This must be the place Visit santamariacameraclub.org to find out more about the Santa Maria Camera Club, which holds juried photography competitions over Zoom on the third Wednesday of each month. For info on how to participate or attend the club’s additional in-person programs, email santamariacameraclub@gmail.com. For budding photographers, gaining exposure is virtually synonymous with […]
Local view: Santa Maria Camera Club fosters competition and camaraderie between local shutterbugs year round
Posted inNews
Human services: Local nonprofits provide health care, including STI treatments, to Santa Maria Riverbed residents
Syphilis. Hepatitis C. Wounds. Poor dental hygiene. Domestic violence. Substance use. These are some of the concerns Raye Fleming and her team at the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO) have noticed since beginning their services in the Santa Maria Riverbed. “We’ve also found a lot of primary care issues, and 5Cities Homeless […]
Posted inOpinion
Free elections need our protection from Trump
Every citizen of the United States of America has the right to participate in free elections in which they are allowed to vote according to their own beliefs and opinions. That idea is fundamental to our republic, but that right has been challenged all along. Legislation like the Voting Rights Act of 1965 shows that […]
Posted inOpinion
Reelect Donald Trump, the champion of ‘we the people’
Having been American president No. 45, Donald Trump knows the swamp and the federal bureaucracy. He has years of experience as a worldwide businessman and employs thousands of people. He is for the people. As our president, he was and would be the “commander and chief” of the military. The bureaucracy reports to him. He […]
Posted inOpinion
America must do all it can to prevent nuclear war in the Middle East
The war in Israel and Palestine did not begin Oct. 7, 2023. It began before the state of Israel was created. In his book, Gaza: An Inquest into its Martyrdom, noted Israeli historian Norman Finkelstein writes, “In 1947, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution partitioning British-mandated Palestine into a Jewish state incorporating 56 percent […]
Posted inOpinion
Racing molasses
Senior mobile home parks across the county are getting protection from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to stay senior—forever and always. Well, most of them should get that protection, if the board continues along its current path, which would put a moratorium on changing 55-and-older mobile home parks to all-ages and specify the […]
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NatureTrack provides Central Coast wheelchair users with more beach access through Freedom Trax program
Many wheelchair users haven’t felt a sandy beach in years, but one organization is changing that reality one track at a time. NatureTrack is making the Central Coast beachfront more accessible for wheelchair users throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties by providing technology that turns manual wheelchairs into vehicles that easily traverse sandy […]
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Political Watch: October 10, 2024
• Assembly Bill X2-1, co-written by Assemblymembers Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) and Cecillia Aguiar-Curry (D-Davis), passed the Assembly floor with a 44-17 vote and will advance to the Senate, according to an Oct. 1 statement from Hart’s office. Designed to bring stability to California’s oil market, the bill requires refineries to maintain sufficient fuel reserves […]
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Santa Maria City Council explores tax increases and fees to fill budget gap
Facing a $21 million budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, Santa Maria is pondering a sugar tax, a cannabis tax, and/or charging fees for emergency services as ways to inject revenue and avoid dipping into city reserves. “These are outside the norm that we have done in the past,” interim City Manager Alex Posada […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Santa Barbara County Vintners Festival celebrates 40th milestone with award-winning wines, cuisine
Vintners assemble Visit sbvintnersweekend.com for more info on this year’s Santa Barbara County Vintners Festival. The grand tasting will take place on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 4 p.m., at Vega Vineyard and Farm, located at 9496 Santa Rosa Road, Buellton. Cabanas and cabernets await the attendees of a yearly wine mecca with a […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
NEW FLICKS: Wolfs
Wolfs What’s it rated? R When? 2024 Where’s it showing? Apple TV Plus Writer-director Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) helms this mismatched-buddy comedy about two professional fixers—George Clooney and Brad Pitt—who are individually hired to clean up a mess involving Manhattan District Attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan), who ends up with a dead one-night stand […]
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Lompoc rules in favor of $5 base electric rate without yearly increases
There are roughly 260 households in Lompoc that the city considers “zero usage customers” when it comes to electricity, according to Management Services Director Christie Donnelly. In other words, these houses’ lights are rarely ever on, and nobody’s home, “in most cases,” Donnelly said at the Lompoc City Council’s Oct. 1 meeting. “We look at […]