Cover Story
With more allocations and a new registration system, more Santa Barbara County residents can get COVID-19 vaccines
If you’re wondering when it will be your turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the answer may soon be found on My Turn, a state-run vaccine scheduling platform that’s being onboarded by providers in Santa Barbara County and across California. “The state envisions My Turn as the single point where communities across the state can…
Natural Healing Center takes fight for Orcutt cannabis store to court
The Natural Healing Center (NHC) is disputing its exclusion from the final phase of Santa Barbara County’s cannabis retail storefront selection process, arguing that the county’s unfair scoring system led to lower than deserved marks for the local cannabis company. On March 10, NHC filed a petition in Santa Barbara County Superior Court disputing the…
BOSS LEVEL
BOSS LEVEL Where’s it playing? Hulu What’s it rated? R I can’t believe this is a film that was almost never released. Directed by Joe Carnahan (The Grey, The A-Team, Smokin’ Aces), it was planned for release on Aug. 16, 2019. Instead it was shelved. Thank goodness it’s found a home on Hulu. It’s a…
MENUS – Spring/Summer 2021
The Central Coast Guide to All Things Food and Drink
Board of Supervisors approves vaccine distribution agreement with state
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the county Public Health Department and the state laying out how COVID-19 vaccines will be allocated, solidifying a move most counties in California are making as Blue Shield of California takes over the state’s vaccine network. Public Health Director Dr. Van…
Political Watch: April 8, 2021
• Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced funding to support firefighting in California ahead of the upcoming wildfire year. Using emergency fund authorization, the governor approved nearly $81 million to add 1,400 firefighters to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), and Newsom’s January 2021 budget proposes $1 billion to support wildfire and…
Santa Barbara County’s Commission for Women have four vacancies left in its 3rd and 4th districts
The Santa Barbara County Commission for Women announced the recent appointments of two new commissioners, bringing the number of commissioners appointed by the county Board of Supervisors to 11. There are four vacancies remaining, three in the 4th District and one in the 3rd, according to Eva Camarena executive assistant to the county’s Community Service…
Santa Maria delivery drivers successfully vote out union, but union officials say members were swayed
Workers at a Santa Maria delivery driving company recently voted to remove their union from representing them. While the workers’ legal representatives called it a case of “unwanted monopoly ‘representation,’” union officials say the vote is the result of a “massive anti-union campaign” by one of the largest private companies in the United States. The…
The Equality Act supports human rights
Morro Bay resident Willow Kawamoto, describes the Equality Act as a powder keg. “The result is just an explosion of its own, encompassing so many different aspects of what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ community,” Kawamoto said. “And it’s now obviously affecting children.” The Equality Act, passed by the House of…
Temper that tantrum
While Los Alamos, Goleta, Isla Vista, Carpinteria, and Santa Ynez all know what could potentially be coming their way when it comes to recreational cannabis retail, Orcutt will have to wait until at least May 21. Why? A capitalistic temper tantrum. The Natural Healing Center—the totally non-controversial cannabis company that purchased the building that once…
Trucker charged for oil spill, first of many if Exxon project approved
Last year an oil tanker crashed on Highway 166 and spilled 4,533 gallons of oil into the Cuyama River. Someone certainly needs to be held accountable for this disaster, but is blame only to be placed on the truck driver who was charged? What about the fossil fuel company that decided to transport crude oil…
Nature, not humans, rules the Western snowy plover population
More than 25 years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) declared the Western snowy plover a threatened species and afforded “protections” that included nature establishing a sustained plover population of 400 adult birds on three Vandenberg Air Force Base beaches. Apparently the science didn’t support this conclusion then and still doesn’t. In doing…
Songwriters at Play founder Steve Key and other local musicians put on an outdoor house show in Orcutt
What do singer-songwriter Steve Key, guitarist Dorian Michael, percussionist Paul Griffith, and fiddler John Nowel all have in common? (Aside from calling the Central Coast their home, that is.) These four prolific musicians are set to share the stage—or backyard—at an upcoming outdoor house concert at a residence in Orcutt. The show’s hosts are Jeff…
Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Dept. announces five artists chosen to paint local utility boxes
The city of Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department recently held a call for artists to paint traffic signal utility boxes in and around the city, which was open to both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County residents. Applicants were encouraged to pitch artworks based on themes that tie to Santa Maria’s social, cultural,…
Artisan Market in Santa Ynez hosts Painted Horse Round Up event
On Saturday, April 17, the public is invited to meet the group of local artists behind the Painted Horse Project, an ongoing public art initiative, during the Painted Horse Round Up event at the Artisan Market in Santa Ynez, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Launched by the Santa Ynez Chamber of Commerce last fall,…
Naughty Oak Brewing Company unveils newly designed line of beer cans in Old Town Orcutt
Don’t let the release date fool you; April 1 marked the for-real debut of Naughty Oak Brewing Company’s newly designed line of to-go cans. It was fabulous news for fans of the popular Orcutt brewery, but imagine if said occasion was an elaborate April Fools’ Day prank in disguise? Patrons would have come home with…
