Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series. The first, “Native return,” ran June 25. Whiteboards crowded with titles and case numbers loom behind Jonathan Malindine’s desk at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The museum’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) officer has underlined some in red and circled…
Many public speakers who appealed to the Santa Maria Planning Commission to green-light new protections for senior mobile home parks identified themselves as tenants of the facilities that would be impacted. But jurisdictional lines didn’t stop one Orcutt resident from voicing her support for the zoning overlay, during the commission’s first meeting of July. “I…
With funding from California’s recently adopted budget, health care providers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties will see increased training to better support mental health patients. Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness Department Director Toni Navarro told the Sun the $5 million given to CenCal Health will strengthen services in non-specialty care areas. Her…
Members of the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission recently revisited some language tied to the proposed ban on drilling new oil and gas wells due to a staff oversight. “In April, we should have identified this amendment,” County Long Range Planning Division Manager Alex Tuttle said at the commission’s July 1 meeting. While the commission…
•Authored by State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), Senate Bill 963 passed the California Legislature on July 2, which advanced the proposed legislation to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his consideration. If signed, SB 963 will require the California Coastal Commission to provide permit applicants with a complete list of any additional information needed within 30…
When Blake Lane was studying psychology and anthropology in college, he didn’t anticipate a future cutting stems or delivering bouquets. His mom opened Bella Florist and Gifts during the early 2000s, but Lane took the lead on business operations in 2012. “Creativity has always been in my life, and the arts have always been in…
Santa Maria’s mobile home park dwellers have been asking the city for rent control for years now, and recently, they again didn’t get what they asked for. But senior mobile home park residents may breathe a little easier if the Santa Maria City Council does what the Planning Commission recommended: pass an ordinance that would…
There may be a political renaissance in the making in Lompoc. Sometimes change is good, and other times it may bring only chaos to a community. For the last couple of City Council meetings, there seems to have been an organized effort to undermine the traditional way our City Council, current and past, has been…
It will be a consequential summer for energy policy in Santa Barbara County. Currently, you can drill for oil, but you can’t put a solar farm in the same industrial site. That is set to reverse with an oil ordinance to prohibit new oil drilling to be considered in September and a solar ordinance to…
Stephanie Krouse was trained as a scientist. In her early career, she worked for seed companies, studying different treatments that impact plant growth. But a Chicago company’s acquisition of the business left Krouse and many others out of a job. As cliché as it may sound, another door opened for her. “Once that happened, I…
After watercolorist Claudette Carlton’s June show at the Cypress Gallery, Chris Jeszeck recently took over as the featured artist. Her Pouring My Art Out exhibit will be up through July 26. Jeszeck—a longtime member of the gallery’s operating body, the Lompoc Valley Art Association—paints using fluid art techniques to blend realism and abstraction. Flowing color,…
Enjoy summer evenings with the family by catching a movie at Demetria Estate in Los Olivos. Pretty Woman is screening on July 18, A Fish Called Wanda on Aug. 22, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High on Sept. 19. Each of the three available dates offers a sunset dinner buffet on the patio beginning at…
Co-directed by Pierre Coffin and Patrick Delage, and co-written by Coffin and Brian Lynch, this is the third Minions prequel and seventh film in the Despicable Me franchise. It’s mostly set in 1927 Hollywood, but it begins at a film history museum as Olivia (voiced by Allison Janney), is giving a tour and relates the…
Widow’s BayWhat’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2026 Where’s it showing? Apple TV I saw a post on Instagram this morning that had clips from Widow’s Bay and the caption read, “I love my spooky Parks and Rec,” and that’s a perfect description of this series. Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys, who’s having quite the career…
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t DieWhat’s it rated? R When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Hulu Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Rango, A Cure for Wellness) directs this relentlessly inventive script by Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying, Love and Monsters) about The Man from the Future (Sam Rockwell)…
Take a tiki breakHigh Roller Tiki Lounge (433 Alisal Road in Solvang) is open Sundays from noon to 7 p.m., Wednesday to Thursday from 1 to 8 p.m., and Friday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight. Reserve a table at highrollertiki.com.Pony Cocktails + Kitchen is open daily. Breakfast and lunch hours are from 8…
