Posted inFood & Drink

A Templeton farm brightens the horizon for a Santa Barbara County winery

Blending wine is very common, but not the way Michelle Vautier does it. She owns CrossHatch Winery and uses a method called co-fermentation. Instead of blending wines after they’ve fermented, her grapes—usually two or three varieties—are picked from their separate vines on the same day and start fermenting together right away.  “I’m the only winery […]

Posted inNews

Conserving space: PG&E needs to do more about environmental issues if it wants Coastal Commission approval to extend Diablo’s life

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) must return to the California Coastal Commission with new plans to mitigate Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s environmental issues if it wants permits to keep the nuclear facility running.  “We’re talking about decades of staggering and devastating environmental impact that demand action not delay,” Commissioner Raymond Jackson said during the […]

Posted inNews

County Public Health pauses layoffs and patient transfers, left with budget deficits

The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department paused its plan to make layoffs and transition thousands of patients away from county clinics due to “unsatisfactory immigration status.” The decision follows an ongoing injunction to a change in federal law.  Mouhanad Hammami, the director of Public Health, presented this update to the county Board of Supervisors […]

Posted inNews

Santa Barbara County District Attorney charges Lompoc council member with eight felonies

Fraud. Forgery. Identity theft. Allegedly fabricated, a series of counterfeit invoices for construction work is at the heart of the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s case against a Lompoc City Council member. On Nov. 19, District Attorney John T. Savrnoch filed eight felony charges against Councilmember Stephen Bridge, including two counts of grand theft of […]

Posted inNews

November’s rainfall tops local records with little impact to wildfire burn areas

November’s rainfall is responsible for Santa Barbara County experiencing “one of the wettest starts to a water-year on record.” That’s according to Flood Control District Senior Hydrologist Shawn Johnson, who gauges the ebb and flow of rivers and reservoirs across the county and keeps close tabs on rainfall patterns, with decades of water data recorded […]

Posted inNews

Political Watch: November 27, 2025

• U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-California), Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), and Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) introduced the Liquid Cooling for AI Act of 2025 on Nov. 20. As the U.S. works to maintain technological supremacy and ramp-up AI innovation, this legislation puts new directives to certain federal agencies in place. For example, the […]

Posted inOpinion

Bridge to nowhere good

 I wonder how former Lompoc City Councilmember Gilda Aiello is taking the news about the guy who took her seat on the dais at the end of 2024. Remember what happened? She decided not to run for reelection due to “a few unfair attacks brought on me by a group of individuals who wanted to […]

Gift this article