Santa Maria is no longer the only game in North County for skater kids looking for a place to play. First, Nipomo stepped up and built a skate parkāit only took a decade to make it happen. That park opened in 2022. Now, Guadalupeās four-wheel fiends will soon get a spot they can walk toāskate […]
Canary
Symbolic support
The Santa Maria City Council finally decided to weigh in on immigration enforcement activities, symbolically. At the Jan. 20 council meeting, Councilmember Maribel Aguilera got to business before Councilmember Gloria Soto could even turn her mic on, requesting that the mayor put a resolution or proclamation on the agenda to send a āclear message that […]
Aliens and asbestos
Itās not every day that the paper you tweet (as in chirp, chirp not type, type) for gets compared to the National Enquirer! I donāt know whether to be offended, confused, or proud. Guadalupe City Councilmember Eugene Costa Jr. apparently doesnāt really think too highly of the little paper that could: āTo go off a […]
Government hawk
Sales tax ballot measure proposal season is here! I know itās not officially a season, but it should be. In the run-up to election season, local governments ponder all the things they could do with a little extra sales tax revenue. In Lompoc, during this season of proposals itās all about the roads. They need […]
Whoās counting?
In the stand-off to see who wins in the great pipeline battle of the 2020s, it seems like Sable Offshore Corporationās closer to the finish line than environmental organizations want it to be. In May 2025, the oil company began pumping oil from its offshore oil platforms to its onshore facility in Las Flores Canyon, […]
Shock factor
Northern Santa Barbara County is rounding out 2025 with an alleged maternal filicide case thatās captured national interest. Itās a shocking case in which a 9-year-old girl from Vandenberg Village was murdered and left on the side of a remote road in Utah, where she stayed for weeks before being discovered. Itās sad on a […]
Tough crowd
Anyone who thought that Guadalupeās downtown was finally going to be home to construction activities on the Royal Theater revamp needs to wait just a little bit longer. After breaking ground in early December, the project hit another snag. The city needs Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District [APCD] approval to move forward with […]
The squeaky wheel
It seems like the Santa Barbara County Sheriffās Office is working to course correct when it comes to the number of outstanding arrest warrantsāsomething 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino has been asking for. After he expressed concerns about the issue during a Northern Branch Jail expansion discussion in Aprilāwhich will cost $165 million, by the […]
Judge Jim
Are unpermitted food vendors actually a problem in Santa Barbara County or has the beef against one stall in Santa Ynez become the loud squeaky Karen thatās garnered all of 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmannās attention? Sheās made allegations about human trafficking tied to roadside vendors in the county. Sheās made it sound like theyāre […]
Cultural progress
Guadalupeās making progress, yāall! Itās one step closer to hosting a local farmers market and to reinvigorating its downtown with the Royal Theater renovation. Wow. Itās like hard work and patienceāa lot of patienceāpay off! And that patience needs to continue to stretch, because the theater hasnāt quite raised all the money it needs to […]
Bridge to nowhere good
I wonder how former Lompoc City Councilmember Gilda Aiello is taking the news about the guy who took her seat on the dais at the end of 2024. Remember what happened? She decided not to run for reelection due to āa few unfair attacks brought on me by a group of individuals who wanted to […]
The middleman
While warm-blooded American patriots were enjoying their weekends like warm-blooded patriots, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was out doing the work of the people: arresting rapists, pedophiles, and murderers (and I assume, good people, too)āaccording to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security press release you can find right on its website! Direct-to-the-people news, direct from […]

