Canary

Just as summer starts each year, the Sun staff goes collectively insane working on Best Of. Don’t get me wrong, we love Best Of! What a great way to celebrate excellence in our community. But seriously, it’s a lot of work. We count hundreds and hundreds of votes, contact dozens and dozens of businesses owners […]

Another year, another crop report from Santa Barbara County (see page 5), and this one is (Borat voice), berry nice! Sorry, I couldn’t resist–the county’s strawberry farmers raked in an astounding $457 million during 2017!  Local broccoli farmers got a significant boost as well, surpassing wine grapes as the second most earning crop from 2016 […]

Sometimes, you just see things coming. At least, those of us who’ve reported on Santa Barbara County, its cities, towns, industries, and activists for any period of time can. That’s why I wasn’t at all surprised to see the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission flooded by protesters from The Center for Biological Diversity, Citizens For […]

I know I spend most of my time pecking at people, but hey, I’m a bird! It’s what I do. That’s why it’s always good to give some credit when it’s due, especially to those I’ve pointed my beak at recently. A couple of weeks ago I challenged the Santa Maria City Council and Mayor […]

I haven’t had many reasons to laugh lately, but a new group backed by pretty much every major conservative donor organization in Santa Barbara County has me chortling so hard my feathers are flying off.  I’m talking about a new ballot initiative that that may get placed on the November ballot after its authors gathered […]

And then, there were two. Is anyone else excited to see another young, Hispanic professional stepping up to the plate to run for Santa Maria City Council? Local nonprofit manager Gloria Soto is running to fill Jack Boysen‘s soon-to-be-vacated District 3 seat, and I must admit, I’m all aflutter! It’s not just that she’s young […]

Everybody has a breaking point, when they just can’t take it anymore. But what does it take to get you to there? I know there are many who live on the Central Coast and pick up the Sun who voted for President Donald Trump, who are fond of the president and his policies. If you’ve […]

We made it through the June 5 primary without any too-close-to-call races, recounts, or tantrums thrown by the losers. Whew, now we get to do it all again in November! While it would have been interesting to see Sheriff Bill Brown face a challenger in November, neither Lts. Brian Olmstead nor Eddie Hsueh got the […]

My momma bird taught me to not count canaries before they hatch, which is unfortunately where I’m at with the June 5 election results. A weekly paper’s deadlines aren’t always convenient for this bird, but you can check out the results in the Sun‘s news section (page 4). I will have plenty of pithy things […]

How do you spot a true political outsider? It’s easy—whichever candidate isn’t sitting on a mountain of money! I see an interesting parallel between two races for completely different offices happening right now—the 24th Congressional District (see page 7) and the Santa Barbara County sheriff (page 4). Both races feature incumbents comfortably perched on stacks […]

It’s barely election season, and you can already smell the piles of platitudes pouring out of the mouths of hopeful politicians, much like the manure scent that wafts off North County’s crops. Ah, breathe in the BS! It doesn’t matter whether they’re Republican or Democrat—why do we hear the same tired words and phrases regurgitated […]

Hey, last week’s wish came true (“Strange days indeed,” May 10), I did make a splash! I love when right wingers accuse me being a “triggered liberal” devoid of reason or logic when all I said was the president might not deserve a freakin’ Nobel Peace Prize or whatever they demand following a peace agreement […]