Each year around this time, Nipomo resident Riana Banks and her daughter, Kaelyn, gear up to sell as many Girl Scout Cookies as humanly possible. At just 7 years old, Kaelyn is already an established go-getter, and with two years of sales experience under her sash, she knows it’s her personal interactions with potential customers […]
Kasey Bubnash
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Stadium 805 backs out of permit allowing concerts in 2021
There likely won’t be any concerts at the Santa Maria Raceway this year. At a meeting on Jan. 26, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors rescinded a temporary commercial outdoor entertainment license it awarded to the Santa Maria Raceway, aka Stadium 805, just a few months earlier. The permit would have allowed the […]
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Redistricting commission votes to keep controversial demographer
Santa Barbara County residents are raising concerns about the demographer selected to help the county redraw its supervisorial districts, a company that some claim has a history of being politically biased and creating districts that protect incumbent elected officials. The National Demographics Corporation (NDC) is a consulting agency that provides demographic analysis, redistricting assistance, and […]
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County puts funding toward meal deliveries for seniors
Santa Barbara County is offering about two months’ worth of emergency funding to several local organizations that are providing daily meal and grocery delivery services to low-income, isolated seniors who have been particularly impacted by the pandemic. At a meeting on Jan. 12, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate $200,000 […]
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Future of Old Town Market still unclear
Orcutt’s Old Town Market is up and running as a local neighborhood grocery store again after a roller-coaster of a year, but the future of the store remains uncertain. In May 2020, longtime market owners Mark and Wendy Steller announced in a Facebook post that they had suddenly received an eviction notice shortly after […]
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The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office blames an increase in crime on a rule aimed at decreasing jail populations amid COVID-19
By the end of 2020, reports of the most serious violent crimes were trending 10 percent higher than the immediately preceding three-year average in areas of Santa Barbara County served by the Sheriff’s Office. Reports of arson were trending 41 percent higher, reported robberies were up by 30 percent, and reports of forcible rape were […]
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Santa Barbara County Redistricting Commission completes selection process
The 11 members of Santa Barbara County’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission have officially been chosen, and although the commission isn’t perfectly representative of the population that inhabits this county, it’s more diverse than when the selection process started. At a meeting on Dec. 14, the first five commissioners, who were randomly selected for their positions […]
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Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation hopes to raise funds for Central Coast families facing childhood cancer and COVID-19
Seven-year old Isabella Ramirez has always been a high-energy, bubbly kid—the kind who never seems to get sleepy no matter how much she runs around all day. She’s tough, too, always popping right back up after a fall without so much as a peep. So her mom, Santa Maria resident Fabiola Ramirez, knew something was […]
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Tri-Counties ask to be separate in COVID-19 considerations
Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties are banding together in hopes of creating a separate region specifically for the Central Coast. At a press conference on Dec. 3, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced another new system for tracking and slowing California’s currently exploding cases of COVID-19, a process that splits the state up into […]
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Santa Barbara County sees record turnout in 2020 election
It’s official—Santa Barbara County certified its 2020 general election results on Nov. 25, marking the completion of an election that was extraordinary in more than one way, including the sheer volume of voter turnout nationwide. In Santa Barbara County, more registered voters cast ballots in this election than in any of the last five presidential […]
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Fiscal forecast shows challenging years ahead for Santa Barbara County
A five-year fiscal forecast estimates that Santa Barbara County could incur a cumulative budget deficit of roughly $27 million by 2026 in part because of the pandemic-induced recession and rising pension costs. But county staff say that’s the worst-case scenario, and mid-year cuts aren’t needed at this time. At a meeting on Nov. 17, the […]
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Cuesta College nursing students graduate and provide essential health care services amid the pandemic
Kelly Maguire was just a few months away from completing Cuesta College’s registered nursing (RN) program when COVID-19 first started making its way around the Central Coast. As cases trickled into San Luis Obispo County in March, Cuesta closed its campus and canceled in-person classes. In an effort to limit person-to-person contact and reserve personal […]