Spotlight

Guadalupe Lopez left high school to go serve his country in the Vietnam War. Coming from a patriotic family with brothers who served in the Korean War, the then Santa Maria resident felt it was his calling to follow in their footsteps, Lopez said.  “I wanted to finish school and have a diploma, but because […]

Known for its white and purple flowers with a yellow disk, the beach layia is a small sunflower that’s only found in California’s coastal dunes.  Although the flowers were once found dotting the dunes from Lompoc’s Vandenberg Space Force Base to Humboldt County, they began to die off with land development, invasive species, livestock grazing, […]

Bright pink strawberry lemonade and powdered-sugar coated strawberry funnel cake will soon be sipped and devoured as the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival makes its return to an in-person event at the Santa Maria Fairpark. “The strawberry festival has been around for over 30 years. In 2020 we were unable to do it, and in 2021 […]

When a child is exposed to a prolonged amount of stress—like caregiver neglect, substance abuse, mental illness, exposure to violence, or emotional abuse—it can affect their mental health and well-being in the long run, said Cottage Health Population Health Program Manager Ama Atiedu.  The constant adversity in their lives can lead to toxic stress, a […]

Arts and crafts, Lego building, space exploration, farming opportunities, and sea life discovery returned for kids when the Santa Maria Discovery Museum welcomed the public and celebrated its re-opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce on March 18.  The Discovery Museum opened its doors—with modified hours—after 22 […]

When Dinky the potbellied pig first came to Greener Pastures Farm Sanctuary, she had mechanical blindness—a condition that occurs when pigs are so obese, the fat on their face rolls over their eyes and leaves them without sight.  “She came from a shelter down in Los Angeles where she had been surrendered during a fire,” […]

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” inspired Lata Murti and fellow Women’s March Santa Maria Valley planning committee members for this year’s women’s march: Still, We Rise.  “It’s also inspired by the fact that women all over the world are always rising up against injustices, and part of what identifying as a woman [means is] […]

After 14 weeks of pregnancy, Ashley Agnitch was told her daughter had trisomy 18 (or Edwards’ syndrome), a genetic abnormality that limited her daughter’s heart from fully developing, and was not expected to survive pregnancy, labor, or delivery, Agnitch recalled.  “They had told me that the pregnancy would end in miscarriage and also offered—and recommended—medical […]

Ever wonder what the California “whale tail” license plate is all about? Drivers who pay a little extra for the ocean-themed plate are contributing to a statewide fund that the California Coastal Commission uses each year to fund grassroots projects that protect or educate about the coast. On Feb. 9, in a record-breaking year of […]

Santa Barbara County started the One Climate Initiative in 2020 to bring planners together to tackle major issues tied to climate change, according to county Planning and Development Senior Planner Zoë Carlson.  “I like to think of One Climate as an umbrella of all our different planning elements. We are all moving forward concurrently with […]

At the beginning of the month, Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP President Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt drove up and down Santa Barbara County to receive resolutions from several cities and the Board of Supervisors recognizing February 2022 as Black History Month.  “Our theme is Black joy and legacy and focuses on health and safety. … We talked about highlighting […]

After Santa Maria experienced a series of violent incidents a few years ago, Mayor Alice Patino called parents and businesses together to brainstorm a way to combat the youth-on-youth violence and alarming rates of teen murders. Santa Maria saw 21 homicides in 14 months in 2016, a rate 80 percent higher than the national average, […]