Canary

Quick, tell me what happened to those girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria earlier this year. Do you know how that situation resolved? Do you know if it resolved? Off the top of your head, can you tell me where they ultimately found Malaysian Airlines’ mysteriously missing MH370? Or if it was ever found at […]

If Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meetings were brought to you by letters and numbers, the way episodes of Sesame Street work, the predominate portion of the alphabet for the July 29 meeting would have been “P.” That letter, I’ll wager, will be taking the spotlight from now until November in the board chambers […]

You’ve heard of Chipotle, right? The chain has made a lot of headlines for the quality of its food and its progressive company ethics. But still, you might not have heard of it. If there’s something Northern Santa Barbara County has plenty of—besides strawberries, of course—it’s Mexican food, so I’d understand if yet another burrito […]

This week’s cover story about a former prisoner who spent time in solitary confinement prepping to perform in a series about a prisoner spending time in solitary confinement got me thinking. And here’s what I thought: Solitary confinement is a stupid idea. Obviously, it has benefits when it comes to keeping violent offenders away from […]

My buddy Robert is all upset over the latest news to come out of Sacramento. As a California valley quail, he’s long enjoyed his status as the state bird, frolicking among golden poppies and telling his cousins in other states about the best surf spots—even though he’s never set a foot on a board in […]

The scariest military battle in which I ever fought—to paraphrase Mark Twain—was a Fourth of July in Santa Maria. Cities up and down the coast have banned fireworks of a personal sort: the kind you light a few inches away from your browning front lawn in the hopes that a car or truck won’t need […]

Primary season might have come and gone, but I still have voting on the brain. Mostly this is because it’s Best Of season here at the Sun. As I type this column, our staffers are counting the last few hardcopy ballots and adding them to our online stash. (Sorry, dear readers, you’re going to have […]

I’m not going to make a big deal out of this, because I can’t even begin to pretend to understand the complexities of how governing laws work between Santa Barbara County and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. But I am going to boldly wade into the shallow surface of my understanding and say […]

Don’t be the last one to get out of a bad situation. That’s what I’ve learned from studying the hearing that’s been underway in Santa Maria recently, in which Dan Ast, formerly a lieutenant with the Santa Maria Police Department, is arguing that he should get his job back. Ast was a link in the […]

They’re all the same. The candidates are different—or at least they have different names—but the elections themselves are all the same. If you know me, you know that I love elections. Or I have loved elections. The bustle of the polling places, the volunteers and proud voters, the hopeful candidates, the tension, the promise, the […]

Canary’s note: My executive editor wanted to write this week, so I gave him the space usually reserved for my column: “I was giving the female gender one last chance to provide me with the pleasures I deserved from them.” This is the line that national media are attributing to Elliot Rodger, who recently wrote […]

We, as a country, had Teacher Appreciation Week at the beginning of May, which got me thinking: When is Journalist Appreciation Week? Not that I’m saying teachers don’t deserve a week of their own. Not at all! But when you think about it, journalists and teachers have a lot in common: We work long, hard […]