Facing the looming challenges of filling a deficit, the Santa Maria City Council voted 3-2 (with Councilmembers Gloria Soto and Carlos Escobedo dissenting) to pass its 2024-26 biennial budget. The total budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is almost $364 million and $347 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year, Deputy City Treasurer Xenia Bradford told the […]
Santa Maria City Council passes 2024-26 budget, with general fund deficit
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
PCPA’s Little Shop of Horrors is big, bold, and bloody brilliant
Plant ahead The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) presents its production of Little Shop of Horrors at the Solvang Festival Theater through Sunday, July 7. Visit pcpa.org or facebook.com/pacificconservatorytheatre, or call (805) 922-8313 for tickets and more info. The production opened at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria in April and in Solvang in mid-June. The […]
Posted inNews
Coming soon: Guadalupe plans to ask voters for $3 million to help fund Royal Theater renovation
There are wants and needs for Guadalupe, resident Shirley Boydstun told the Sun, and while a renovated Royal Theater would be nice, it’s not needed. “It’s a wonderful offering; it is a beautiful drawing for a city that has more money and the ability to handle it. We’re not there yet, that’s for sure,” Boydstun […]
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Santa Barbara Community Rowing looks to expand after its juniors team placed in nationals
Two Santa Barbara County high schoolers took Santa Barbara Community Rowing’s Junior Racing Team to nationals for the first time, where the girls took seventh place in the United States, head coach Gracie Barbara told the Sun. “I was crying all weekend because I was so proud of them,” Barbara said. “To make it to […]
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Political Watch: June 20, 2024
• Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) announced a legislative oversight hearing in response to the recent state auditor’s report on wage theft, according to a June 13 statement from Hart’s office. The audit identified substantial deficiencies by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office in assisting Californians affected by wage theft. According to Labor Commissioner’s Office data, […]
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Farmers struggled in 2023 despite high crop values
While Santa Barbara County’s agricultural industry saw a $1.87 billion gross production value in 2023, increased costs and high regulations continue impacting farmers’ ability to survive, Claire Wineman said during the June 18 Board of Supervisors meeting. “The numbers presented today are before any costs and not take-home profit,” the president of the Grower-Shipper Association […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Sex and the City
Sex and the City What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 1998-2004 Where’s it showing? Max, Netflix After years of people recommending the show and not knowing the answer when I was asked whether I was a Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, or Miranda, I finally decided to hop on the train and watch the 25-year-old HBO series Sex […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Hit Man is a solid hit
Hit Man What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Caleb? Full price What’s it worth, Bulbul? Full price Where’s it showing? Netflix Inspired by a true story, co-writer/director Richard Linklater’s Hit Man follows Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a college professor by day and undercover mole for the New Orleans police by night. Disguised as a […]
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Oceano Community Services District holds local Repair Café program
With a focus on waste prevention and saving repairable items from ending up in a landfill, Five Cities Repair Café is a group of savvy volunteers who regularly host free community events, including its next program at the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) on Saturday, June 22, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Attendees of the […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Solvang Theaterfest announces new executive director and assistant director
Chantel Green—who has served as assistant director and director of development under Solvang Theaterfest’s retiring Executive Director Scott Coe—recently took the reins as the local nonprofit’s new executive director. Solvang Theaterfest also announced the appointment of Ashley Esdaile as its new assistant director. For the past year, Esdaile (pictured, right) served as the organization’s executive […]
Posted inOpinion
We still have time to preserve a livable planet
I appreciate that news publications are increasingly covering our planet’s worsening climate crisis. I read recently that May was the 12th consecutive month with average temperatures higher than all observations since 1850—probably the highest in more than 100,000 years. Shortly after that, I found out that California has in one year seen a doubling in […]
Posted inOpinion
Protest the use of ICBMs till they’re eliminated
“When I say that there is a step that could reduce the risk of nuclear war significantly that has not been taken but could easily be taken, that is the elimination of American ICBMs.” –Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023) An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a land-based nuclear weapon. U.S. ICBMs are stored in underground silos across […]