Cover Story
Passersby can view two new art installations from outside the Wildling Museum’s windows
Santa Barbara-based artist Nicole Strasburg based the subject of her new paper-cut silhouette series, Wintering: A Fox Tale, on the mascot of its venue, the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature. While the Solvang staple remains closed due to state and local mandates, this new window installation can be viewed from the sidewalk outside the…
Orcutt school district has no stance on proposed cannabis dispensaries
Several cannabis companies are vying for retail space in Orcutt, and although some community members had hoped the local school district would weigh in on proposed dispensary locations, that’s not going to happen. For now, anyway. “At this time, the district is not looking at taking up this issue,” Orcutt Union School District Superintendent Holly…
Lompoc wants to bring back a new and improved version of the weekly swap meet that ended in 2014
Local vendors will soon have a new opportunity to sell their wares in Lompoc, and the city wants to hear from the business community about the best way to bring the vision to life. The Lompoc Outdoor Community Market would revamp the city’s weekly swap meet tradition (which ended in 2014) to create a community…
County Jail battles COVID-19 outbreak that started in an area a recent lawsuit settlement will shut down for good
A settlement reached six months ago in Murray v. County of Santa Barbara—a class action lawsuit addressing conditions for inmates at the county jail—is official after the court issued an order granting final approval on Feb. 1. But lawyers on the case say the work to implement the settlement is only just beginning. Meanwhile, the…
Political Watch: February 11, 2021
• On Feb. 2, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives in support of front-line workers during COVID-19. “Since the outbreak of this deadly virus, countless medical workers, emergency management personnel, public safety officers, grocery and food service workers, postal and delivery workers, farmworkers, and other front-line workers…
Racial justice groups collaborate to host community dialogue
How does the justice system work? Who does it work for? Does the justice system treat all Americans equally? These are among the questions posed at the start of a Feb. 4 virtual community dialogue on the justice system, hosted by Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Santa Maria in partnership with the Racial Justice…
Solvang discusses regional housing needs
During the Feb. 8 Solvang City Council meeting, the council questioned whether the city has enough development space to meet the state’s next set of recommended housing need allocations. In this cycle, Solvang is tentatively projected to need 225 more housing units, 63 of which must be allocated to “very low-income housing,” 45 for “low-income…
Santa Barbara County needs to be in red tier for schools to reopen
As Santa Barbara County recovers from its third and highest-yet peak in COVID-19 cases, health officials say the region still has a long journey ahead to reach the next tier in the state’s reopening system. “Our COVID metrics, indeed, have significantly decreased since peaking mid-January. We’re seeing about a 60.5 [percent] reduction in our case…
Inmates in waiting
How long does it take to build something? In the case of the the Santa Barbara County Jail under construction in Santa Maria, at least eight years, maybe longer. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown has touted the facility as the future savior of the county’s justice system woes since at least 2013. Every malady…
Passersby can view two new art installations from outside the Wildling Museum’s windows
Santa Barbara-based artist Nicole Strasburg based the subject of her new paper-cut silhouette series, Wintering: A Fox Tale, on the mascot of its venue, the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature. While the Solvang staple remains closed due to state and local mandates, this new window installation can be viewed from the sidewalk outside the…
Santa Barbara, SLO county libraries co-host virtual Day of Remembrance event, featuring George Takei
Starting on Feb. 12, the Santa Barbara Public Library and San Luis Obispo Public Library will join other California library systems in streaming the documentary, And Then They Came For Us, for the public to access online for free. This award-winning documentary details the forced removal and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in the U.S.…
Wine and Design in Orcutt hosts special Valentine’s Day workshop, Fifty Shades of Color
On Feb. 14, Wine and Design in Orcutt is hosting a commemorative Valentine’s Day painting workshop, Fifty Shades of Color, starting at 6:30 p.m. Each participating couple gets their own private table, and a capacity limit will be enforced to accommodate social-distancing policies. Couples are asked to mask up when leaving their table to move…
Broken Clock Vinegar Works in Solvang offers wide selection of shrubs for cocktails, cakes, and more
Husband and wife Charles and Jody Williams, co-founders of Broken Clock Vinegar Works, were out enjoying drinks one night at The Landsby Hotel in Solvang when they got bit by the “shrub bug,” Jody Williams recalled, after trying a shrub cocktail for the first time. “It featured a peach shrub, and we were both hooked…
Keep rallying for Trump
We must continue to support President Trump now as we have for the past four years. He has every right to encourage his supporters to rally peacefully before Congress to support and promote important Republican issues now. When the president was at Walter Reed Army hospital to treat his case of COVID-19, his supporters rallied…
Planners must pay attention to neighborhoods’ reality
Los Alamos is in the midst of a development blunder aided by our own county Planning Department. This can happen to any small town, or any neighborhood within a city. A builder seeks to develop an acre-and-a-half lot that is bordered by three roads. He may build as many as 11 dwellings. One of the…
What marks should we give to Lompoc Unified School District for its performance?
So, after nearly a year of COVID-19 related closures, let’s give the Lompoc Unified School District (LUSD) a “progress report”; how is it doing and what grade would it get if this were a classroom project? I am not an educator, but I think we can figure this out based on the progress made so…
