Here are some questions that probably aren’t keeping you up at night: Why isn’t the Hearst Ranch a golf resort? Why aren’t we still arguing about whether Los Osos should have a sewer system and how it should work? Why wasn’t a seismic survey allowed to devastate our local fisheries and marine wildlife with underwater […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Eyebrow raise
Raising your own salary is never a good look. But it’s something we task many elected decision-making bodies with, from city councils and community services districts to boards of supervisors and sometimes even the Legislature—although not in California. In California, our legislators’ salaries are determined by an independent commission. I bet that the Santa Barbara […]
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The county’s new ambulance contract doesn’t meet national standards for response times
Response times are very important when defining adequate emergency medical/fire services; the National Fire Protection Association established nationwide consensus standards, NFPA Standard 1710, for those services. For example, the standard specifies that a fire engine with four members is expected to arrive at a medical or fire emergency four minutes after dispatch 90 percent of […]
Posted inOpinion
Questions about Nipomo battery storage
Upgrades better than Moss Landing is not good enough (“Nipomo residents express concerns about battery energy storage plant safety,” Feb. 27). If the Nipomo battery energy storage facility needed upgrades, it was not perfect, and safety is still an issue. Can we do better? Can we even trust that the safety measures and standards are […]
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Responses to recent Sun articles
Regarding “Don’t Palestinians have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” (Feb. 27): Unfortunately, the short answer to your question is … no. At least, not until the so-called right-wing Christian Nationalists, who ignore the teachings of the Christ and follow the edicts of an Israelite war god, wake up and realize […]
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Defend the future
Droves of local residents are speaking up in fear of the past repeating itself, in opposition to a present danger, and in defense of the future. They’re speaking out at local government meetings, making demands and expressing concerns. Their public comments and protests are not falling on deaf ears, but local leaders’ hands are tied. […]
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Food for thought
How do you create a lasting peace when you do not include in negotiations the people who need to be involved to make it work (Ukraine and Gaza)? How does someone who considers himself a shrewd negotiator sacrifice his trump cards (NATO, Donbas) before negotiations even begin? How do you believe and trust people who […]
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Don’t Palestinians have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
No matter who is in our White House, Israel rules our country. Three hundred and twenty-nine members of our House of Representatives are supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) political action committee. In the last congressional elections, AIPAC spent millions of dollars to defeat candidates who would not do their bidding. A […]
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County supervisors deserve the pay raise
I can already hear the howls of outrage about the proposed pay hike for our Board of Supervisors. What I don’t hear is an understanding of how hard they work, and how grossly underpaid they have been for far too long. Consider this: According to a recent survey of comparable counties, Santa Barbara County Supervisors […]
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Re-encampment
Is re-encampment the same as an oil pipeline restart? Can’t unhoused people just get a waiver to restart their lives in the Santa Maria Riverbed? After all, the system that aims to provide resources, housing, and help to these folks isn’t quite working for them. So we should all collectively shrug, right? Live and let […]
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Californians were duped into policies that raised the cost of eggs—avian flu’s only making things worse
In 2018, California voters were dupped by animal rights activists into passing Proposition 12, which required farmers who raise laying hens to allow them to “roam freely”; it went into force in 2022. The theory was that this would be more humane and “free them from confinement.” Several other states also adopted this new idea […]
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Until Palestine is free
Since Oct. 7, 2023, all of us have experienced continuing, intense grief. Many of us are mourning cousins, siblings, classmates, parents … all of us are grieving the astounding loss of Palestinian lives as well as the very structure of Gazan life. There is nothing left of Gaza, yet its people rush back—on foot—to sift […]
