Local leaders are taking even greater steps to end homelessness in the region. In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—at the behest of Santa Barbara County Supervisor Doreen Farr and U.S. Rep. Lois Capps—granted the county an 11th-hour 30-day extension on the federal deadline to apply for housing funds. Each year, […]
AMY ASMAN
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Pay-per-performance
Lucia Mar school district eyes an incentive-based pay system
Teachers in the Lucia Mar Unified School District could soon be seeing changes in their paychecks. On Jan. 28, members of the district’s teachers association approved a proposal to consider an incentive-based pay system for six of its schools. Launched in 1999, the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) is a school reform program that, among other […]
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Santa Maria mourns the passing of a former mayor
Donald E. Lahr, a longtime local businessman and community leader who served as mayor of Santa Maria from December 1998 to December 2000, died of a stroke on Jan. 25 four days after celebrating his 81st birthday. According to a press release from the city, Lahr had a key role in changing the mayoral term […]
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CafeFX takes its final bow
Somewhere in the universe, Hellboy—the muscled, red devil comic-book hero who inspired his own movie franchise—is crying. He’s shedding tears because, after 17 years in business, CafeFX/ComputerCafe, the Santa Maria-based visual effects design company that worked on the Hellboy films and many other films, has closed its doors. “The current economic climate and global marketplace […]
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Dual institutionalism
A growing influx of mentally ill inmates has the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department playing doctor
The Santa Barbara County Jail has become “the de facto mental health institution for the county,” Sheriff Bill Brown told the Board of Supervisors Jan. 18 while giving a follow-up presentation about the department’s mental health services. Brown explained that the jail—like most other jails in the country—has seen an influx of mentally ill inmates […]
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The tough questions
Local mental health advocates hope the tragic events in Arizona will inspire people to learn more about mental illness
By now, it’s a story we all know, but wished we didn’t: On Jan. 8, 22-year-old Jared Lee Laughner walked into a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store and opened fire on people attending a political meet-and-greet with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Loughner managed to kill six people, and injure several others including Giffords, before some bystanders […]
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Helping Haiti
Some Santa Maria doctors talk about volunteering after the earthquake, and reflect on the fragile country’s future
As most of the world knows, on the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Caribbean country, located east of Cuba on the island of Hispaniola. The Haitian government reported that the disaster claimed 230,000 lives, injured 300,000 people, and left one million people homeless. The earthquake reduced to rubbish many […]
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County poised to crack down on spills from on-shore oil production facilities
At its Jan. 11 meeting, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with a proposal to tighten regulations for noncompliant on-shore oil drilling companies. If approved, the ordinance would amend the county’s Petroleum Code to change what constitutes a “high risk” facility, and clarify the offending facility’s clean-up requirements. The […]
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The community focuses on the future
Local leaders, families, and youth are coming together to make a safer Santa Maria
Santa Maria Valley Future Search is back on the radar. Technically, it never really disappeared—it’s just ready to step back into the spotlight. Last February, approximately 100 Santa Marians gathered at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center for a three-day conference addressing youth violence in the area. Based on an internationally recognized model, Future Search […]
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Learn online
Want to go to college but don’t have time to commute or sit in classrooms? According to Allan Hancock College officials, the school’s online classes “offer flexibility in scheduling to accommodate work, family, and/or transportation constraints.” Hancock offers weekend and Fast Track classes that last eight weeks or as short as one or two days, […]
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Driveways are dangerous
According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a driveway is one of the most dangerous spots in the neighborhood. Thousands of children nationwide are injured or killed by driveway accidents, especially during hectic times and other family gatherings. “Driveway accidents happen [nationally] about 2,000 times per year. And children die as a result of […]
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Body found in Santa Ynez River
On Dec. 23, two kayakers paddling their way down the Santa Ynez River discovered a body floating near Refugio Bridge, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department reported in a recent press release. The two men—locals Jared Rossman and Jonathan Davis—immediately contacted law enforcement officials and waited with the body until their arrival. Members of the […]
