Catch the show Email friendssyvlibrary@gmail.com for more info on Gale McNeeley’s upcoming one-man show, sponsored by the Friends of the Library of Santa Ynez Valley, at the Santa Ynez Valley Grange Hall. To find out more about McNeeley, visit galemcneeley.org. For better or worse, some actors are inseparable from certain roles they play well, often, […]
Local thespian Gale McNeeley brings a poet cockroach to life
Posted inOpinion
Biden will see our country through its current challenges
I wrote President Joe Biden a letter early last year with regard to our current threat to democracy and the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021. I sent him copies of excerpts from The FBI Story as published in 1957, which indicates that our country’s balance of power would never allow a tyrant to take […]
Posted inOpinion
Lawmakers should have been listening to sound conservative policies all along
Winston Churchill famously observed that Americans will always do the right thing, only after they’ve tried everything else. It seems that San Francisco may be trying to emulate Churchill’s pithy observation. Yes, this is another rant about San Francisco’s descent into dysfunction and squalor. Criticizing the mess in San Francisco is so easy that I […]
Posted inOpinion
Dollar bills, y’all
The cannabis industry isn’t what it was cracked up to be in California. With bigtime dispensaries like MedMen going down, legal grow operations not raking in the amount of money they were projected to, and a thriving illegal market—what gives? Hey, word on the street is that it’s still illegal at the federal level, which […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch: March 28, 2024
• The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced legislation that prevents Coast Guard Academy cadets from punishment when reporting an incident of sexual assault, and language in that legislation was proposed last year by U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), according to a March 22 statement from Carbajal’s office. The bill advanced by the committee also […]
Posted inNews
United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County offers free, in-person tax filing services until April 13
To help Santa Barbara County residents file their taxes and get tax credits they’re eligible for, United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County teams up each year with Cal Poly and Allan Hancock College to host free, in-person tax filing. The program launched about 18 years ago with United Way helping file taxes in Lompoc, […]
Posted inNews
Rancho La Laguna withdraws appeal, Superior Court preservation ruling stands
After a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ruled that the Board of Supervisors acted within its rights to deny the 4,000-acre Rancho La Laguna subdivision project, attorneys representing the developers filed an appeal to the decision. That appeal was short-lived as the developers later withdrew it, letting the Superior Court decision stand, said Linda […]
Posted inNews
County grand jury finds fault with Visit Lompoc’s financial reports
Previously disputed by Lompoc’s legal counsel, a local resident’s 2023 complaint against the city’s tourism board and its accounting practices ignited a Santa Barbara County grand jury investigation. In a report released on March 22, the jury concluded that the Lompoc Tourism Business Improvement District’s annual reporting “shows hundreds of thousands of dollars in unaccounted-for […]
Posted inNews
Roy Lee elected as new 1st District Supervisor
Incumbent 1st District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams called candidate Roy Lee on March 14 to congratulate him on becoming the next supervisor representing Montecito, Summerland, Carpinteria, and Cuyama come January 2025. “I wanted to do what none of my opponents in 21 years had done, actually have a personal concession and wish him […]
Posted inNews
Cannabis conundrum: Santa Barbara County looks at new cannabis tax models after revenue transparency and forecast concerns
When Santa Barbara County opened the doors to legal cannabis operations in 2017, officials designed a tax system without precedent. “There was no model to work from because we were the first ones in the boat,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said. During this time, consultants presented the county with two options: taxing the gross […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Damsel proves a distressed lady can save herself
Damsel What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee Where’s it showing? Netflix Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) directs this dark fantasy about dutiful Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown), a royal from an impoverished kingdom, whose father, Lord Bayford (Ray Winston)—in exchange for wealth—arranges to marry her to Prince […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Santa Maria Civic Theatre presents A Comedy of Tenors
Performances of A Comedy of Tenors—the Santa Maria Civic Theatre’s latest production—run through Sunday, March 24. Currently onstage, this fast-paced comedy is set in 1930s Paris and follows “four tenors, two wives, and three girlfriends,” according to press materials. Tickets to A Comedy of Tenors are available online in advance at my805tix.com. For more info […]