Spotlight

Vandenberg Air Force Base service members brought a little extra holiday cheer to youth at the Boys & Girls Club and children at Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria with a COVID-19 safe gift delivery before Christmas.  For years, Vandenberg has brought more than 100 kids to the base for Operation Kids Christmas, an […]

Feeling lonely after canceling your holiday plans? Need something to fill the void of social interaction in 2020? Searching for a new companion for the New Year? Look no further than your local animal shelters! ’Tis the season to bring home a furry friend, and Santa Barbara County shelters are putting on some special holidays […]

Seven-year old Isabella Ramirez has always been a high-energy, bubbly kid—the kind who never seems to get sleepy no matter how much she runs around all day. She’s tough, too, always popping right back up after a fall without so much as a peep.  So her mom, Santa Maria resident Fabiola Ramirez, knew something was […]

Santa Maria-style barbecue grills. A modern farmhouse design that pays homage to local agricultural roots. A brand new elementary school and shopping center just steps away. These amenities and benefits come with living at Azure, a recently unveiled apartment rental community in Santa Maria that sits at the heart of the Enos Ranchos development and […]

Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties have some of the most ambitious climate goals in the state: Santa Barbara County’s new 2030 Climate Action Plan will seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent over the next 10 years, and the city of San Luis Obispo aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2035. […]

Despite Santa Barbara County’s regression back to the state’s most restrictive reopening allowances, Christmas celebrations in the Santa Ynez Valley are going full steam ahead, thanks to efforts to make events purple-tier compliant.  “Fortunately, the strengthening of some of the rules didn’t affect what we had planned, because everything we were doing was already so […]

When COVID-19 gathering restrictions came down in mid-March, the Santa Barbara County Foodbank was just days away from putting on its annual Empty Bowls lunch fundraiser in Lompoc.  The event, which has been going on for 19 years in Santa Maria and 15 in Lompoc, gives community members a handmade ceramic bowl and soup meal […]

While many unknowns still remain about COVID-19, what’s well documented is that serious cases of the disease can impact a person’s oxygenation levels—sometimes rapidly and with little warning.  Dr. Keith Emmons, medical director at CenCal Health, the local Medi-Cal health plan, called this “one of the cruelties of this disease.” “The normal oxygenation would be, […]

The Delta High School garden has been teaching students how to grow their own nutritious produce since it was first constructed in 2017, but thanks to a recent community partnership, the high school is now taking its agricultural endeavors up a notch.  “Over the last year or so, I had just been wishing that we […]

Cristin Nightingale, owner of Sunkissed Tanning Salon in Santa Maria, had always wanted to own her own salon, “even since high school.” In mid 2019, she decided to take the leap. “It was a long process,” Nightingale recalled. “I had to find the spot, get the [tanning] beds, decorate it, and all that fun stuff.” […]

Why are ghosts such terrible liars? Because you can see right through them!  How can you tell a vampire likes baseball? Every night he turns into a bat!  What do witches use on their hair? Scare spray! Everybody loves a good pun and, as much as the Sun would love to take credit, the Lompoc […]

Editor’s note: This article is the second of a two-part series highlighting Santa Maria’s three mayoral candidates. The first part, “Incumbent upon us,” published on Oct. 1. Alberto Ugalde, lifelong Santa Marian and business owner, and Will Smith, a former educator and preacher, are each hoping to win the Santa Maria mayorship this November.  Born […]