The top complaint voiced at the city-held northeast neighborhood town hall meeting on March 26? Teenagers up to no good after Pioneer Valley High School gets out for the day. Vandalism, congestion, and petty theft/burglary were high on the list of issues. The meeting was the second of four neighborhood get-togethers organized by the city […]
Camillia Lanham
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Barham oil field expansion gets go ahead from community
Drilling for oil on the Central Coast—or trying to—can prompt controversy, dissent, and heated debate. But that’s not the case this time around. A current conversation is revolving around a desire to expand the boundary lines of the Barham Ranch oil field southeast of Los Alamos to include 640 more acres of surface land. Pat […]
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Change of funds
The future of Chumash grant funds is uncertain
March is application time for law enforcement, road construction, fire departments, and paramedics in Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton, and Santa Barbara County, all looking to get a boost from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians via the state through grants designed to help alleviate casino impacts. Public service, safety, and infrastructure groups can get […]
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Homicide arraignment continued again
The cacophony of six lawyers speaking to six defendants in the courtroom’s holding cell made it hard to understand exactly who was talking and what they were saying on the afternoon of March 25. Meanwhile, two more pairs of defendants and their lawyers stood close by in the courtroom. That equals a total of eight […]
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Lompoc eyes potential changes for its theater
Getting Lompoc’s historic theater from where it is now—dilapidated and rotting on a corner in downtown—to where some citizens want it to be—restored and bringing tourists to downtown—is going to take some finagling. The jumbled loans that make up the Lompoc Housing and Community Development Corporation’s (LHCDC) debt on the theater have held the property […]
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Change is coming
Santa Maria’s high school district asks decision-making committees to move away from status quo
There comes a point when change becomes a necessity, and now is that time for three of Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s schools looking into tweaking policy decision-making. It’s not so much the school policies themselves that need an update; it’s the actual decision-making process. The district’s Board of Education unanimously sent that […]
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Blochman school district will lose its preschool
Citing shaky finances, the Blochman Union School District’s board of education decided on March 12 to close its only preschool at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. The preschool was established at Benjamin Foxen Elementary in 2009 and has never received state funding. It’s paid for through tuition and help from the elementary school’s […]
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Whiskey weather
Distilling moves into Wine Country with the notion that someday all booze will be created equal
Check out the photo gallery!
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Gauging the sequester’s effects could take a while
It’s a bit tricky to truly calculate the effects of the automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequestration enacted on March 1. There are estimates, guesses, and big numbers behind dollar signs, but until the final budgets are out or the higher rungs of government show exactly where the knife will cut, many agencies […]
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Pioneer Valley High students prep for science fair
Blacktail deer and mountain lions caught on camera tell a story about Colson Canyon that Pioneer Valley student Katlynn Randolph can’t wait to share with Santa Barbara County science fair judges on March 8. Randolph had the chance to practice telling her story on March 1, as she was arranging the pieces of her science […]
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Spotlight on: Santa Maria Speedway
A Friday morning spent clearing out cement that had been night-dumped by a rogue motorist fell under Ruben Munoz’s new responsibilities as promoter for the Santa Maria Speedway. Ruben and his wife Katy took over operations and the lease from previous promoter Chris Kearns on Feb. 1. While the move may mean a new era […]
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Pest versus pollinator?
California’s fight against a citrus pest comes to Santa Maria
The discovery of two citrus pests captured on sticky paper has prompted the state to call for mandated insecticide spraying of citrus trees near the Santa Maria Public Library. The insecticide treatment being used, however, has local beekeepers worried. The pest—the Asian citrus psyllid—could carry a disease known as citrus greening, which is deadly to […]
