Jun 19-29, 2025

Jun 19-29, 2025 / Vol. 26 / No. 17
For 30 years, New Times Media Group has been asking Central Coast photographers to send their best moments our way. Animal moments, people moments, floral moments, and more. This year, they submitted 333 images for our annual Winning Images contest, which our judges narrowed down to the top three in each of eight categories and […]

Cover Story

Winning Images 2025

For 30 years, New Times Media Group has been asking Central Coast photographers to send their best moments our way. Animal moments, people moments, floral moments, and more. This year, they submitted 333 images for our annual Winning Images contest, which our judges narrowed down to the top three in each of eight categories and…

Demetria Estate announces summer movie nights, live music

Demetria Estate announces summer movie nights, live music Demetria Estate will welcome summer to Los Olivos by hosting Live Music Sundays and Movie Nights in the Vineyard. The film screenings will take place summer evenings at 6:30 p.m. starting in July. Tickets are $220 per couple—$75 for kids—and include a buffet-style dinner, a glass and…

Tyler Perry’s Straw follows a desperate and marginalized mother struggle to care for her daughter

Straw What’s it rated? Unrated What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Netflix Writer-director Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman, The Six Triple Eight) helms this psychological crime drama about single mother Janiyah Wiltkinson (Taraji P. Henson) living hand-to-mouth in a rundown apartment with her…

The Studio satirizes a legacy movie studio struggling to survive in a changing Hollywood

The Studio What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Apple TV+ Hollywood gets a thorough skewering in this ensemble satirical comedy about struggling film production company Continental Studios. Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) is the newly appointed studio head, a self-described cinephile who wants to make important films. Continental’s CEO, Griffin Mill (a hilarious…

Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce declares to close June 30

The Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce will close June 30, according to a June 10 Facebook post from the chamber, which blamed the City Council’s decision to ā€œabruptly and drastically cut funding.ā€ ā€œThis is more than a budget cut. It’s the potential loss of a vital community pillar,ā€ chamber President/CEO DeVika Stalling wrote. ā€œWe are…

Political Watch: June 19, 2025

• On June 12, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) was forcibly removed from U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles, while ā€œexercising his duty to perform congressional oversight in the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,ā€ according to a statement from Padilla’s office. ā€œ[Padilla] tried to ask…

Chamber danger

How much does it take to fold a chamber of commerce?Ā  In Lompoc, apparently, it takes a little less than $50,000. The Lompoc City Council decided to cut into the amount of funding it provides to the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce—both in cash and in-kind.Ā  The result of that is about a net $60,000…

Democrats who make fun of Trump motivate his sense of vengeance

TACO Trade? Seriously? Democrats just never learn. And thus, we are where we are right now. And, if Trump’s vengeful personality has anything to do with it, things are going to get a lot worse, thanks in large part to Democrats who just can’t get out of their own way. According to some of his…

When youth are the target: we must stand up to immigration raids on the Central Coast

Across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, a deeply disturbing pattern is unfolding—one that echoes the violent immigration enforcement actions taking place in Los Angeles.Ā  Even more disturbing is that they are not isolated incidents. A Massachusetts high schooler was detained after appearing in court. A 9-year-old child from California is now in deportation proceedings. And…

Local photographer Kayla Marie highlights the planet’s natural beauty with her shots of beaches, sunsets, mountains

Picture perfect Kayla Marie has been photographing Santa Barbara County’s landscapes since she was 9 years old. Now a mother of two young children, she shares her pictures, hoping to inspire the next generation. Find her photos on Instagram under @_kayyyyylaaaaaaa_. Find her portfolio online at kaylamariephotography.smugmug.com. Growing up in Pismo Beach, a young Kayla…

Oak Ridge Boys celebrate July 4 with farewell concert at Chumash Casino

Oak Ridge Boys celebrate July 4 with farewell concert at Chumash Casino Iconic American vocal quartet The Oak Ridge Boys will celebrate the United States’ 249th birthday with a farewell concert at the Chumash Casino Resort’s Samala Showroom. Along with Ben James, who joined in 2023, longtime members Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, and Richard…


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