An E. coli outbreak present in romaine lettuce that has caused 59 reported cases of illness and 23 hospitalizations in 15 states was linked back to Adam Brothers Farming Inc. The Santa Maria farm is voluntarily recalling all red and green leaf lettuce and cauliflower that was harvested from Nov. 27 to 30 in cooperation […]
Kasey Bubnash
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Tommie Kunst seventh grade boys’ basketball
It was quite the season for Tommie Kunst Junior High School’s seventh grade boys’ basketball team, which won the school its first ever boys league championship title on Dec. 13. It had been a long time coming, according to coach Kevin Smith, who said the girls’ basketball teams have won a few championships since the […]
Posted inNews
Legislators consider ways to deter e-cigarette use among teens
Electronic cigarette use is rising dramatically among teens. The number of U.S. high school students who reported e-cigarette use increased by 78 percent between 2017 and 2018 alone, according to the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Numbers among middle school students rose by 48 percent. This after only 1.5 percent of high school and 0.6 […]
Posted inNews
Local farmer featured on popular podcast to discuss disconnect between food consumers and producers
Farming is arguably the most vital industry in the world. One American farm feeds roughly 165 people annually in the U.S. and abroad, according to data collected by the American Farm Bureau Federation, and about 2.1 million farms are scattered throughout the country. But fewer Americans are farming now than ever before. While farm and […]
Posted inNews
Harvest Community Center to build homeless shelter in Santa Maria
At a meeting in September, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors declared a countywide “shelter crisis,” a label that made the area eligible for millions of dollars in state funding that would go toward fighting homelessness through housing assistance and emergency aid. County staff said at the meeting that they were looking into housing […]
Posted inNews
Santa Maria police investigate second murder in two days, seventh of the year
The sun was just beginning to set on Santa Maria’s north side on Dec. 10 as a small group gathered near the corner of West Bunny Avenue and North Blosser Road, where a white cross hung from a wooden fence, surrounded by bright blue balloons and flowers. A young girl sobbed as she walked toward […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Malia Loos
Santa Ynez Valley Union High School junior Malia Loos appears to be unstoppable, on and off the court. It’s her third year on Santa Ynez’s varsity basketball team, where she now holds the school record for most three-pointers made in a single game, according to coach Jason Finley. Loos is currently on pace to break […]
Posted inNews
District officials discuss battle over proposed changes to teacher transfer policy
Santa Maria’s high school district and its Faculty Association have been debating their 2018-19 school year contracts since last fall, but unlike in years past, salaries are only playing a small role in the dispute. Instead, much of this year’s debate surrounds proposed changes to the district’s teacher transfer and reassignment policy, and with the […]
Posted inNews
Local olive oil producers grapple with state’s worst harvest in decades
Last year, California’s olive groves produced roughly 4 million gallons of olive oil. But because of this year’s strange weather patterns–an unusually hot winter followed by a bout of cold–the California Olive Oil Council estimates that only about 2.8 million gallons will have been produced by the end of this year’s harvest. It’s a 25 […]
Posted inNews
El Monte paralegal fights allegations of unauthorized practice in Santa Maria
The State Bar of California is working to shut down a Los Angeles County paralegal office that allegedly provided unauthorized immigration services to migrant farmworkers in the Santa Maria area, “fraudulently” charging some of them more than $12,000. In a Nov. 30 press release, the State Bar announced that it had obtained an interim order […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Charolette Ionata
Before this school year, Pioneer Valley High School student Charolette Ionata had never played a game of soccer in her life. Now she’s the varsity team’s starting goalie, and she’s making huge strides. Ionata, a senior, is an athlete by nature, according to coach Bilena Brafman, who said Ionata has long played volleyball and water […]
Posted inNews
Santa Maria high school district and Faculty Association to hold fact-finding hearing
The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) has been negotiating contracts with its teachers union for more than a year, and since the groups declared an official impasse in early October, little has been accomplished. Even with a state mediator, the parties were, again, unable to agree on a few key topics this […]
