A former teacher for the Head Start program—which provides math and early reading assistance to children from low-income families, as part of Santa Barbara County’s Community Action Commission—is suing the commission for racial harassment and discrimination, according to court documents. Tandeka McCann, a 44-year-old black woman and Santa Barbara County resident, was hired by the […]
BRENNA SWANSTON
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Serving animals better: Santa Barbara County Animal Services works to comply with national standards
Santa Barbara County Animal Services has stepped up its game over the past two years, since the American Humane Association conducted a comprehensive assessment of Animal Services in June 2015, concluding with 464 recommendations. In the month following the assessment, Animal Services created an oversight team to help implement the Humane Association’s recommendations. Nearly two […]
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County to petition state for water project funding
At its April 11 meeting, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to send a project proposal to the governor’s Drought Task Force, seeking state funding for a list of projects intended to both create new water supplies for the county and protect existing resources. “With the cycle of drought more prevalent, and […]
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Santa Ynez High School student charged with assault for campus fight
A Santa Ynez High School freshman girl, 15, was charged in juvenile court on April 7 with one felony count of assault, following an April 4 fight on the high school campus, according to a press release from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. The fight in question was “particularly brutal,” according to an […]
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Temporary ordinance bans marijuana grows in Santa Barbara County
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to ban all outdoor cultivation of non-medical marijuana at the board’s April 4 meeting. The 45-day urgency ordinance temporarily prohibits the cultivation, distribution, transportation, storage, manufacturing, and processing of cannabis and cannabis products, including industrial hemp, in Santa Barbara County. It also bans personal outdoor marijuana […]
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Flower power: The Central Coast’s winter rainfall has wildflower hot spots revving up for a ‘super bloom’
View a slideshow of wildflowers around the Central Coast. I pulled off on the side of Figueroa Mountain Road, parking just a couple windy miles up from the Figueroa campground. Stepping outside, I spotted a rogue sheet of poppies, and some bushes of pitcher sage splotched here and there on the hillside. But it wasn’t […]
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Santa Maria students to compete for math, reading, spelling titles
Elementary and middle school students from around Santa Maria Valley will challenge each other in reading, math, and spelling skills at multiple competitions later this month. The Junior High Battle of the Books will come first, gathering more than 75 students on Friday, April 7, at 10 a.m. to show off their reading skills. Students […]
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Rice Elementary opts for eco-friendly hydration station
Rice Elementary School now offers a campus watering hole that promotes reusable water bottles, rather than single-use plastic bottles. The hydration station combines a drinking fountain with a bottle-filling station and a digital counter that tracks the number of disposable plastic bottles saved by refilling reusable bottles instead. The station aims to promote water consumption […]
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Community college grads make earnings gains
Good news for those holding degrees from a California community college: New state data shows that students who complete their associate degree increase their pre-degree earnings by more than double after two years in the workforce, on average. After five years, they triple the pre-degree earnings. The analysis comes from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s […]
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Potential rollback of Clean Power Plan to leave Santa Barbara County unscathed
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on April 4 that it would review the federal Clean Power Plan and potentially dismantle it, according to the Federal Register—but Santa Barbara County Energy Division staff says losing those federal regulations wouldn’t affect the county. The Obama administration implemented the Clean Power Plan at the end of 2015 […]
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Orcutt Academy responds to alleged gun threat
An Ernest Righetti High School student was arrested on the morning of April 2 for allegedly making a gun threat to Orcutt Academy High School. The student posted pictures of two guns on Facebook, accompanied by a caption insinuating he would be bringing the guns to Orcutt Academy on Monday, April 3, according to Orcutt […]
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Humans of Islam: Northern Santa Barbara County’s Muslim communities share what Islam means to them
Farooq Husayn sits up straight in his chair, one leg draped over the other, hands folded neatly in his lap. Behind him stretches a small, green-walled room, decorated sparingly with bookshelves and framed Arabic scripts on canvas. Voices shouting above loud music leak through the wall from the Mexican restaurant next door, and the building’s […]