About eight years ago, Annie Looysen and her husband acquired a few pet finches and purchased a table to place the birds’ cage on. Unfortunately, the avians didn’t work out as pets in their 800-square-foot home, so Looysen painted the table and sold it on Craigslist for much more than she anticipated. Although the birds […]
ZAC EZZONE
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Local groups capitalize on unofficial groundwater, oil field study results to protest new project
Preliminary findings in a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study show indications of oil field-related substances mixing with groundwater at various sites in the Orcutt oil field. Local environmental groups are using these unofficial findings to protest further oil and gas projects in Santa Barbara County. In a 33-page letter to the Santa Barbara County Planning […]
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Santa Maria residents urge city to resume water fluoridation
The city of Santa Maria is reconsidering its decision to discontinue the fluoridation of the city’s water supply after some residents pushed back on the move at a recent City Council meeting. Santa Maria began fluoridating its water in 2004, but stopped last year as a cost-saving measure. According to the city’s 2018-19 budget, not […]
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Some county residents urge supervisors to support Green New Deal
Amid the county’s evaluation of proposed oil and gas projects, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is set to discuss whether to pass a resolution supporting proposed federal legislation aimed at curbing climate change. At the supervisors’ meeting on May 21, 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, with 1st District Supervisor Das Williams’ support, made […]
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Santa Maria delays decision on joining Monterey Bay Community Power
As Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP) continues to expand southward and throughout most of San Luis Obispo County, Santa Maria is weighing whether to join the public electricity provider. MBCP services Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties, with cities throughout SLO County also joining. The community choice energy (CCE) agency is one of 19 […]
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County mental health provider declares bankruptcy
The vendor responsible for running two Santa Barbara County facilities that house and assist clients with mental illnesses declared bankruptcy in late April, forcing county supervisors to quickly approve replacements before clients were released. On May 8, Anka Behavioral Health notified the county that it had filed for bankruptcy on April 30 and would discontinue […]
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Local jurisdictions prepare for changes to, potential challenges of the 2020 census
Next year’s decennial census features changes to the process that some believe could affect the accuracy of its results. This could be a problem in Santa Maria and other parts of Santa Barbara County, where ensuring an accurate count is already a challenge. For the first time since its inception in 1790, the census survey […]
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Cities push back on proposed changes that would make it difficult to annex farmland
Cities in Santa Barbara County could have a harder time annexing farmland to grow their boundaries if the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) implements a few proposed policy changes. One of the changes would require the development of prime agricultural land to be mitigated with an equal amount of land preserved. The city […]
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Spotlight on: Transitions-Mental Health Association celebrates 40 years of helping locals affected by mental illnesses
Jill Bolster-White, executive director
Forty years ago, Transitions-Mental Health Association (TMHA) was founded with the goal of helping people leaving state mental health hospitals reintegrate into the community by teaching them basic skills such as cooking or budgeting. Four decades later, TMHA has expanded on this goal with numerous other programs offered throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo […]
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Lompoc moves toward final budget with cuts
In the latest, and often contentious, conversation over Lompoc’s 2019-21 biennial budget, the City Council made it clear the budget would include cuts, but council members also made informal plans to discuss a sales tax measure at a later date. The city held its fourth budget workshop meeting on May 15, where City Council and […]
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Public comment period open for Lompoc wind project
A decade after approving a project to build wind turbines south of Lompoc, which were never constructed, Santa Barbara County is weighing a similar project in the same area proposed by a different company. The county Department of Planning and Development recently released a draft of its supplemental environmental impact review (SEIR) for the Strauss […]
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Lompoc grapples with long-term solutions to its budget shortfalls, burgeoning pension debt
The city of Lompoc is somewhat isolated, located about 20 miles off of Highway 101. This seclusion prevents the city from receiving the same sales tax revenue generated in most other Santa Barbara County cities by traffic passing through. In addition, Lompoc has the second lowest median home value in the county behind Guadalupe—the only […]
