Inside a warehouse-sized, 80,000-square-foot commercial building in Livermore, a town just east of Oakland, construction workers are busy preparing a place of worship: the future home of the Well Christian Community Church. From its humble beginnings in 2003, starting with just 15 families, the church has blossomed to 1,500 members, outgrowing its current home in […]
JEREMY THOMAS
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
‘Crit’ city
Organizers ready Buellton’s Avenue of Flags for inaugural cycling races
The Amgen Tour of California’s decision to bypass the Central Coast in 2012, yanking Solvang’s time trial stage along with it, left cycling enthusiasts in the Santa Ynez Valley with a considerable racing void. Enter the Firestone Walker Avenue of Flags Criterium on March 31, the first race of its kind in downtown Buellton—and one […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Casting a wide net
Anglers and environmentalists debate the pros and cons of ‘no-take’ Marine Protected Areas
The South Coast Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which limit fishing in coastal zones from Point Conception south, are drawing mixed reactions from people who protect the ocean—and people who depend on it for their livelihood. After several delays, the four MPAs off Santa Barbara County took effect on Jan. 1, closing off about 15 percent […]
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Whose woods are these?
A bill introduced by Rep. Gallegly would expand protected wilderness areas and off-highway vehicle usage in the Los Padres National Forest
The Los Padres National Forest could undergo significant changes under a proposal by U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly, who aims to designate thousands of acres as federally protected land and dedicate large expanses of the forest to off-highway vehicles. Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) on Feb. 29 introduced the Los Padres Conservation and Recreation Act, a bill seeking […]
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District Attorney’s office rules police’s use of force in Ceballos shooting was ‘justified’
The Santa Maria Police Department’s use of deadly force against documented gang member Samyr Ceballos, which resulted in Ceballos’ death in December 2011, was justified, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced on March 2. Ceballos, 24, was shot and killed Dec. 8 in front of his Santa Maria home as police officers attempted […]
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Stoker says he’s running for State Senate
Former Santa Barbara County Supervisor Mike Stoker scheduled a press conference at the Betteravia Government Center in Santa Maria for March 7 to announce he’s running for the California State Senate in 2012. Stoker, a Carpinteria attorney specializing in land use, government, and business law issues, is so far the only Republican to declare his […]
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Police union votes ‘no confidence’ in Macagni
In an anonymous vote, 85 percent of the union representing most sworn officers of the Santa Maria Police Department expressed “no confidence” in Police Chief Danny Macagni, union leadership announced Feb. 24. Backed by about a dozen members of the Santa Maria Police Officers’ Association, president Chris Nartatez revealed the results of a mail-in ballot […]
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A snail’s pace
A new report puts Santa Barbara County behind much of the country in post-recession job recovery. What will it take to get the local labor market back?
Poised before projections of PowerPoint slides packed with graphs and figures, UC Santa Barbara economics professor Peter Rupert painted a picture of jobs in Northern Santa Barbara County as dim as the room he was lecturing in. The scene of Rupert’s presentation, the Fountain Pavilion at the Santa Maria Fairpark, was once lined with monitors […]
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House passes bill to reopen offshore oil leases
The U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 16 approved legislation authorizing the Secretary of Interior to resume oil and gas leasing off the coast of Santa Barbara County and elsewhere, starting July 1, 2014. With a 237-187 vote, the House passed the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act—a $260-billion bill introduced by House Republicans—including a […]
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Santa Maria police union votes on confidence in department leadership
The Santa Maria Police Officers’ Association (SMPOA) is awaiting the results of a ballot mailed to all 119 of its members, asking if they have confidence in SMPD Police Chief Danny Macagni and two commanders. Association board member Tom Radzyminski said, to his knowledge, it was the first time the union had ever asked for […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Parkour brothers
It’s easy to pick up and hard to define, but parkour is drawing fans on the Central Coast
Is it a sport? A discipline? A philosophy? According to its practitioners, parkour (or l’art du deplacement) is all of the above, incorporating running, jumping, climbing, vaulting, and balancing to discover efficient paths through any environment. Nipomo’s Craig Gibbons, a “traceur” (parkour practitioner) since 2009 and a student at Allan Hancock College, recently gave his […]
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Riding for a reason
A Lompoc woman journeys to Hollywood to raise awareness of horse slaughter issues
After more than a year researching the practices and products of the commercial horse slaughtering industry, Lompoc resident Karin Hauenstein decided to do something to change it. So she took her horses for a ride—from her ranch off the Santa Ynez River near Lompoc all the way to the streets of Hollywood, a distance of […]