Spotlight

Celebrating its sixth anniversary, Orcutt’s InSPArations Salon is bringing awareness to breast cancer with a ladies’ night on Oct. 22.   Raffle tickets will be sold for $3 apiece at the salon beginning Sept. 21, with all proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Entrants can win gift certificates for wine, spa […]

Vintage dolls, commemorative plates, Chinese art, and original watercolor paintings are just a few treasures to be discovered at Chez Jeanía, a new antique shop recently opened in Santa Maria.   Store owner Barbara Spencer named the shop in honor of her mother Jane, who died in January 2001. Barbara and her mother traveled the […]

Nonprofit organizations and businesses alike can learn how to connect, network, and benefit from local partnerships and philanthropy at the Nonprofit Support Center’s Community Outreach Roundtable on Sept. 29. The event’s special guest will be Laura Webster, project coordinator for Driscoll’s Philanthropy. Webster has been with Driscoll’s for three years, generating programs and support for […]

In time for summer’s swan song, the Santa Maria Town Center got a whole lot sweeter, welcoming Dairy Queen to its renovated food court.   The confectionery chain is teaming up with Orange Julius in a new joint store, bringing along its menu of signature Blizzards and cakes, complete with layers of chocolate and vanilla […]

Getting a child into a barbershop can be a chore, but that’s not the case with Whipper Snippers, the newest addition to the Santa Maria Town Center.   The full-service salon specializes in children’s trend-setting styles, and comes equipped with fun styling chairs. Each station is outfitted with video games and movies, and kids can […]

A California State Fair exhibit promoting Santa Barbara County’s agriculture and tourism industries—the first all-county exhibit to do so in more than 10 years—won the fair’s Gold award and Best Marketing award.   This year, 35 of 58 counties entered exhibits, and judges selected the county as a blue ribbon recipient and winner of one […]

Stressing the multiple benefits of maintaining family farms and ranches, a coalition of California farm organizations has endorsed tax-reform legislation that would exclude farm assets from the federal estate tax.   The Family Farm Preservation Estate Tax Act, H.R. 3524, would exempt farm and ranch assets from estate taxes as long as the property remains […]

The Franchise Tax Board released the 2009 state tax brackets, indexed each year by adjusting them to reflect changes in the California Consumer Price Index.   Filing requirement thresholds, standard deduction, and certain credits were adjusted, along with income tax brackets, based on the deflation rate of -1.5 percent.   The standard tax deduction will […]

Local employers are invited to sign up for Allan Hancock College’s Career Exploration Day, taking place this year on Oct. 2.   Businesses will be able to share information on careers and meet with more than 1,000 high school and college students to excite them about employment opportunities within local companies.   Exhibit registration forms […]

Santa Maria business owners in need of a server have a new option besides buying and configuring their own system. TekTegrity, Inc., an IT strategies and management company based in San Luis Obispo, has expanded to include hosted virtual servers.   The company offers entry-level systems for small businesses and e-commerce, e-mail, and database servers […]

The public is invited to a business mixer hosted by the Santa Maria Business Enriched Network group on Aug. 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Stinky’s Bar and Grill.   Mix and mingle over food and drinks and meet the business members of B.E.N., an organization of business leaders that helps its members grow […]

The Santa Barbara County Chapter of the American Red Cross recently announced Dr. Paul Myers as its new director of Emergency Services.   Myers previously served on the chapter’s Board of Directors and as a disaster volunteer. He was actively involved in the Gap, Tea, and Jesusita fire responses and was director of the La […]