The Canary

Pop quiz, readers.  When you read the statement: “The public figure did not respond before press time,” what do you perceive? How does that sound to you? Do you: a) shrug—public figures are busy and deadlines are tight. b) roll your eyes—it takes just a second to respond. c) lose faith—public figures should stop hiding.  […]

Guys! Teens are smoking pot.  Surprised? I’m not.  In a recent presentation to the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Commission, Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley Programs Director Dawnette Kingsley-Smith vouched for an ordinance restricting public tobacco and marijuana use. She said it would help “denormalize” pot smoking among youth.  “The myths around the health of […]

Should we cry for ExxonMobil? The multi-national energy corporation sued Santa Barbara County over what’s known as a “takings” in May for the Board of Supervisors’ decision to deny an oil trucking project that would have enabled the company to restart its operations offshore near Santa Barbara. Recently, a judge ruled that a bunch of […]

Santa Maria City Council candidate Steven Funkhouser set the new bar for city politics in 2022. And that’s not a good thing.  How low is low? You have to come up with something that sinks beneath the level of altering photographs and featuring them in the dark, gritty campaign mailers delivered to the homes of […]

If the little notes the Sun has received are any indication of how people are feeling about the upcoming election, then Santa Maria is apprehensive, to say the least.  And, no surprises here, Etta Waterfield, who is seeing her way out of her Santa Maria City Council seat, is a favorite target of these, umm, […]

In a race that will determine who takes Etta Waterfield’s (I hope Montana doesn’t send her back!) seat on the Santa Maria City Council, we’ve got one candidate with very specific ideas about city issues and one candidate with somewhat specific ideas about education. Are they running for the same office?  I guess you’ll have […]

What is the impact of new California laws meant to reduce the number of people in local jails and state prisons? Is it an increase in crime?  If you ask law enforcement, they say yes. If you ask some North Santa Barbara County farmers, they also say yes. And the reason they say yes is […]

Guadalupe believes that nearly $10 million in state and federal funds will help the city level up to become the tourist trap it strives to be, and environmental organizations like Los Padres ForestWatch believe that releasing 4 percent of Twitchell Dam’s water supply during intense storm events in wet years will bring back the steelhead […]

Seems like the Santa Maria City Council is setting itself up for a game of Whac-A-Mole with unhoused residents living in vehicles.  Councilmembers unanimously approved closing four streets in the city to parking from midnight to 4 a.m. in an effort to get those unsightly RVs, overstuffed cars, and SUVs that neighborhood businesses have been […]

How long does it take to build a gas station?  At least six years if you’re trying to do it in Buellton—and that’s before the project even gets approved. ARCO has been knocking on the city’s door since before 2018, wanting to bring the city “too much good stuff” with an AM/PM and put some […]

Have you ever wanted to gather all the people who want your vote into one place to get their views on an issue near and dear to your heart? That’s what the North Santa Barbara County Manufactured Homeowners Team did during its Sept. 12 candidate forum, which was designed to “win support for mobile home […]

As the temperature gauge heads ever higher this September, Solvang is already planning for a white Christmas with Julefest in its sparkling, shimmery sights.  The big question is: TV advertising or not?  And that, my friends, apparently depends on who the city of Danish lights is trying to attract. If you ask Connie Anderson, the […]