Cover Story
COVID-19 has affected everyone in some way, from essential workers to furloughed employees, daily life is different
Every single person on the Central Coast has felt the impacts of the novel coronavirus and resulting stay-at-home orders attempting to prevent its spread. No one is immune, not just to COVID-19, but to the disruption of day-to-day routines. The pandemic has completely changed lives, at least temporarily, but it’s affected everyone just a little…
TV REVIEW: THE MIDNIGHT GOSPEL
TV REVIEW: THE MIDNIGHT GOSPEL Where’s it playing? Netflix What’s it rated? TV-MA File The Midnight Gospel in the frying-on-shrooms, late-night-dorm-room-discussion category. The surrealist animated series revolves around Clancy (voiced by Duncan Trussell), an outer-space podcaster with one listener, who uses his malfunctioning multiverse simulator to visit dying worlds and interview their inhabitants. In episode…
S.Y. Kitchen adapted to the pandemic by adding a market for to-go options that include cocktails, pasta, and gelato
Everything changed in a matter of days, and it took a while for S.Y. Kitchen to adjust. The Santa Ynez fine dining restaurant had to let most of its employees go after California and Santa Barbara County put stay-at-home orders into place. Then it had to figure out how to make things work with a…
Santa Maria author Corrine Ardoin revisits her rural town roots in her new novel, Fathers of Edenville
Repressed childhood memories haunt four residents of a quiet mountain community in Fathers of Edenville, Corrine Ardoin’s first novel. The Santa Maria author previously penned a local historical text, A Natural History of the Nipomo Mesa Region, but Edenville marks her first foray into long-form fiction. The novel hit virtual book stands on April 16…
Santa Barbara County launches new COVID-19 relief program to benefit arts and culture nonprofits
More than $75,000 will be disbursed—in two cycles—to support Santa Barbara County arts and culture nonprofits impacted by COVID-19, as part of a new relief grant program, according to the county. The grant was created in recognition of the arts sector’s influence on the county’s economy, among other reasons, and will be administered by the…
Santa Maria holds a student illustration contest for an upcoming bilingual children’s book
The Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program Class, and The People for Leisure and Youth (PLAY) are partnering to publish a new bilingual children’s book. The story is titled Strawberry Moon Says, Goodnight and is set in and around the Santa Maria Valley. An illustration contest,…
Blue Sky Center receives $17,500 in funding from California Arts Council
The Blue Sky Center, a Cuyama-based nonprofit, recently received both the Organizational Development Grant and the Artist in Communities Grant—totaling $17,500 in funding—from the California Arts Council, a state agency dedicated to supporting arts infrastructure through grants, initiatives, and other services. The grants were given in support of the Blue Sky Center’s variety of arts…
CANARY: Transparency is an option
I honestly don’t understand why the Federal Bureau of Prisons is being so obstinate about the COVID-19 outbreak in the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) and U.S. Penitentiary (USP). Or why they had to put two different facilities out there with different acronyms and treat them differently as well! It’s so confusing. Is it a…
Cannabis lawsuit is scare tactic
After months of research, I decided to move to California and build a lab testing business in Lompoc and serve the legal cannabis growers in the Santa Barbara County community. It was surprising to me to read in the Santa Maria Sun that the “Coalition for Responsible Cannabis” is now resorting to suing the county…
We’re in this pandemic together, but we’re not seeing it through the same lenses
I was at the grocery store the other day in my homemade hazmat suit, looking for something to eat for the next week, when suddenly the music stopped and over the loudspeakers came a soothing voice that told us “we’re all in this together.” I had to laugh. We may all be “in this together,” but…
Put an end to your quarantine blues at The Greenhouse Collective
When orders to close all nonessential businesses first went into place, business owners across the state were forced to reckon with a new question: “Are my services essential?” While places like banks and grocery stores clearly hold the “essential” status, many businesses are caught somewhere in the middle, including cannabis dispensaries. While some folks go…
Future uncertain for Old Town Market as cannabis company eyes location
After owning and operating Old Town Market in Orcutt for 16 years, Mark Steller received a text message from his landlord in late April informing him that the building where the store is located had been sold. Steller broke the news in a post on the market’s Facebook page that said the store’s closure is…
Political Watch: May 14, 2020
• State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) recently announced a new bill she authored that would expand unpaid leave for working parents who have been affected by school and child care closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under existing law, job-protected unpaid leave is limited to people who work for companies with 25 people or more…
Sovlang looks at district elections
The city of Solvang is moving toward implementing district elections after receiving a letter from a Malibu-based attorney that claims the city’s existing at-large voting system is racially biased. In the letter, attorney Kevin Shenkman said he represents the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and its members who live in Solvang. Citing U.S. Census Bureau…
Farm bureaus, community organizers react to workers’ compensation order
After reports circulated that Gov. Gavin Newsom was considering an executive order that would allow employees who contract COVID-19 to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits, the governor officially signed the order on May 6, according to a press release. If an eligible employee “tested positive for COVID-19 or was diagnosed with COVID-19 and confirmed by…
County letter to governor pushes back on reopening criteria
During the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 5, county Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso said the county was on track to reopen businesses at an accelerated pace. A week later, Do-Reynoso had a different message for supervisors. During the board’s meeting on May 12, Do-Reynoso said that the state released additional…
Lompoc prison has worst COVID-19 outbreak in the country, local officials ask for answers
The Bureau of Prisons updated its COVID-19 resource webpage over the weekend to reflect hundreds of newly confirmed coronavirus cases at the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution, reporting 891 total positive inmate cases as of May 11. While the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department began reporting the spike in cases on May 6, as of…
