The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a $5,000 settlement awarded to a Santa Maria senior citizen couple, Hope and Javier Bravo, and more than $1 million in attorneys’ fees stemming from a 2006 civil rights lawsuit that the city fought for nearly a decade. According to court records, the opinion was […]
DAVID MINSKY
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Vandenberg launches National Reconnaissance Office satellite
Another rocket was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base during the early morning hours of Feb. 10. This time it was a Delta IV “heavy” rocket carrying a super-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). But don’t freak out too much. Known as the “eyes and ears of space,” the NRO’s in charge […]
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Cubans in Santa Maria react to the recent thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations
During one evening in May 2000, Henrik Gonzales boarded a boat on the northern shore of Cuba. Under the cover of darkness, the boat pushed off and entered the barren 90-mile stretch of ocean that separated him from the United States, or in his mind, the land of the free. It was his third attempt. […]
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Spotlight on: Achilles Prosthetics and Orthotics
Zak Malzhan, certified prosthetist
When it comes to his job, Zak Malzhan goes out on a limb to improve people’s lives as much as possible. That’s because Malzhan is a certified prosthetist with Achilles Prosthetics and Orthotics in Templeton and San Luis Obispo. It’s a job that Malzhan dedicated his life to 20 years ago when he walked into […]
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California Contractors State License Board busts 21 in fraud sting
Each week, investigators from the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) travel throughout California conducting sting operations to try and catch people doing unlicensed construction, according to Steve Breen, public information officer for the CSLB. Breen said his agency responded to several recent reports of unlicensed activity in the Santa Maria Valley. A total of 21 […]
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Santa Maria Police Department holds community vigil for Oscar Joaquin
Friends and family of 17-year-old Oscar Daniel Joaquin gathered with members of the Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) and the community in Santa Maria’s Russell Park on the evening of Feb. 22 to search for answers. The gathering was arranged by the SMPD and attracted nearly 100 people to the scene where Joaquin’s body was […]
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Channel Island fox may be removed from endangered species list
On Feb. 12, after more than a decade of successful recovery efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a statement that it wants to remove the Channel Islands fox from the endangered species list. Four of the six subspecies of the fox were added to the list in March 2004 following years of […]
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Spotlight on: Argent Data Systems
Scott Miller, owner
The website for Argent Data Systems says the company manufactures “electronic products for amateur radio, education, and commercial users.” But the Santa Maria-based company is also affiliated with hyperionloop.com, which is known for its “smart hoops” or hula hoops with light emitting diodes (LED) and programmable electronics. Glittering with a rainbow of colors, the hoops […]
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Isla Vista massacre lawsuit moved to Santa Barbara County
A civil rights lawsuit brought by a victim from the 2014 Isla Vista massacre has been moved from Los Angeles County to Santa Barbara County Superior Court. Originally filed in Los Angeles on June 23, 2015, UCSB student Keith Cheung alleges that the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office violated his civil rights and was negligent […]
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Watching over Orcutt: An uptick in graffiti and theft has motivated members of the community to band together and take back their neighborhood
One morning in June 2015, Debbie O’Campo awoke to an unpleasant surprise: All of the tires on her 2013 GMC Terrain Denali were gone. She was notified by a stranger’s knock on the door of her Orcutt home shortly before she started her day as the plant services coordinator at Allan Hancock College. It was […]
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Spotlight on: Medical cannabis dispensary drivers
Editor’s note: The last names of delivery drivers were withheld. The Compassionate Use Act (CUA), or Proposition 215, gives medical marijuana patients an exemption from criminal prosecution in California and was passed by voters in 1996. It’s a milestone against the prohibition of cannabis in the U.S., becoming the first ballot initiative of its type […]
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Area farmworkers demand existing protections be enforced
In what some consider nothing more than a media stunt, area farmworkers and advocates from North County gathered by the dozens in front of the Joseph Centeno Administrative Building in Santa Maria on the morning of Jan. 27 to present a Farmworker Bill of Rights, a basic list of demands that protect employees from poor […]
