Pioneer Valley High School drama students talked race, death, marriage, and professional theater on Sept. 29 with Derrick Lee Weeden, the Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s (PCPA) guest actor and lead in its recent production of Fences. Pioneer Valley drama teacher Shawnah Van Gronigen said that on Sept. 21, many of her students watched Fences, a Pulitzer […]
Kasey Bubnash
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Santa Maria natives win prestigious California State University Trustees’ Award
The California State University (CSU) system recently announced the recipients of the CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement, and of this year’s 23 statewide winners, two are Santa Maria natives. Jeremiah Hernandez, 29, and Amanda Garcia, 30, were chosen above thousands of CSU students as recipients of the award, which is given to those who […]
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Health officials blame lack of education for increase in STDs
Reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are on the rise again nationally, with cases of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia increasing dramatically for the third consecutive year, according to a 2016 Surveillance Report released in September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The pattern holds true for Santa Barbara County as well, […]
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Solvang City Council battles over vacancy protocols
The Solvang City Council has until Oct. 27 to fill a seat that was recently vacated by Hans Duus, a former council member who resigned on Aug. 28 after moving to Santa Maria. But council members can’t seem to agree on whom to appoint, or rather, how to appoint. The empty position has been a […]
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Several county residents affected by Las Vegas shooting
Santa Barbara residents Brian and Lara Mack were among the hundreds injured during a mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. California Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-Templeton), of the 35th Assembly District, was inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, where the gunman was found, during the attack. Stephen […]
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Santa Maria High School students preregister to vote with state politicians
When California State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) was in high school, she watched angrily as her 18-year-old male classmates were forced into fighting a war many of them disagreed with in Vietnam. What was most frustrating, Jackson told a crowd of Santa Maria High School students on Sept. 20, was that 18-year-olds at the […]
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Local vendors still feeling effects of this season’s avocado shortage
“At the moment, we do not have guacamole or extra avocado,” read the sign posted in a hallway of El Pueblito Restaurante’s main entrance on Sept. 22. The straightforward statement was followed by an apology, and an explanation as to why the Santa Maria restaurant was missing one of its key ingredients. It wasn’t poor […]
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County Jail to offer ride program services soon
Nearly nine months after Santa Barbara County’s jail ride program came to an unannounced end in January, a new version of the old program is still not up and running as promised. But according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, progress is being made. “We are close to finalizing a deal and will make […]
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Tentative Camp 4 agreement met with backlash
After years of heated debate, a Santa Barbara County ad hoc subcommittee recently released a summary of its tentative agreement with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians concerning development on Camp 4—a 1,400-acre parcel of land acquired by the tribe in 2010 and placed into federal trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in […]
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Golf tournament to benefit Guadalupe Union School District
The Guadalupe Kids Come First Foundation will host its fourth annual Golf Tournament Fundraiser on Sept. 30 in an effort to raise money for the Guadalupe Union School District’s academic, athletic, and cultural programs. The Kids Come First Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the school district through funding and gifts in-kind, according to […]
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Start here, go anywhere? An expanding Allan Hancock College hopes to offer four-year degrees to North County students
To Jeremiah Hernandez, getting a four-year degree seemed just out of reach. He was about to graduate from high school in Santa Maria, and his parents, despite their inability to financially support his future, had always pushed him toward the path of higher education. “‘You’re a smart kid,’” Hernandez said his parents often told him. […]
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Hancock’s Concert Band to perform Fall Pops Concert
The Allan Hancock College Concert Band will perform its annual Fall Pops Concert on Sept. 30 at Santa Maria’s First Baptist Church. The concert, according to a Hancock press release, will include an eclectic mix of musical selections from “Regal Fanfare” to “Pop and Rock Legends: Elton John.” The band, under the direction of Greg […]