Cover Story
The Awareness Issue 2022
October is both Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For that reason, this issue is dedicated to both. Inside you will find a story about one organization that helps survivors leave dangerous, volatile situations and one about new mammogram technology at a local hospital. Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor speaks with Domestic Violence…
NEW FLICKS: MONTANA STORY
NEW FLICKS: MONTANA STORY Where’s it playing? Showtime, On demand What’s it rated? R Cal’s (Owen Teague) father is dying on their sprawling Montana ranch, and he’s there to do the heartbreaking work of settling the estate. His father is bedridden, unable to talk, maybe even unable to have conscious thought anymore. Their relationship is…
Cuyama Buckhorn reignites a lost tradition with chuckwagon barbecues
This year marked the return of a unique gathering, formerly held at the Cuyama Buckhorn on a periodic basis before fading out more than five decades ago. “Back in the ’50s and ’60s, it was a regular thing at the Buckhorn to do a chuckwagon meal, and over the years it just kind of went…
Ann Foxworthy Gallery’s latest group exhibit tackles climate change
When a painting in progress begins hinting at objects, structures, and lifeforms found in the real world, abstract artist Marlene Struss goes back to square one. “If I start looking at it and think, ‘Oh, this looks like a tree,’ that really blows it,” the Santa Barbara-based painter said. “I’ll start putting limits on myself…
Great American Melodrama brings ‘Scary Poppins’ to the stage
Scary Poppins, the Great American Melodrama’s latest production, premiered in late September and is scheduled to run through Saturday, Nov. 12, with performances held every Wednesday through Sunday. The plot of this spooky Mary Poppins spoof follows a group of children under the care of a bizarre, demented “super-nanny-gone-ballistic,” according to press materials. The two-act…
New duo show in Los Olivos showcases pastel landscapes
Gallery Los Olivos presents 2022 Blooms, a new duo exhibition, which debuted at the beginning of October and is scheduled to remain on display through the end of the month. The exhibit showcases a collection of plein air and studio paintings by local pastelists Kris Buck and Deborah Breedon. Many pieces in the new show…
Cautious pessimism
Guadalupe believes that nearly $10 million in state and federal funds will help the city level up to become the tourist trap it strives to be, and environmental organizations like Los Padres ForestWatch believe that releasing 4 percent of Twitchell Dam’s water supply during intense storm events in wet years will bring back the steelhead…
Lompoc’s cannabis regulations need to better protect neighborhoods
The city of Lompoc is the cannabis capital of Santa Barbara County, and considering the number of licenses issued for retail, manufacturing, and growing, it’s probably the largest in the state. Why? Because the number of licenses based on the population of the area is denser than any other jurisdiction issuing permits in the state.…
Broadway and McCoy Starbucks successfully unionized
Santa Maria’s Broadway and McCoy Starbucks won its union elections on Oct. 3 and will now begin preparations for contract negotiations with corporate, Shift Supervisor Jaylee Moore told the Sun. “It feels really good. We put a lot of work into this, months and months of it. Finally to have that certainty of having that…
Guadalupe focuses on tourism, theater makeover with $10M in state, federal funds
For the last decade, the Royal Theater has sat unused in the middle of Guadalupe, but city officials are hoping to bring it back to life after receiving $4.9 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. “It’s an eyesore [now], but it has history. We’re not going to compete with your home theater or…
Political Watch: October 6, 2022
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) introduced legislation to expand a pathway to permanency for long-term U.S. residents, according to a Sept. 28 statement from the senator’s office. The Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would update the existing registry statute so an immigrant may qualify for lawful permanent resident status if…
Twitchell Dam operators must release water for steelhead trout, court rules
The local water district that controls the Twitchell Dam reservoir will be required to consider the health of the steelhead trout population when it determines its water release schedule, according to a recent court ruling. Environmental groups have long argued that Twitchell Dam operators are ignoring state and federal endangered species laws by not releasing…
Marian Regional receives new mammogram technologies to detect breast cancer at earlier, smaller stages
Thanks to an anonymous donor, Marian Regional Medical Center recently acquired new mammogram technologies to detect breast cancer at earlier stages. The first is 3Dimensions Mammography System, available at Mission Hope Breast Imaging Center, takes high quality, clear images, from which radiologists can detect smaller cancers that would have slipped through the previous system, radiologist…
