With so many humanitarian atrocities continuing to happen here locally on the Central Coast, in our state, across the United States, and globally, I’ve spent many sleepless hours pondering how I’ve become so disillusioned and frustrated with Americans. Until this year, I’ve been proud to be an American and part of our society that I […]
Sun Staff
Posted inSpecial Issues
Best of NSBC 2025
Find out who won!
You’ve worked hard to get here. You’ve struggled, failed, and overcome. You’ve built your business through hard work, teamwork, and thankless work. And I’m here to tell you two things: First, it’s paid off. And second, this is just the beginning of your storied life as one of Northern Santa Barbara County’s best. So savor […]
Posted inOpinion
Now is the time to help each other prepare for eventual evacuations
Two friends, who have lost absolutely everything to wildfires, say now is the time to help one another prepare to evacuate. If it’s not this fire, or an earthquake, or a tsunami warning … it will be some big challenge in the near future. How about we each help an elderly or disabled neighbor? Help […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Education Today 2025
Local nonprofits expand students’ garden-to-table education, county ed offices look at more than state assessments
Explore Ecology and One Cool Earth want students to take another look at vegetables, especially the bland yet divisive cauliflower. “Getting to grow it in the garden, it’s like this little baby that they get to check on every so often,” Explore Ecology Garden Program Director Genevieve Schwanbeck said. For our Education Today issue, Senior […]
Posted inOpinion
Newsom’s mid-decade redistricting is dangerous gerrymandering and political revenge
Gov. Newsom has proposed mid-decade redistricting to redraw California’s congressional lines—not to serve the people, but to play political revenge games with Texas. This is gerrymandering, plain and simple. And a dangerous step backward. Californians fought hard to end the days of shady, backroom map deals. In 2008, we passed Proposition 11 to create the […]
Posted inOpinion
The Constitution guarantees due process for our undocumented workers
We’ve been seeing the relentless march of ICE officials. First, they hunted undocumented workers in Los Angeles, then Oxnard, Ventura, and Carpinteria. The workers that they are hunting are essential to our economy, often doing vital yet low-paying jobs. What’s more, they are protected by the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Amendment clearly states: “No person […]
Posted inOpinion
We need to protect ourselves from the unimaginable
I attended the July 11 California Coastal Commission meeting to support the Mothers for Peace request for a hearing on relicensing the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The aging plant and its radioactive waste sit atop a thrust earthquake fault. PG&E has been granted a five-year extension but is now asking for 20 more, saying five […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
55 Fiction 2025
The winning stories from our annual 55 Fiction contest
Surprise! It’s the culmination of this year’s 55 Fiction contest! And much like the endings of the stories that people send us, the stories are always a shock—well not always, but mostly. We’ve got love, war, murder, politics, twists, and more for you in this year’s collection of printable pieces. Our judges sifted through hundreds […]
Posted inOpinion
Let’s champion Vandenberg’s growth together
On behalf of the Space Force Association—Western Region, I write to express our strong support for the increased launch cadence at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Vandenberg is not just a critical national security asset—it is a cornerstone of California’s aerospace industry and our nation’s space enterprise. The Western Range enables polar and sun-synchronous orbit missions […]
Posted inOpinion
Dear President Trump
I am the former mayor of Guadalupe, a small agricultural city with a population of less than 10,000 on the beautiful Central Coast of California. I am writing to you, Mr. President, to respectfully urge you to create a legal program for all honest and hardworking migrants who have labored for years, some even decades, […]
Posted inOpinion
The majority of us aren’t in the American Dream club
George Carlin once suggested that the concept of the American Dream is a tool used by “the owners” to keep people placid and focused on trivial things, preventing them from realizing how rigged the system is against them. “It’s a big club, and you and me ain’t in it.” This concept has never proved to […]
Posted inOpinion
The ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ will destroy us
I am a lifelong Republican. I have developed a new reason to hate getting older. It means I will have only a few more opportunities to vote against all of the elected buffoons from the top down who voted for this “Big, Beautiful Bill” that will destroy our country. The only reason for anyone to […]
