It hurt Santa Ynez Valley Union High School senior Vera Sieck to see the school paint over a temporary rainbow-painted crosswalk she and fellow students proposed for an inclusion week at school. “I honestly took it really hard. It has not been easy growing up queer in the valley. This was the first public show […]
Taylor O'Connor
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Santa Maria Valley resident starts GoFundMe to purchase a thermal drone for local lost and found pets organization
Geoff Clinton spent more than 30 years of his life working as an animal control officer and was often part of search and rescue teams to help find lost animals during natural disasters such as fires and mudslides. When Clinton retired, he volunteered with Orcutt/Santa Maria Lost and Found Pets, a community Facebook group that […]
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California’s energy department begins cleaning up everything that HVI Cat Canyon left behind
California’s Department of Conservation is embarking on the largest oil well plugging and abandonment project in the state’s history, and it’s in Santa Barbara County. The department’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) received $34 million from the state to plug 171 abandoned HVI Cat Canyon Inc. wells. HVI—formerly known as Greka Oil Company—spilled approximately 26,584 […]
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Ballard transgender student’s announcement leads to district policy discussions
The Ballard Elementary School District decided it will look into parents rights policies after outcry against the school’s procedures when a child came out as transgender. The fourth grader gave her preferred name and pronouns to her peers with both parents present in the classroom earlier in 2023. During a special board meeting on March […]
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New state bill could open up vacant land for housing construction
Housing projects like Santa Maria’s Hope Village and Santa Barbara’s Dignity Moves could expand across the state and offer rental opportunities after a new bill got introduced in the state Senate. Currently the states planning and zoning laws require each jurisdiction to adopt housing plans and use proper zoning where multifamily and mixed uses are […]
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Solvang’s denial of Pride banners goes against Denmark’s progressive LGBTQ-plus policies, advocates say
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a two-part series on the conversations surrounding a proposal to hang Pride banners and paint a crosswalk with rainbow colors in Solvang during Pride Month in June. The second part, “Solvang residents say Pride banners promote politics and exclusivity, while LGBTQ-plus community members say they promote acceptance […]
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Solvang residents say Pride banners promote politics and exclusivity, while LGBTQ-plus community members say they promote acceptance and inclusion
Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a two-part series on the conversation surrounding a proposal to hang Pride banners and paint crosswalks with rainbow colors in Solvang during Pride Month in June. The first part, “Solvang’s denial of Pride banners goes against Denmark’s progressive LGBTQ-plus policies, advocates say,” published on March 23. Pride […]
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County cannabis tax revenue $10 million less than projected
Santa Barbara County collected $3.1 million in cannabis cultivation and retail taxes through the second fiscal quarter, $10.5 million less than the original projections of $23 million. “There’s been a decline in gross sales receipts, there has been a significant drop in wholesale pricing, and there’s a severe supply glut—there’s too much product in California […]
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Point-in-Time Count shows slight decrease in homelessness
For the first time in more than three years, Santa Barbara County’s Point-in-Time Count results showed a decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness. “We’re hopeful that all the efforts and the county and Continuum of Care and homeless service providers is really beginning to make a difference in people’s lives, but we’re hoping […]
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Orcutt community members pitch in to help local donut shop owner hospitalized with cancer
Orcutt resident Patricia Sly-Feighner said Houth Hak, the owner of Orcutt’s Golden Donut, always went out of her way to make people feel special. “She’s just always so happy, you just knew she would smile at you. She would help carry your stuff out to your car; she was a ray of sunshine,” Sly-Feighner said. […]
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Santa Maria City Council green-lights permit for Fallas building conversion
Downtown Santa Maria’s old Fallas building should get a facelift after the City Council unanimously approved a permit for the Vernon Group to convert the commercial building into an apartment complex as part of the city’s Downtown Specific Plan. “We’ve been talking a lot about the downtown redevelopment plan and here we have a project […]
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Plains Pipeline proposal to replace valves on the line responsible for the 2015 Refugio oil spill has county residents worried
Prroposal to put in new safety valves on an oil pipeline looks straightforward but raised a lot of questions. “This was brought to us as, ‘Look, this is simple. It’s just putting safety valves, required by law,’” said Santa Barbara County Planning Commissioner John Parke, who represents the 3rd District. “There [are] a lot of […]
