•On March 9, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) announced that he secured new federal funding for two infrastructure projects in San Luis Obispo County. These two projects are related to improving the Shell Beach Road shared use path and Morro Bay’s city stormwater system, respectively. In order to extend the local shared use path, the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) was awarded $2 million. The extension will improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians, enhance local and regional mobility, and increase access to retail and commercial services, coastal access points, and trailheads along the corridor, according to Pete Rodgers, executive director of SLOCOG. “We’re thrilled this multimodal pathway will provide a key regional connection through one of the most congested areas in SLO County,” Rodgers said in a March 9 statement. To repair and upsize Morro Bay’s storm drains and enhance resilience against floods by rerouting lines and constructing new drains, the city was awarded $250,000. During storms in early 2023, the city experienced heavy flooding partly because Morro Bay’s storm drain system failed to convey water out of the flood zone and other areas. “This funding is vital for maintaining and improving our storm drainage system, which is essential to protecting our community from flooding and ensuring the safety of our residents,” Morro Bay Mayor Carla Wixom said in a statement. Carbajal described both projects as representing “a step forward in ensuring San Luis Obispo County’s infrastructure is upgraded to meet the needs of the community.”
• In response to former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s recent appointment to Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas–Western Hemisphere, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) issued a statement on March 5. Padilla described the shift as a firing from President Donald Trump, who appointed U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) to replace Noem in the role of DHS secretary. “It’s about time. Kristi Noem’s tenure was a complete failure, and she never should have been confirmed in the first place. But make no mistake: A new secretary doesn’t change the need for serious reforms at DHS and doesn’t undo the cruelty and terror the agency has unleashed on our communities at the direction of Donald Trump,” Padilla said in his statement. “We still need a full overhaul of ICE and CBP to ensure these agencies enforce our immigration laws in a way that reflects our values, doesn’t tear families apart, respects civil rights, and upholds the Constitution.”
•U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) condemned the Trump administration for “prioritizing an illegal war with Iran” over solving affordability issues that are plaguing the U.S., Schiff said during a recent interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. During the March 5 program, Schiff criticized Republicans for hesitating to name the current involvement in Iran as a war. “There is no doubt about this being war, and I think Republicans both don’t want to own it themselves, because they know this could go very badly, but at the same time, they’re not willing, at least at this point, to stand up to the president,” Schiff told Collins. “We’re going to keep holding their feet to the fire, because, frankly, the president misled the country when he said he wouldn’t embark on new wars of regime change. And there are the needs of millions and millions and millions of Americans that are being ignored and resources that could be used to help them afford their life are being squandered over Iran right now.”
This article appears in March 12 – March 19, 2026.