When a majority of SLO County supervisors tentatively approved the transfer of 5,070 acres of prime SLO County agricultural land to Santa Barbara County, the decision puzzled many people. The buzz phrase by the opposition was that there was “no compelling reason” to allow it. Santa Maria City Manager Tim Ness said that the city […]
SLO County supervisors vote: Suey Ranch will stay
Posted inNews
Charting new waters
Look out Orcutt Academy—there’s another charter school in the area. Similar to Orcutt Union School District’s Orcutt Academy, Camino Real Community Partnership Academy is Lompoc’s newest district-sponsored charter high school. Both schools offer a science-heavy curriculum. The teaching process at the two charters, however, couldn’t be more different, according to Camino Real co-founder Andrea Lawrence. […]
Posted inNews
Senior living center waits and waits for budget to materialize
After 77 days in limbo, lawmakers in Sacramento stayed up until 2 a.m. the morning of Sept. 16 to complete and sign a proposed budget. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to veto it, and as of press time, a decision had not been made—though a veto seemed likely . This precarious state of events, however, was […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Out of the office, into the ocean
There’s only one thing to do when you find yourself submerged in the Santa Barbara Bay: Try not to lose your $70 sunglasses. Then yell at the person who got you submerged in the first place. “Shelly Cone!” I gurgled, trying to get the water out of my nose. “What did you do?” Shelly, our […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Sunset hike at the Dunes Center focuses on family recreation
The Dunes Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are co-hosting a one-mile round trip hike into the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge on Sept. 27, starting at 5:30 p.m. Hikers will be taken into the refuge and up to a high vantage point to watch the sunset. They’ll return to the parking lot […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Soccer season has been canceled for Hancock women’s team
It wasn’t for a lack of trying, but according to Allan Hancock College, there just wasn’t enough time for recruitment. The women’s soccer season has been canceled due to lack of participation. The announcement was made on Sept. 12, just a month after Rod Garcia was officially named head coach of the women’s team. Garcia […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Athlete of the Week
Summer is over, and 9-year-old Austin Kranz is taking a break from golf. After six junior golf tournaments this summer, and five tournament wins, he’s been forced to slow down—“Because my teacher gives me homework every day and I have to do it,” he explained. That doesn’t mean he’s stopping for good. No, this golfer […]
Posted inOpinion
Armageddon it
The idyllic city of Geneva, Switzerland, is about 5,700 miles from California’s Central Coast, an entire world away. But something in that European town may affect us all in upcoming months: It may cause the end of days. To explain, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider—the world’s largest particle accelerator at CERN, the research organization […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Tech support or a bullet in your brain
The other night, I was happily surfing the Internet, checking for good deals on Elvis PEZ dispensers from Austria, when my computer suddenly turned off. At first I thought it was a power outage, until I realized that every light in my house was still on (and I mean every single light; my kids are […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Arts Briefs
CafeFX nabs an Emmy Santa Maria-based CafeFX received a Creative Arts Emmy Award for outstanding special visual effects for its work on John Adams, an HBO Films miniseries that took eight Creative Arts Emmy Awards total, out of 23 Emmy nominations. Under visual effects supervisor Jeff Goldman, visual effects producer David Van Dyke, and compositing […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Sweet theater
Autumn is on its way, but Santa Maria Civic Theatre is presenting one more taste of good old-fashioned summertime musical comedy to kick off its 50th season: the world-premiere of Sugar! Oh, Sugar! Sugar! is a melodrama that invites you to “boo” and “hiss” the villain, cheer the hero, and “awww” the heroine. Fans of […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Ghostly tales
It’s said that everyone has a story, and in PCPA’s version of The Weir, everyone does—each one filled with sadness, laughter, torment, and a bit of the supernatural. To summarize this play is to do it an injustice. It’s simple in concept—set in the fictional rural Irish town of Carrick, four local men are having […]
