A Chinese national who took photographs of Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) with a drone pleaded guilty in March to violating the national defense airspace. According to a plea deal reached with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Yinpiao Zhou—a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States—was sentenced to time served in prison (four […]
Camillia Lanham
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Students at four Santa Maria-Bonita schools finally get their playgrounds
After months of playing on concrete slabs, students at Alvin, Fairlawn, Ontiveros, and Tunnell elementary schools are now jumping, swinging, and climbing on new equipment. On March 20, the Santa Maria-Bonita School District announced that construction, which started last summer, was finished at those four schools and that all of the district’s schools either have […]
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Planning Commission punts Richards Ranch decision to Board of Supervisors
After accusing Santa Barbara County of acting in bad faith and playing politics, Richards Ranch didn’t get what it wanted: for the Planning Commission to overturn staff’s decision calling the project application incomplete. “Normally, this is not how the county would treat an applicant. I think politics are afoot,” Richards Ranch attorney Beth Collins told […]
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Precarious permits: Sable awaits Santa Barbara County’s decision on whether it can take over operator permits from ExxonMobil
About a month after Santa Barbara County supervisors voted 2-2 on the appeal to Sable Offshore Corporation’s permit transfer application, the county is still trying to decide what it means. “We are still considering the issue internally, and I do not have an update on our final determination yet,” county Energy, Minerals, and Compliance Deputy […]
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Santa Ynez residents sue Solvang over Wildwood development
A group of landowners filed a lawsuit against the city of Solvang on March 7 over a development that is still in the planning process. The Santa Ynez Valley Residents Association (SYVRA) is asking the court to vacate the city’s December 2024 determination that the Wildwood project application is complete, saying the city violated one […]
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Santa Maria mayoral candidate files small claims suit over a critic’s letter to the editor
One of Santa Maria’s 2024 mayoral candidates is taking a critic to small claims court for a letter published in Noozhawk last October. Diana Perez, who lost her bid for mayor to Alice Patino, filed the claim in January, alleging that Yvette Valadez-Andrade owes $12,500 for defaming “my campaign for mayor of Santa Maria 2024 […]
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Lompoc moves to ban homeless encampments, keeping personal belongings on public property
Leaving personal belongings or camping on public property will soon be a no-no in Lompoc, thanks to a unanimous decision by the City Council on March 4. A 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision paved the way for the city to enforce against those kinds of things, according to City Attorney Jeff Malawy. Last year, the […]
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North County supervisors say renewable projects should get same treatment as oil and gas
From 2018 to 2023, incidents at battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities dropped by 97 percent. That’s not just for fire. It’s for all emergency responses to BESS facilities, Central Coast Community Energy CEO Robert Shaw told the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on March 11. The number came from a 2024 Electric Power […]
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Road to nowhere: Residents remain unable to access Los Padres Forest via Colson Canyon Road after 2023 storms
Multiple signs note Colson Canyon Road’s closure: a big red one along Tepusquet Road a few miles from its intersection and at least three at the dirt road’s entrance. “Colson Canyon Road closed to all traffic including foot traffic,” a green and yellow U.S. Forest Service sign states. The road has been closed since January […]
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Santa Barbara County supervisors increase salaries 48 percent, push back on Andy Caldwell
After reaching out to what he said was 70,000 to 80,000 Santa Barbara County residents about the Board of Supervisors’ proposed salary increase, Andy Caldwell told supervisors that they didn’t have the “consent of the governed.” “Think of the people who are struggling with inflation right now. What you are doing is a slap in […]
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Santa Barbara County forms task force to address illegal street vendors
Since January, Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Services has issued 137 citations to illegal food vendors who operate on sidewalks or the side of the road. But the citations don’t do much, according to Gina Fischer, 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann’s chief of staff. “They can legally refuse to sign civil citations,” Fischer told the […]
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Environmentalists question Sable’s ability to handle an oil pipeline disaster
Sable Offshore Corporation has the financial ability and insurance coverage it needs to handle any potential future disasters caused by the pipeline that spawned the Refugio Oil Spill in 2015, according to Santa Barbara County staff. But environmental organizations disagree. That disaster cost the pipeline’s then owner/operator, Plains All-American, $870 million in cleanup and remediation, […]
