Aug 28 – Sep 7, 2025

Vol. 26 / No. 27
Water polo athletes at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School travel for their home games and meets. The pool on their school campus doesn’t meet state requirements for competition, but a $13 million fundraising goal aims to change that. With $4.5 million raised so far, the Santa Ynez Valley Community Aquatic Foundation’s goal is to […]

Lompoc continues pushing for county to annex land for housing

Lompoc is still in the middle of a long-standing debate with Santa Barbara County over annexing two parcels of land into the city to pave the way for a housing project. Bodger Meadows would provide 200 single-family homes and 140 apartment units. The apartments range from studios to three-bedroom units, and 20 percent of the…

Solvang DRC ‘spars’ with city staff about regulating art murals

Holiday decorations and hours of operation are among the types of signs that businesses and private property owners can freely display in Solvang without a city permit.  Distinguishing between what kinds of signage is under the Solvang Design Review Committee’s (DRC) purview and what might be exempt from the city’s upcoming sign ordinance update has…

Political Watch: August 28, 2025

•In an Aug. 21 statement, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, commented on the recent passage of a package of bills allowing California voters to determine whether the state should temporarily redraw its congressional maps through 2030 to counter the Trump administration and Texas Republicans’ partisan…

Lompoc’s luck

How many times has the city of Lompoc been denied by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Santa Barbara County? I’m not sure, but the city’s efforts to annex some of the land near Bailey Avenue out of the county have met with roadblock after roadblock.  For a quarter of a century, the city…

Parachute drops are similar to paper towels: They don’t do much to help

Tax-funded parachute drops on rescue missions in Gaza remind one of another intervention by Trump during a crisis. In September 2017 when Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria and left in ruin, its infrastructure was rendered useless and its people were in dire straits. Trump visited, arriving armed with paper towels that he lobbed…

Art exhibit at Mattei’s Tavern showcases horses and the wild West

Experience the power and grace of open roads and roaming horses at an art show at the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern from Aug. 30 to 31.  Artists Kimerlee Curyl and Karen Bezuidenhout showcase work that “invites you to pause, reflect, and reconnect with nature, spirit, and the beauty that exists in the unspoken,” according to…

Honey Don’t! is violent black comedy with a twist

Honey Don’t! What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria, Regal Edwards Arroyo Grande Co-writer and director Ethan Coen has reteamed with co-writer Tricia Cooke (Drive-Away Dolls) on this second installment of their planned “lesbian B-movie trilogy.” This time…


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