The Canary

I didn’t know it was possible to feel any worse for cannabis growers and the way regulations have haltingly rolled out in California—lurching forward, reversing, and being revised as special interest groups come forward with their grievances about the devil’s lettuce!  But the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is making it happen! High five!  […]

Hey all you cool kids and kiddos out there. You better watch out. The city of Santa Maria is out to get you. If you smell funny (Is that reefer?), are making out in public (Get a room!), or using vulgar language (I do declare!) in a public park—you could hear from the city’s park […]

There’s nothing I can say to heal the fissures exposed in this country right now. The whole thing is a bit bananas.  With advocates in the streets protesting against police brutality directed at people of color, and mayhem advocates in the streets doing their best to have some hell-raising fun, it’s hard to keep it […]

I know what you’re thinking. The Sun’s cover story this week is about the politics of COVID-19 and the little canary is just going sing out against the far-right protesters of the world. Well, I do think people who land on the far-rightish side of the spectrum and cling to President Donald Trump’s words like […]

I was too busy flying off the handle about the Lompoc prison situation last week to utter a twitter about another lousy local situation.  The Old Town Market in Orcutt.  But before I gather my feathers and flutter onto that particular cannabis-soaked soapbox, I just need to say, THANK GOD Santa Barbara County managed to […]

I honestly don’t understand why the Federal Bureau of Prisons is being so obstinate about the COVID-19 outbreak in the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) and U.S. Penitentiary (USP). Or why they had to put two different facilities out there with different acronyms and treat them differently as well! It’s so confusing. Is it a […]

The Employment Development Department (EDD) is a disaster. Applying for unemployment benefits is confusing and slow. People who should qualify are being told that they don’t. You can’t fix something if you filled out the online forms wrong or the site crashes while you’re using it. You can’t call the office because nobody picks up.  […]

It’s hard to tell what the actual situation is at the Lompoc federal prison, other than it’s not good.  After promising inmates increased phone minutes to stave off concerns about the loss of other rights, “officials” (we have no idea if they’re local, national, or somethings else) decided to cut off inmate phone access altogether […]

If you get sick, you get sick guys. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, according to 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam, who is raring to get that Santa Barbara County economy up an moving again.  You hear that, Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso? Adam is ready for Do-Reynoso to get her crap together on a […]

Well the COVID-19 count in the Lompoc Federal Penitentiary is up to more than 90 as of April 14—and lord knows it’s probably higher now. As as far as we know, 67 of those are inmates.  It kind of makes you wonder what they are doing over there. Because we do know what they aren’t […]

Stay-in-cage orders have me on a lockdown. I’m just swinging instead of singing, staring longingly out the rain-battered windows, looking for a sign of light and thinking about throwing my phone into the weather.  I need a pick-me-up. A giant wall of fat, wiggly worms that I can eat my way through before flying out […]

Is there a communication breakdown or is it just me?  Maybe I live in a little bubble—surrounded by COVID-19 press conferences, press releases, case numbers, articles, businesses adjusting, and on and on—but it seems like there are people who haven’t received the message.  Like, at all.  To help get the word out to those who […]