The Canary

Fire season is here, y’all.  With more than 80,000 acres burned in the Cuyama Valley and on the Carrizo Plain National Monument since before July 2, and a number of other starts since summer began, now is the time to be careful.  That means: Be done with the fireworks, people.  I can still hear the […]

Santa Barbara County is losing its cannabis enforcement team.  That’s one way to save $3 million!  Apparently illegal cannabis activities in the county have declined significantly since 2018, when the Sheriff’s Office Cannabis Compliance Team first started ripping through illegal grows, weed whacking, bagging, and confiscating all things pot.  I remember the images that the […]

Fireworks are already popping off in northern Santa Barbara County, and we’re still a couple of weeks away from the Fourth of July.  Surprised? Nope. Santa Maria, Guadalupe, Lompoc—not to be dramatic, but the city streets turn into a bit of a war zone as darkness descends on Independence Day. You have to be careful […]

How much does it take to fold a chamber of commerce?  In Lompoc, apparently, it takes a little less than $50,000. The Lompoc City Council decided to cut into the amount of funding it provides to the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce—both in cash and in-kind.  The result of that is about a net $60,000 […]

How many lawsuits does it take to stop Sable Offshore Corporation? At least two: One from the Environmental Defense Center and one from the Center for Biological Diversity. Well, two and a restraining order request—and even then, Sable continues its march to open the oil tap.  Both were filed in response to the Office of […]

Pride is upon us. It’s here. And I’m ready to flap my wings and tweet and twitter in celebration of the LGBTQ-plus community during their month, June!  I’m curious what will happen at the Santa Maria City Council meeting tonight—June 3—as proclaiming Pride Month in June is on the agenda. Will the emboldened haters out […]

Even as a fully fledged bird, I need a mother every now and again. Sometimes I miss the comfort of a sheltering wing; sometimes I just need to be reminded of what’s right and what’s wrong. But needing someone to fill that mama-shaped hole in my heart is no excuse for going all cuckoo on […]

Things got a little testy at a recent Guadalupe City Council meeting.  Any guesses as to the topic du jour?  Ding, ding, ding! Yes. It was the Royal Theater renovation project—you know the one, with grant issues, cost issues, redesign controversy, and the failed potential ballot initiative idea. Residents have complained multiple times about the […]

Richards Ranch sure has a bee in its bonnet about 4th District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Bob Nelson.  For the third meeting in a row, the development’s attorney, Beth Collins, has accused the county and Nelson of doing shady things in processing the two concurrent applications for the same project—one that aims to annex 58 […]

What can I say about quails? They’re kind of cute, especially the babies. They can’t fly like I can, but they are native to California. You can attract them into your yard by sprinkling the right food around and providing them with some thick shrubbery for cover. Which is cool, unless you live in Solvang’s […]

Should transgender students be able to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities? Should trans women be able to compete in women’s athletics?  These are complicated questions that we have been struggling to navigate and answer over the past several years, and we’ve made progress and gained a more complete […]

Buellton’s about to get one of the only art deco Arco’s in the United States.  After seven long years of fighting the city over its Avenue of Flags design requirements, Arco gave in!  “I think you guys know me very well by now. We’ve been here many times,” Alex Cuevas told the Planning Commission, which […]