Fire victims in southern Santa Barbara County now have access to on-demand claims service through Allstate. The insurance company’s Mobile Claims Office has arrived in Goleta to help customers affected by the wildfires. The unit is a specially outfitted motor home that provides a place for customers to meet with catastrophe personnel to begin the […]
Mobile Claims Office arrives in Goleta
Posted inNews
Nipomo Properties gets into management
Diane Kuhnle, owner of Nipomo Properties, recently announced a new, in-house property management division, known as Central Coast Property Management. The division will help in finding rentals and managing. The office is located at 530 W. Tefft St., in the Von’s shopping center in Nipomo. For more information, visit www.centralcoast propertymanagement.com or call 929-7199. Biz […]
Posted inNews
Win a new house
Can’t afford a new home? There’s always a chance you could win one in a raffle. Tickets are currently being sold for $100 a piece for the chance to win the Central Coast St. Jude Dream Home. The $350,000 house is being built by Flatley Homes at their Celebration subdivision, off of Miller and Betteravia […]
Posted inNews
Hobnobbing with Helen
At 2:30 in the afternoon on July 13, Karen Cordary, arms full of raffle ticket rolls and supplies, waltzed into the Addamo tasting room on Clark Avenue in old Orcutt. For the past eight weeks, Karen has been part of a crew that raised money for and awareness of the local Cancer Society’s annual Relay […]
Posted inNews
Community groups join together to discuss home-care threats from budget cuts
The Quality Home Care Coalition of Santa Barbara County’s name says it all. The collection of community groups cares about quality home care. Members of the group include Congress of California Seniors, Independent Living Resource Center, AARP, and United Domestic Workers of America. In response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised budget proposal, the coalition will […]
Posted inNews
Farewell to the fair
As festivities came to a close at the Santa Barbara County Fair on July 13, the Santa Maria Fairpark released a statement reporting that the fair welcomed almost 115,400 people during its five-day run, July 9 to 13. Attendance was slightly down this year (about 4.5 percent), fair CEO Dennis Person said in the release, […]
Posted inNews
County supervisors extend SMOOTH for Ag Van program, consider future funding options
On July 8, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, with 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone dissenting, to extend an agreement with the Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers (SMOOTH) to continue running the Agricultural Worker Transportation Project in the Santa Maria Valley area through June of 2010. Based on the success of […]
Posted inNews
California legislators reject Bush’s lift of offshore drilling ban
On July 14, President George W. Bush lifted a nearly two decade-long executive ban on drilling for oil and natural gas off the country’s shoreline, thus challenging Congress to allow exploration for domestic energy sources to ease climbing energy prices. Democrats in Congress and environmentalists, however, have criticized the step as a political stunt, and […]
Posted inNews
Santa Barbara County Planning Commission pushes forward Naples development
After years of controversy and scrutiny, the Santa Barbara Ranch Project, dubbed the Naples Project, came one step closer to reality on July 10. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission accepted the development’s final Environmental Impact Report. Located on the Gaviota Coast two miles northwest of Goleta, the Naples townsite has been the focus of […]
Posted inNews
Get to the point
The sand has the consistency of sugar—no pebbles, no tar. Deep like a mattress, it invites a hiker to rest. Nobody else is here, and there is no alien sound—no automobiles or ATVs, no drone of airplanes, no yapping dogs—only the trill of gulls and the surf, crashing, dominant, primal. Beyond the surf, two brown […]
Posted inNews
Dangerous heat
On July 11, family members and friends held a funeral service at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church in Orcutt, honoring the life of 64-year-old Jose Macarena Hernandez. Hernandez died during last month’s record-breaking heat wave while harvesting butternut squash on a farm in Santa Maria, United Farm Workers of America reported. His death—along with […]
Posted inNews
Where is the art?
Plump strawberries, mouth-watering tri-tip, award-winning Pinot Noir—Santa Maria is known for many things. But stuff like public art and fine galleries? Probably not on the list. The city is surrounded by art-loving communities and breathtaking vistas that have long inspired artists, but it hasn’t fully developed a definitive artistic identity. Sure, there are plenty of […]
