Cover Story
Central Coast photographers share their views on life in this year’s Winning Images contest
A picture is more than just the image it portrays. It encompasses the way the photographer who captured it sees light and dark, angles and lines, animate and inanimate. Each snapshot is as unique as the person holding the camera. Since 1994, New Times Media Group has invited local photographers to show us life from…
Lompoc’s Hangar 7 serves wine, beer, and bites in a practically perfect venue
Lompoc’s hottest club is Hangar 7. This place has everything—comfy chairs, card games, a bucket full of old propellers, Dan Cortese, and even fuzzy mustache mirrors (the thing where, like, when you go to the bathroom, there’s a bunch of gag shop mustaches glued to the mirror so you can line your face up and…
Political Watch June 27, 2019
• A rainbow flag recongizing LGBTQ Pride Month is flying over the state capitol throughout the month of June. Gov. Gavin Newsom requested the flag to be raised on June 17 to show support for members of the LGBTQ community throughout the state, according to a news release from Newsom’s office. “By flying the pride…
Winning Images 2019
Give us the most poignant, interesting image of something we have never seen before. That’s what we ask Central Coast photographers to submit to us every year in our annual Winning Images contest. Because a photograph can captures a moment as unique as the individual who took it. Photographs can make you feel a certain…
Cold Spring Tavern presents roots rock duo The Hubcap Stealers
To say the apple didn’t fall far from the tree would be an understatement in the case of Neal and Ian Sowers, aka The Hubcap Stealers. This father-and-son duo got its start in 2012, when son/apple Ian was only 11 years old, although he had already been drumming since age 4. Watching Ian develop as…
Fossemalle Dance Studio holds 32nd annual recital in Santa Ynez
2019 marks the 32nd season of the Santa Ynez Valley Performing Arts Company (also known as the Fossemalle Dance Studio). The popular youth program will present its annual showcase, An Invitation to Dance, starting Thursday, June 20, at 7 p.m. at the Santa Ynez Valley High School Little Theater. This year’s event also marks the…
Lompoc artist and gardener Sarah Allred shows watercolor, acrylic paintings at Flying Goat Cellars
When Sarah Allred isn’t tending her garden, chances are she’s probably painting it. Regardless of medium or material—whether it’s watercolors on cotton or acrylic on wood—the subject matter of Allred’s art is usually plant life. “As a longtime gardener and amateur botanist, plants are often the focus of my work,” the Lompoc-based painter told the…
PCPA’s Million Dollar Quartet opens at Marian Theatre
The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) presents its production of Million Dollar Quartet, which opens Thursday, June 20, and runs through Saturday, June 29, at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria. The plot of this Tony Award-winning musical centers on an impromptu jam session between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins in…
Santa Maria Civic Theatre presents The Trial of Goldilocks
The Trial of Goldilocks, Santa Maria Civic Theatre’s annual free summer fairy tale selection, opens Friday, June 21, and runs through Sunday, June 30. Co-directors Lisa Jacobson and Kimberley Washington helm this comedy, from writer Joseph Robinette, which examines the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears from multiple points of view. Performances take place…
Grossman Gallery showcases oil paintings by Elizabeth Monks Hack
Small Town Abstractions, a new art exhibition at the Grossman Gallery in Lompoc, opens Monday, July 1, and runs through Wednesday, July 31. An artist reception takes place on Sunday, July 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. This exhibit features oil paintings by Lompoc-based artist Elizabeth Monks Hack, who strived to capture different aspects of…
CANARY: Electrified emergency
Are you guys ready for the apocalypse? Because it’s coming. And you can thank your local electric utility company for its contribution to it. In our case, that would be PG&E, the Pacific Gas and Electric company! OK, maybe I’m being dramatic, but I might have to go without internet this summer for days at…
Do better for your students
Allan Hancock College is a widely and deeply appreciated asset to our community. It offers opportunities leading to successful and satisfying lives for so many. But why has it allowed its name to be associated with controversial efforts that may risk the economic future of its students and the health of their families? The college…
Lompoc’s changing budget numbers need to be peer reviewed
The city of Lompoc’s budget discussion has been going on for a couple of months, and there have been several presentations by the staff. I have been taking each of them at face value because the staff members are supposed to be professionals hired for their skill, so it seemed to be the way to…
Spotlight on: Santa Maria Valley Humane Society
Despite these gloomy days, it’s supposedly the beginning of summer, which for a lot of people on the Central Coast means sunshine, warm temperatures, and days spent at the beach. However, to animal shelters and other organizations, the onset of summer means the beginning of kitten season. As adorable as that may sound, it can…
County supervisors consider tightening cannabis amendments
Commercial cannabis growers in Santa Barbara County may have to abide by more stringent policies if supervisors approve two changes at an upcoming meeting. The July 9 hearing will take place more than a year after the county approved its existing commercial cannabis ordinances. The two amendments would increase the number of people who are…
Already difficult-to-meet rules on heavy diesel vehicles to become more stringent
California businesses with fleets of heavy, diesel-fueled vehicles will have to begin meeting more stringent environmental protection regulations on July 1, a process that could prove difficult for many—including at least one local business—that already struggle to adhere to the current requirements. California’s Periodic Smoke Inspection Program became effective in the ’90s and was developed…
Grand jury finds county’s mental health services for children lacking
A Santa Barbara County grand jury released a June 13 report on the county’s Department of Behavioral Wellness and its handling of children experiencing mental health crises. The report outlines much of what the county already knew—there isn’t enough space in the county for children, and people in general, who are in need of immediate…
While statewide pesticide use declines, chlorpyrifos use increases
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation released its 2017 Pesticide Use Report on June 11 and found that while pesticide use dropped across the state from 2016 to 2017, the use of the controversial pesticide chlorpyrifos actually increased. Throughout the state, a little more than 3.7 million pounds fewer pesticides were used on farms, in…
Supervisors approve first phase of new homeless plan
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved the first phase of a community action plan focused on homelessness at its June 18 meeting. Deputy Director of Housing and Community Development Dinah Lockhart presented the board with the first phase of the plan, which was developed from October 2018 to January 2019 with input from…
County deferred maintenance backlog continues to grow
In its most recent budget, Santa Barbara County increased funding for its deferred maintenance backlog, however, it’s not enough to keep pace with the backlog’s growth. The county Board of Supervisors approved the 2019-20 budget at a meeting on June 11, which included no service level reductions for the first time in years, county…
Local organizations prepare for potential PG&E power outages
Utility provider Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Company announced that it could shut off power in huge swaths of California for days at a time in an attempt to prevent future wildfires like the burns the company was blamed for in 2017 and 2018, and local businesses and health care providers are trying to prepare…
Political Watch June 20, 2019
• Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) applauded the recently passed state budget in a statement she released on June 13, saying she supports the state’s focus on education, housing, and disaster prevention and response. “At a time when California has a strong economy and a healthy surplus, we passed a budget today that very carefully…
