Mar 20-30, 2025

Mar 20-30, 2025 / Vol. 26 / No. 4
A 2-2 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors vote leaves the fate of county-issued permits for the Santa Ynez Unit and Las Flores pipelines with a big question mark in front of them. It’s a first for the county when it comes to an ordinance known as 25B, and staff is still trying to figure […]

Cover Story

Precarious permits: Sable awaits Santa Barbara County’s decision on whether it can take over operator permits from ExxonMobil

About a month after Santa Barbara County supervisors voted 2-2 on the appeal to Sable Offshore Corporation’s permit transfer application, the county is still trying to decide what it means.  “We are still considering the issue internally, and I do not have an update on our final determination yet,” county Energy, Minerals, and Compliance Deputy…

Democrats, take this opportunity to engage!

We’ve all seen the many viral videos of town hall meetings during which Republican voters are haranguing their elected Republican officials over the gutting of federal programs crucial to American families. As a result, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has been advising Republicans to stop holding town hall meetings for their…

Novocaine is sweet, funny, bloody fun

Novocaine 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, Movies Lompoc, Regal Edwards Arroyo Grande Co-directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen bring Lars Jacobson’s action comedy to the screen about Nathan “Nate” Caine (Jack Quaid), an introverted bank executive…

Crip Camp traces the difficult road to disabled rights

Crip Camp What’s it rated? R When? 2020 Where’s it showing? Netflix I first heard about Crip Camp on a podcast that discusses documentaries, and not only did it sound like a wonderfully touching film, but it was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, so I knew as soon as this came across one…

The Electric State is visually dazzling and a fun sci-fi comedy romp

The Electric State What’s it rated? PG-13 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Netflix Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War) direct this sci-fi adventure comedy set in a retro-futuristic 1990s alternative reality. After a war between robots and humans (no, not like Terminator … these bots look like they were…

Santa Ynez residents sue Solvang over Wildwood development

A group of landowners filed a lawsuit against the city of Solvang on March 7 over a development that is still in the planning process.  The Santa Ynez Valley Residents Association (SYVRA) is asking the court to vacate the city’s December 2024 determination that the Wildwood project application is complete, saying the city violated one…

Political Watch: March 20, 2025

• U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a group of 31 senators demanding a reversal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cancellation of food purchase programs across the country, according to a March 17 statement from Schiff’s office. The senators warned that the cancellations would have far-reaching negative…

Santa Barbara County boosts transportation access for wheelchair users

Every time a Santa Barbara County resident books a ride through a transportation network company (TNC) like Uber or Lyft, a 10 cent fee is collected to support the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments’ (SBCAG) Access for All program, which aims to enhance reliable, on-demand transportation for people with disabilities and mobility challenges. Care…

In action

It looks like Allan Hancock College is reaping the rewards of its long-standing effort to bring a four-year-degree program to Santa Maria.  The school launched a partnership with Cal Poly at the beginning of this school year on its first bachelor’s degree program in sociology and just added a business major with two more as-yet-to-be-decided…


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