The Canary

Is the world too touchy-feely these days? Do we need to go back to the days of gunslingers and fights in the street?  At least one man in Santa Maria thinks so! And he told everyone who attended what would normally have been a pretty benign meeting about the Santa Maria Police Department’s goals for […]

Just in case you guys were wondering, 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino is ardently against Brussels sprouts.  “Brussel sprouts, I’m total anti-Brussel sprout. I’ll come out right now on that one. Anyone that orders it around me has got a problem, because I will tell you to please move it away from me. It smells,” […]

We’ve got a teacher shortage, a nurse shortage, and a student shortage—as in fewer students in school. And if you can guess why, I’ll give you a gold star for effort.  Yes! You’ve got it! You’ve been paying attention to the news!  It’s because we aren’t having a shortage of COVID-19 cases. In fact, that […]

I don’t want to write about good news. It’s no fun! But this week I have no choice. I have no choice but to give the county a pat on the back for its efforts on homelessness.  As San Luis Obispo County put forward a “safe parking area” on a dirt lot outside of its […]

Vaccine mandate.  Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down. Before you start yelling at me for daring to write those two words, let me get to the point. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is going to consider vaccine mandates at its next meeting—Aug. 31. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down. It’s not for everyone! It would […]

Ground squirrels closed down Beattie Park’s asphalt-covered parking lot in Lompoc.  Those ferocious little demons have burrowed and tunneled beneath that hard surface so much, holes are starting to appear. And why did they choose that lot, you ask?  Well, turns out, people are feeding them. Feeding them! As if they can’t feed themselves—as if […]

I don’t know whether I’m surprised or not, but the owner of Stadium805—aka the Santa Maria Raceway—announced the impending closure of the landmark of Highway 101.  Owner Nick Duggan posted his long rant about why and when via Facebook on Aug. 9. Apparently, it’s all San Luis Obispo County’s fault—well, big, bad SLO County and […]

Man. You guys. If it wasn’t for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Santa Maria would still be racist against agricultural workers.  Thank God that federal agency found out about the city’s “discriminatory” housing ordinance and threatened a $400,000 fine for noncompliance. If the city hadn’t repealed its employee housing ordinance, agricultural […]

If I could point out one thing that’s wrong with our health care system right now, it’s this: A health care system that essentially has a monopoly on providing services in Santa Maria just terminated its contract with one of the largest health insurance providers in California—and it’s legal.  In fact, it happens all the […]

Looking for a new neighborhood to call home?  I would avoid the Skytt Mesa area of Solvang, if I were you.  Sounds like it’s a neighborhood where neighbors snitch on neighbors and there’s almost nowhere to put a shed. If sheds are your thing, I guess. And if you live in Skytt Mesa, sheds are […]

You know whose heads aren’t quite screwed on straight? The folks over at Central Coast Community Energy (also known as 3CE), which pulled a little bait-and-switch on all the people who were promised PG&E rate discounts when the electric utility traveled up and down the coast marketing itself to local cities and counties.  At the […]