Two Festival Mozaic musicians helped christen Allan Hancock College’s newest addition to Boyd Concert Hall. Earlier this summer, the college purchased a new concert piano, valued at $175,000, with funds from the estate of late piano instructor Patricia “Patty” Boyd. In late July, pianist Susan Grace played the Steinway D concert piano during a Festival […]
Allan Hancock College acquires world-class piano for Boyd Concert Hall
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
California Nature Art Museum’s walls are draped with quilted scenes of wildlife
Natural habitat Call (805) 688-1082 or visit calnatureartmuseum.org for more info on the California Nature Art Museum, located at 1511-B Mission Drive, Solvang. California, Quilted: Wild in the Oak Woodland opened in mid-July and will remain on display through January 2025. The California Nature Art Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on […]
Posted inOpinion
Factual errors may get in the way of opinions
The editorial by Dan Dennis in the Aug. 1 Sun (“The stakes are too high”) was largely correct in its explanations of our national political situation. Good writing, Dan. Unfortunately, there was a factual error early on which may have kept knowledgeable readers from giving full credence to his opinions. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall […]
Posted inOpinion
How about a new set of ‘commandments’
In response to Mr. Ron Fink proposing that the Ten Commandments be displayed “in every school, library, courthouse, and city hall in the United States” (“What’s the fuss?” July 25): I can only reply that many citizens, myself included, resent being subjected to archaic and divisive Christian orthodoxy and dogma. How about a new set […]
Posted inOpinion
Democrats are sporting fresh faces and ample energy heading into Electoral College decisions
Last August, my commentary concluded with this observation: “One thing is certain: By next August, both parties will have completed their primary elections … and named their nominees. We already know the stakes in 2024: Nothing less than the future of our democracy, the security of our planet, and the conditions under which our nation […]
Posted inOpinion
Canceled
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to cancel DCPA—aka the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate; aka a weed-eating herbicide often used to treat broccoli and onion fields that’s associated with certain birth defects. But officially canceling DCPA ain’t easy. It’s not like a clarion call to boycott your neighborhood racist coffee shop on TikTok. Or the right-wing […]
Posted inNews
Julio Roman is Pacific Pride Foundation’s new executive director
Julio Roman started his journey with LGBTQ-plus organizations as a client. “I was looking for a safe space,” Roman said. “I was dealing with my feelings around being attracted to other guys, and this was a safe space to really be yourself. I was able to find a community of young men who looked like […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch: August 15, 2024
• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) applauded the Biden-Harris administration for announcing a change in housing policy to benefit veterans, a policy that he proposed as part of the recently adopted Home for the Brave Act, according to an Aug. 8 statement from Carbajal’s office. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) […]
Posted inNews
Lompoc Councilmember Gilda Aiello will not run for reelection, former planning commissioner to run unopposed
Lompoc City Council member Gilda Aiello (formerly Cordova) decided not to run for reelection this year after facing “a few unfair attacks on me brought on by a group of individuals who wanted to have me removed” during her last few years as a council member. “It really was with a heavy heart,” Aiello […]
Posted inNews
Protecting workers
Broccoli contributed $86.7 million of Santa Barbara County’s $1.8 billion agriculture industry in 2023, sitting in fourth place among the county’s top 10 agricultural commodities, according to the 2023 Santa Barbara County Crop and Livestock Report. It’s also a crop that growers use dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal) on for weed treatment—an herbicide that was […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch: August 8, 2024
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) announced that he recently secured several top water infrastructure priorities for California through the unanimous U.S. Senate passage of the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, according to an Aug. 2 statement from Padilla’s office. The legislation includes provisions Padilla fought for to address the Tijuana […]
Posted inNews
Santa Ynez Valley’s College School District adds $18 million bond measure to November ballot
Several College School District portable classrooms are World War II surplus Army barracks that were brought onto campus decades ago, Superintendent Marlene Donner said. “Our old Army barrack buildings were brought to the site and put together as the original school and they need to be replaced with new modernized buildings so the students have […]