Rebecca Gonzalez graduated this year as the captain of Nipomo High School’s water polo team. Before her freshman year, she said, she had never played water polo or swam competitively. “I sucked,” she said flatly. “I—honestly, I sucked so bad. I just kept at it because I liked it.” Now, Gonzalez plays water polo for […]
SEAN MCNULTY
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Round 2: Lexi Brown still fighting cancer after summer trip to World Cup
In February, the Sun wrote about Lexi Brown—an 11-year-old battling cancer with the support of St. Joseph High School girl’s soccer team. Her wish was to attend the World Cup in Canada that summer. Make-A-Wish made it happen, and Brown traveled to Winnipeg with the family in June. Before she set foot on the field […]
Posted inNews
Hearing casts light on farmworker rights, poor working conditions
Farmworker Salvador Huerta’s Sept. 15 testimony before the Agriculture Labor Relations Board (ALRB) at the Santa Maria Inn included allegations of mistreatment by employers. He told the ALRB that he and his coworkers had been “treated like slaves.” They’d been illegally denied breaks, he said, intimidated by supervisors, and retaliated against for asserting their rights. […]
Posted inNews
Lompoc ready to pull the plug on California Space Center
Eva Blaisdell, the CEO of Lompoc’s proposed California Space Center, received a Notice of Default from the city for failure to meet deadlines laid out in an agreement with the city. The city issued Blaisdell a Notice of Default, after the City Council met in closed session on Sept. 15. Blaisdell’s Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with […]
Posted inNews
Feds issue notice of probable violation to Plains All American from 2014 investigation
Plains All American is in trouble with the federal government again. The Houston-based company was deluged with a slew of corrective orders, financial penalties and lawsuits when Line 901, an oil pipeline it operates in Santa Barbara County, split open and spilled approximately 120,000 gallons of crude on Refugio State Beach. The Pipeline and Hazardous […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Allan Hancock football team kicks off season with big win, new stadium
Allan Hancock College’s football team trounced Santa Ana on Sept. 6, 67-21, while 1,600 people watched. It was a big day for the football program: their first home game—ever. That is to say, it was the first game played on Hancock’s campus in the school’s 61-year history. The Hancock Bulldogs’ football stadium, which has been […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Miguel Villalobos
Miguel Villalobos, who runs the Pacific Karate Do Institute, just returned with a team of his students from the 10th Karate World Championships in San Francisco. Nine out of the 10 students, facing off against the best from around the world, managed to medal in the sparring and form categories. “We have talented students that […]
Posted inNews
Wastewater ruling could hurt Santa Maria Valley’s small farmers
There’s something in Santa Maria Valley’s wastewater: It’s pesticides and fertilizer. A fight over what can be done with that wastewater, however, has some in the ag community on edge. The subject of contention is a wastewater discharge waiver updated in 2012. It spells out what farmers can do with water once it’s been spiked […]
Posted inNews
Santa Barbara County supervisors renew cloud seeding program
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors moved forward on a $400,000, yearlong extension of the county’s ongoing cloud seeding program as part of its administrative agenda on Sept. 14. The county recognizes cloud seeding as a “cost effective supplemental water supply alternative” and has been at it on a regular basis since 1981. Before […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Tacos Lupe’s serves lunch in the ghost town of Betteravia
If you’re looking for tacos—tripe or tongue—follow Horace Greeley’s advice, and go west, young man. Specifically, go west on Betteravia. And keep going west. Stay right when it peels toward Guadalupe; keep going west, through the broccoli and the spinach, until you see the tanks. They’re hard to miss: 6 miles outside of Santa Maria, […]
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Santa Barbara supes weigh renewal of Corizon Health contract after inmate death in county jail
Representatives from Corizon Health Incorporated, the Tennessee-based company that provides health care in Santa Barbara County’s correctional facilities, made the case for a two-year renewal of its contract during a contentious hearing before the Board of Supervisors Sept. 8. The board ultimately agreed to extend the contract 18 months with Corizon, and the Santa Barbara […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Rylee Sager
“Many coaches told me that playing different sports would get me worn out,” Rylee Sager said. The Lompoc High School senior disagrees. She ran cross country for two years before taking up golf for the next two. During the winter, she “plays everywhere” for the Lompoc basketball team—on varsity from her freshman year onward. And […]
