I lost three pounds in a week, and it’s all thanks to not eating. By Day 5 on the Master Cleanse—a diet that encourages its victims not only to not eat, but also to jet-blast the digestive tract with turbo-charged laxatives—I was passing out at work, having nightmares about food, and worried that I was […]
COLIN RIGLEY
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Recent storms swamp Oceano
Seasonal flooding is nothing new in Oceano. This past December’s record-breaking rainfall, however, caused some serious damage. On top of the severe storms and flooding, the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District’s treatment plant was overwhelmed, sending hundreds of thousands of gallons—maybe as much as a million gallons—of sewage into the surrounding area. San […]
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Pacific Capital Bank Corp is all split up
On Dec. 28, shares of Pacific Capital Bancorp—parent company of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust—are expected to increase 100-fold. No, this isn’t some insider tip or indication that the bank is about to have a fiscal explosion. Though the bank’s share price will likely skyrocket, its overall value will remain unchanged. Here’s how it works: […]
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Alleged flooding case has an Oceano business owner seeing red
Bill Bookout is taking his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. At least, that’s his plan. Bookout, the former owner of Oceano Nursery, has long argued that annual flooding of Highway 1 is to be blamed on Caltrans crews and five other government agencies. After losing an appeal to the California 2nd District Court of […]
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Pacific Capital is in danger of being de-listed
Pacific Capital Bancorp—parent company of Santa Barbara Bank and Trust—has until April 6, 2011, to get its stock price to a minimum of $1 per share or it could be de-listed from the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The company hadn’t closed a day of trading above $1 since Aug. 25, with a price of about […]
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The Power of Words
After a history of challenge and loss, Chumash language and culture are on the rise
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Oceano CSD discovers mysterious bank accounts
Officials of the Oceano Community Services District are struggling to uncover how almost $368,000 in district funds were kept secret from the district’s board of directors and even the general manager. General Manager Raffaele Montemurro recently discovered five certificate of deposit accounts, the earliest of which was opened in 1991. The most recent account was […]
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Who composted?
After hundreds of neighbor complaints about smelly composting operations at Cold Canyon Landfill in San Luis Obispo, the landfill operators are planning to shut down an 11-year-old recycling program. Though the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) hasn’t mandated the closure of composting at Cold Canyon, landfill officials said the department will instead […]
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Laetitia project’s road to development gets even longer
A proposal to transform land currently occupied by Laetitia Vineyard and Winery into an agricultural cluster subdivision project has hit another snag in the development process. The most recent problem: Is there enough water for the facilities? If approved, the Laetitia project would include 102 residential lots, a sewage treatment plant, and a dude ranch, […]
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Close, but no cigar
In the June 22 primary for the 15th District California Senate seat, San Luis Obispo Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee garnered the most votes in the district—which spans SLO, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties—but not enough to avoid an Aug. 17 runoff. With thousands of uncounted ballots and a paper-thin margin between Blakeslee […]
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Proposed Oceano airport development is still grounded
Earlier this year, Los Osos developer Jeff Edwards made a pitch in front of the San Luis Obispo County supervisors that was so bizarrely outlandish that, months later, many are still scratching their heads. Despite mountains of bureaucratic and public opposition, Edwards proposes closing the Oceano Airport and redeveloping it for residential and commercial use. […]
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Like liquid gold
After bleeding its reserve fund dry, San Luis Obispo County Public Works recently decided to impose higher sewage and water rates on hundreds of Nipomo residents. “We’re caught in a very difficult bit of public process here,” SLO Supervisor Bruce Gibson said as the board reticently approved the last of three proposed rate increases. “I […]