Vandenberg Air Force Base was set to launch an unarmed Minuteman III missile as an operational test in the early morning hours of Aug. 19. The Air Force Global Strike command regularly uses VAFB to ensure that its weapon systems are working as intended. This makes the fourth test from VAFB this year, following the […]
SEAN MCNULTY
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California pays $2/square foot for ripped-up lawns
California is rolling out $30 million in rebates to replace turf and toilets as the drought drags on. On Aug. 12, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced two rebate programs. The goal is to inspire Californians to tear out 10 million square feet of lawn and to replace 60,000 water-inefficient toilets. Homeowners replacing an […]
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Penny De La Cruz
When she started practicing Jiu Jitsu four years ago, Penny De La Cruz didn’t like it. “I would get hurt—like, ‘ow’ and fall,” she told the Sun. De La Cruz just returned from the 2015 Kids World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championship in Ontario, Calif. There, she joined some 800 athletes between the ages of 4 […]
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Rolling with the punches: Juan Daniel Velazquez builds his life around amateur boxing in Lompoc
For his last boxing match, on the weekend of July 25, Juan Daniel Velazquez drove down to an arena in Oakdale with his dad. How’d it go? “It was good,” Velazquez said. “They stopped the fight. He wasn’t throwing punches—if they see that he gets hard hit, they stop the fight.” He pulled his first […]
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Pilot in Los Padres crash had history of FAA violations
The pilot in a crash that left two dead after leaving Lompoc is reported to have had a history of aircraft Federal Aviation Administration violations, including low-altitude acrobatics and an in-flight helicopter sex act with a Swedish porn star. David Keith Martz, a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot from San Diego, was flying from Lompoc to […]
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Del Valle medical clinic now open in Santa Maria
The doors are open at the Del Valle medical clinic on Blosser Road. Community Health Centers of the Central Coast’s new facility, which replaces CHC clinics on Miller and Mill streets, is a “super center” with 13,000 square feet, 10 providers, and 28 exam rooms. It’s open as of Aug. 9, with services from 8 […]
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Goleta oil slick from natural seep, Coast Guard says
The Coast Guard said that the miles-long slick of oil off the Goleta coast is the fruit of a natural seep. The slick, some 3 miles long, was first spotted the morning of July 29. Firefighters responding to reports of a gasoline smell at the Goleta Pier found two kayakers, whose legs and boats were […]
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Santa Maria takes another stab at the Downtown Specific Plan
Santa Maria’s public library—a big, handsome building that smells like an airport—was built the last time the city tried to re-vamp its downtown. Under an overcast sky still humid with the hangover of mid-July’s freak storm, city officials met with community members on July 22 to discuss the roadmap for the city’s new version of […]
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Incoming Lucia Mar superintendent’s contract released
The Lucia Mar Unified School District (LMUSD) published the details of incoming Superintendent Raynee Daley’s contract July 24. LMUSD met that night after the Sun went to press to take public input and vote on whether or not to approve the contract. Daley will make $190,000 a year—$20,000 more than outgoing Superintendent Jim Hogeboom, but […]
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Orcutt rapper accused of threats could go to California Supreme Court
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office is back at it against Orcutt rapper Anthony Ray Murillo, accused of threatening two sexual assault victims in a song posted on his Reverbnation page. Superior Court Judge Rick Brown upheld a ruling that the song was protected speech in 2014. After a successful appeal, that decision was […]
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Noah Solis
Street Fighter V (SFV), the latest in an iconic series of fighting games, is still in development. The planned launch is in 2016, and developer Capcom hopes to move more than 2 million units in the first year. Noah Solis, a Lompoc native and genuine Street Fighter prodigy at the ripe old age of 12, […]
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Cottage Hospital organizes summer sports camp for wheelchair athletes
The athletes came from all over—from Los Angeles and Bakersfield, from Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, and from Santa Barbara as well. For a week, armed with hockey sticks and hand bicycles, they occupied a building on USCB’s campus. “We just kind of invade the rec center,” said program coordinator Rene Van Hoorn. They’re […]
