• On Nov. 17, U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-California) and John Curtis (R-Utah) introduced the bipartisan Healthy Lungs for Heroes Act. This legislation would create the first respiratory protection standards for wildland firefighters. According to Schiff’s office, federal firefighters were prohibited for decades from wearing respiratory protection, despite a growing body of evidence warning about […]
Political Watch: November 20, 2025
Posted inNews
Santa Margarita’s Christmas at the Ranch celebrates third year of holiday cheer
The 14,000-acre ranch that temporarily housed thousands of firefighters—dispatched from agencies across California to contain the Gifford Fire in August—is inviting them back to see the former site of their base camp in a different light, literally. “While they were there, a lot of local ranches around Santa Margarita and Pozo all said, ‘We want […]
Posted inOpinion
The middleman
While warm-blooded American patriots were enjoying their weekends like warm-blooded patriots, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was out doing the work of the people: arresting rapists, pedophiles, and murderers (and I assume, good people, too)—according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security press release you can find right on its website! Direct-to-the-people news, direct from […]
Posted inOpinion
The U.S. should look to New Zealand for democratic inspiration
On No Kings Day, a chant reverberated throughout America as 7 million protesters marched in 2,700 cities and towns all across the country—including the Central Coast: “Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!” After a two-week tour of New Zealand, here’s what one version of democracy looks like: This small […]
Posted inOpinion
Our divided nation needs to heal with empathy
Empathy is not a “new age” idea. It is a hard, often uncomfortable discipline that requires patience, humility, and the courage to listen. Certain voices in our culture dismiss empathy as soft or naïve because they mistake it for agreement. It is easier to sneer at the idea than to do the difficult work of […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
An artist helps others on their cancer journeys by teaching collage classes
At around 12 years old, Kathleen McKinnon realized she wanted to be a teacher for the deaf after her church brought in a deaf congregation. But during McKinnon’s college years in Florida, when she was studying learning disabilities, she had another realization. “I was walking back to the education department, and I walked past the […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Julefest traditions return to Solvang
The traditional Danish holiday celebration starts on Nov. 28 with more than a month of parades, music, lights, and more in Solvang. “Julefest’s fun festivities provide entertaining options for all ages, for our locals and our visitors, with new daytime events and extra evening magic,” Solvang City Manager Randy Murphy said in press materials. One […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Lompoc Pops bring seasonal tunes to town
The Lompoc Pops Orchestra will spread holiday cheer with its concert on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. Prepare for a night of seasonal favorites, sing-along tunes, and surprise appearances by classic characters. The 60-piece orchestra has prepared popular carols and traditional melodies featuring performances by the Herman Family Quartet, the Opera San Luis Obispo children’s […]
Posted inSun Screen
The Running Man is funny, action-packed romp
Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgram vs. the World, Baby Driver) directs and co-writes this dystopian sci-fi thriller based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel The Running Man (published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), about a televised gameshow in which contestants are allowed to go anywhere as they’re pursued by “hunters” hired to kill […]
Posted inSun Screen
Death by Lightning chronicles the assassination of President James Garfield
Death by LightningWhat’s it rated? UnratedWhen? 2025Where’s it showing? Netflix James Garfield is a name you’d expect to find as the answer to lightning trivia, and as a decidedly non-history buff, I could have told you he was president—but not when or for how long. Also, I’d probably have said Andrew Garfield—another person altogether. Point […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
A House of Dynamite is an all-too plausible nuclear war scenario
A House of DynamiteWhat’s it rated? RWhen? 2025Where’s it showing? Netflix Kathryn Bigalow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) directs Noah Oppenheim’s script about a missile launched at the U.S.—but by whom and why? Told from three different perspectives, the story depicts the various governmental elements scrambling to determine how to respond. As political drama […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Pono Pacific Kitchen launches craft vodka and gin label
When bartender Dylan Koch makes Pono Pacific Kitchen’s Water Lily cocktail, he gently shakes together gin, Cointreau, and Crème de Violette. Koch pours the cocktail into a Nick and Nora glass, the kind that “looks like it would be at a luncheon in the 1950s,” he described. “It’s going to be this beautiful blue color, […]
