If things weren’t spicy in Buellton before the November election—with a sitting City Council member running against the sitting mayor—they are now. The council is split down the middle, with two council members on one side and the newly elected mayor and another council member on the other. They couldn’t decide on who to appoint […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Speak out against the supervisors’ plan to change the county’s wireless ordinance
We are all mourning the devastating fires in Los Angeles. The opportunity and responsibility to prevent and stop wireless facility-caused fires in Santa Barbara County is missing in the proposed wireless ordinance. On Feb. 4, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors are planning to vote on amendments to the county wireless ordinance that will […]
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The state’s largest egg distributor raises prices, makes record profits though its costs are down
Cal-Maine Foods is the largest egg distributor in California. It recently released its financial statement 2024. Max Bowman, vice president and chief financial officer of Cal-Maine Foods, said, “For the second quarter of fiscal 2025, our net sales were $954.7 million compared with $523.2 million for the same period last year. The higher sales were […]
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Our Pyrocene era
We live in the “Pyrocene” era … the age of fire. Supercharged Santa Ana winds, record high temperatures, and drought have fueled the current wildfire crisis. There is death in Los Angeles County, tens of thousands have been displaced, and countless homes are reduced to ashes. In the far north of our state, massive fires […]
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Slow claps all around
The Santa Barbara County jails’ health care contractor has paid the county back $1 million since 2017. Why? Well. The California Forensic Medical Group—aka Wellpath—hadn’t employed all the staffers it was contracted to employ and was paid for it anyway. That $1 million in credits is Wellpath’s way of reimbursing the county for unfilled positions. […]
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Incompetent political leaders led to the challenges LA firefighters are facing
There is a lot of criticism in the media concerning the response to the catastrophic fires in LA County in mid-January, but is it all justified? Was it the fire department’s response or the result of politicians making bad decisions? First there was the water supply. A retired Orange County fire chief correctly pointed out […]
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Are we prepared?
As wildfires rage across Southern California, it’s impossible not to think about how vulnerable our own Santa Ynez Valley could be in a similar scenario. Fires are unpredictable, devastating, and increasingly common in drought-prone areas like ours. Add to that the overgrowth, high winds, and the growing number of high-density developments here, and it’s clear […]
Posted inOpinion
Green with anger
Santa Barbara County is finally doing something about an issue that’s garnered 3,700 complaints since 2018, and zero enforcement. Can you guess what got residents so fired up that they sent what amounts to almost two complaints a day to their elected officials over the past six years? Here’s a hint: It’s green. It’s legal. […]
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Can growth and preservation coexist in the Santa Ynez Valley?
The Santa Ynez Valley, long celebrated for its rolling hills, picturesque vineyards, and historic small towns, is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Across Buellton, Solvang, and neighboring communities, development is accelerating at a pace unseen in decades. More than 630 new residential units and more than 245,000 square feet of commercial and institutional projects are in […]
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Protect the ocean from industrial development
A proposal from the federal government to industrialize the ocean along the Central Coast and Humboldt coastlines with hundreds of 700-foot-tall floating wind turbines would set a precedent that ocean industrialization is acceptable, destroy the character of the Central Coast, and kill ocean wildlife. The Pacific Ocean is home to mammals, birds, and countless varieties […]
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Emergency services chaplains provide essential ‘whole person’ help
Every day, as part of their daily duties, first responders encounter serious trauma, life-threatening medical emergencies, and fires that displace or injure families. When they arrive, they may appear calm and disassociated with the chaos surrounding the event. They really aren’t—they are trained early in their careers to take a deep breath, assess the situation, […]
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Folk music shaped an important time in history
I recently saw Don’t Look Back at the Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo and felt like I had time traveled to my youth. While a college student at Columbia University, I hung out in Greenwich Village at coffee houses, jazz and folk music clubs, and at bars where Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet, was […]
