness to…
After years of construction, Santa Maria Joint Union’s long-awaited Career Technical Education Center nears completion
The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s nameless new high school is nearing completion. It’s 72 percent of the way there, according to the school district, and officials estimate it could be all the way done in February, with students trickling in by the fall of 2020. For now, officials are calling it a…
County changes framework for cannabis retail stores application process
Following a year of nonstop conversations over cannabis cultivation, residents and stakeholders in Santa Barbara County will have a new marijuana-related topic to discuss in 2020: The actual sale of the stuff. Currently, cannabis dispensaries are only located within the county’s cities that allow the businesses, such as Lompoc and Santa Barbara. But this could…
Sears to close Santa Maria location
Sears may be shutting the doors on its Santa Maria Town Center location in February 2020, but leaders of the city’s business community say retail is still going strong. Suzanne Singh, the economic development director for the Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce, said she doesn’t see the town’s retail economy spiraling downward. She referenced the…
Rep. Carbajal holds fundraising lead over Caldwell
With a year to go in the 2020 election, 24th District Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) is off to a big financial head start against his Republican challenger, radio host and political commentator Andy Caldwell. As of a Sept. 30 campaign finance filing deadline, the second term congressman and former Santa Barbara County supervisor had…
New urgent care proposal in Buellton could bolster health care services
The Buellton Planning Commission approved an item on Nov. 7 allowing a new urgent care facility into town. The proposal came from Cottage Health, a 125-year-old nonprofit with a network of 600 physicians, under the umbrella of a volunteer board of directors from the greater Santa Barbara area. Ron Biscaro, listed on the organization’s website…
County Planning Commission gives two cannabis projects the go-ahead
After numerous hearings, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission recently approved two cannabis cultivation projects and denied one. On Nov. 6, the commission discussed winemaker Blair Pence’s appeals filed over the county’s approval of the Santa Rita Valley Ag. Inc. project and the Santa Barbara West Coast Farms project. The commission denied the former appeal…
Women’s March SLO co-founder announces run against Jordan Cunningham
Greeted by a raucous San Luis Obispo Guild Hall crowd of more than 100 people, Dawn Addis opened her run for state Assembly on Nov. 7 like she did her political life in 2017 as a Women’s March SLO organizer: surrounded by energized local progressives. “In 2017, millions of us took to the streets knowing…
CANARY: Money talks
The fundraising race for November 2020 is off to a roaring start! You know elections, for the people, by the people, don’t really matter, right? It’s all about that money, baby! If the last two cycles are any indication for what we should be expecting for the 24th Congressional District race, incumbent Salud Carbajal will…
Nearing a year in business, Cosmoton Academy adds a new certificate program
In a Lompoc strip mall next to a pizza shop and a vacant Chinese buffet is the Cosmoton Academy. It’s a starting point for people who want careers in hair styles geared toward men. But the school run by Michael and Laura Funkhauser recently added a new program to broaden the student base of their…
Aera dreams for Cat Canyon would be our nightmare
Aera Energy wants us to green-light its plan to radically ramp up oil operations in Cat Canyon. The company is jointly owned by Exxon and Shell. As you read this, Exxon is awaiting, probably in vain, a major court verdict in a suit that charges it has lied to the public for decades. Exxon knew…
Cannabis planting is taking over the Santa Ynez Valley
I live in Buellton and have lived in the Santa Ynez Valley for more than 50 years and have never been so sick with allergies as I have this fall. Thanks, cannabis growers who never quit planting, harvesting, and planting again. The “wet skunk” odor permeates our end of the valley whenever there is a…
Celebrate women’s right to vote
The national anniversary of women’s suffrage will be celebrated in August of 2020. Did you know that women in the state of California voted on state matters eight years earlier than they were able to do nationally? California suffragists were successful in lobbying the Republican Party to include support for women’s suffrage in its 1911…
Lompoc, get in line with your fiscally sound neighbors
Lompoc is facing a severe budgetary problem, and as a result, vital services like police protection are severely curtailed. So far, there have been seven murders in Lompoc, perhaps somewhat due to a lack of policemen. So why does Lompoc charge new home builders so much less for connection fees for new houses than neighboring…
