Santa Barbara County’s visitors will soon see a higher bill at the end of their stay as local voters approved hotel bed tax increases throughout the region. In the face of slowed budget growth at the county level and high impacts from tourism in the Santa Ynez Valley region, Buellton, Solvang, and Santa Barbara County […]
Hotel bed tax passes in county, Buellton and Solvang
Posted inNews
Guadalupe partners with Caltrans on ADA improvement project
Sidewalks outside a handful of city-owned properties in Guadalupe will undergo a crucial makeover, thanks to a joint effort between the city and Caltrans. During the Guadalupe City Council’s last meeting of November, City Attorney Philip F. Sinco described this project to upgrade some pedestrian paths and bring others up to current ADA standards as […]
Posted inOpinion
Ridiculousness
In Lompoc, there are more than 2,700 children under 2 years old and only 186 child care spaces available in the city. “This translates to the potential unmet need for 93 percent of children ages 0 to 2,” according to a needs assessment from the local school district, adult school, and First 5 Santa Barbara […]
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The Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library are collecting books in Spanish ahead of the holiday season
Affordable books are hard to come by, let alone affordable books written in Spanish. But Kathleen Gabel and the Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library are determined to make sure that families have access to books in their native language. “Our mission is to also support literacy and reading,” said Gabel, president of the […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch: November 28, 2024
• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) announced a $60.4 million grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support the city of Ventura’s large-scale water recycling program, VenturaWaterPure, according to a Nov. 19 statement from Carbajal’s office. VenturaWaterPure is estimated to produce 3,600 acre-feet of recycled water annually. The grant is the largest in a […]
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Mosby, Bridge lead Lompoc races, Ken Adam Park measure passing
The third time seems to be the charm for Jim Mosby. “I think people wanted change; nearly 70 percent of the people voted for change,” the former Lompoc City Council member and mayoral candidate told the Sun. “There’s a lot of things that we were doing before that we need to bring back; we need […]
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LAFCO approves Dana Reserve annexation despite new plant species claims
November was a triumphant month for Dana Reserve developer Nick Tompkins, as the San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) gave his housing project one of the last go-aheads it needed despite the Nipomo Action Committee’s final attempts to stall it. “Reaching this stage is incredibly gratifying for everyone who has been part of […]
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Tunnell, Alvin, Fairlawn, and Ontiveros playground construction starts at end of year
After a months-long delay due to contract errors, playground construction will begin at four Santa Maria-Bonita School District elementary schools while the students are on winter break. The Santa Maria-Bonita school board unanimously approved contract agreements during its Nov. 13 meeting to build playgrounds at Fairlawn, Tunnell, Alvin, and Ontiveros elementary schools. “Though the delay […]
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Waiting for care: Lompoc only has child care space available for about 7 percent of its infants
Jacob Lindley and his wife got on child care waiting lists before their daughter was born. “We had heard horror stories about how hard it was to find child care and affordable child care at that,” the Vandenberg Village resident told the Sun. “We started looking early, and it took three to four months of […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Firestone Walker teams up with Ernie Ball on limited-release IPA
Burnin’ for you To find out more about Firestone Walker, visit firestonewalker.com. The company’s venues include breweries in Buellton (at 620 McMurray Road) and Paso Robles (at 1400 Ramada Drive). Visit ernieball.com for more info on Ernie Ball, located at 4117 Earthwood Lane, San Luis Obispo. The goal behind Firestone Walker’s new IPA project was […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
BINGEABLE: Disclaimer
Disclaimer What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2024 Where’s it showing? Apple TV Plus Famed Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mama también, Gravity, Roma) helms this miniseries based on Renée Knight’s 2015 novel about documentarian Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), who receives a mysterious novel she believes features her as a central character portrayed as a […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
NEW FLICKS: My Old Ass
My Old Ass What’s it rated? R When? 2024 Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime Writer-director Megan Park (The Fallout) helms this irreverent coming-of-age story about avowed lesbian Elliott (Maisy Stella), who’s on the cusp of her 18th birthday and about to leave her family’s cranberry farm to head to college in Toronto. She and her […]