The Canary

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 […]

Do elected officials have the right to be upset about their salaries, or should they live with it because they knew what they were getting into when they signed up to run for the job? If you’re outgoing Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley, apparently you throw a fit because you make a few […]

Jim “Don’t Point Those Finger Guns At Me” Mosby is sick of seeing Lompoc rise from the ashes of its once derelict City Council to actually increase funding for things like public safety. In the year and a half since the council’s been freed from his toxic grasp, the city has made real progress—and he’s […]

I’m not sure why the fine folks who appealed the Santa Barbara County planning director’s decision to OK a land-use permit for Dr. Greenthumb’s to open a cannabis dispensary in Orcutt felt that lyrics from a song released in 1998 would persuade planning commissioners to deny said permit, but they did.  The full lyrics of […]

What happens when science meets science? When one scientist says one thing and another says something different? Who do you believe? The chorus or the loner? We could talk about climate change, but let’s not. That horse has been beaten with extreme heat; dry, droughty years; and several 1,000-year flash flood events in the same […]

Deaths are higher in North Santa Barbara County than South County. Anyone surprised? Nope.  No one is surprised. And no one is surprised by the reasons county “experts” gave for that disparity either: poverty, health care access, and an unequal distribution of resources between the two geographical areas of the county. It’s been an ongoing […]