MATT FOUNTAIN

Members of California’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group mounted a protest on Dec. 27 at the San Luis Obispo County courthouse to commemorate the anniversary of the county’s largest raid on medical marijuana providers to date. It’s been one year since people were arrested, but a majority of the defendants from “Operation Green Sweep” have […]

The state’s chief regulating agency for public utilities has levied fines on Golden State Water Co. and ordered the company to issue nearly $10 million in refunds to its customers. Customers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties won’t see much of that sum, however. The California Public Utilities Commission announced on Dec. 15 […]

Santa Maria Police Department officials, including Police Chief Danny Macagni, would not confirm to the Sun whether they have received threats of violence since an incident that left alleged Santa Maria gang member Samyr Ceballos, 24, dead in the street, citing an ongoing investigation into the shooting. But numerous sources have told the Sun that […]

On Dec. 6, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Sheriff Bill Brown’s request to apply for a new phase of state funding that could simultaneously offer a better-equipped facility and save the county a significant amount of money. Brown told the board the phase could be a major step in building better-equipped […]

After plenty of discussion and a few disagreements over who should qualify for a seat, Lompoc City Council members made their final selections for the city’s Economic Development Committee on Dec. 6. The new committee will be headed by Teresa Gallavan, the city’s economic development director and assistant city clerk. The creation of Gallavan’s position […]

Attracting non-resident pleasure seekers to the Lompoc Valley for a day’s worth of recreational activities isn’t a particularly hard thing to do, by most accounts. The hard part—and an integral piece in the puzzle of Lompoc’s revitalization efforts—is encouraging those tourism dollars to stick around for that second, or even third day, according to some […]

A Placer County Superior Court judge is reconsidering his plan to release a soon-to-be-paroled sex offender into Santa Maria, after a sustained fight by city officials. On Dec. 5, Judge James D. Garbolino found that “extraordinary circumstances” existed in the case of Tibor Karsai, 58, who was convicted in 1980 of kidnapping and raping a […]

A California initiative proposed for the November 2012 ballot would require the state’s two nuclear power plants to shut down until the federal government mandates a way to safely dispose of the plants’ harmful byproducts. If successful, the Nuclear Waste Act of 2012 would prohibit the further generation of nuclear power in the state until […]

In a quid pro quo move for the city of Santa Maria and Allan Hancock College, city officials have agreed to contribute $250,000 in Recreation and Parks Department funding for the construction of new athletics facilities—in exchange for public access to them. On Nov. 15, the Santa Maria City Council approved the joint-use agreement, which […]

The San Luis Obispo County Narcotics Task Force (SLONTF) as we know it is no more. Despite an effort by the California Department of Justice to salvage as many of its regional anti-drug and gang task forces as possible, the department announced it would disband two-thirds of its forces. The department is facing a budget […]