We’ve had not just one fire, but two this summer. Both started along Highway 166’s lonely stretch of two-lane road and lapped up vegetation, grassland, and oak-studded hills stretching through federal land—Los Padres National Forest, Carrizo Plain National Monument, the Caliente Mountain Wilderness Study Area, the Garcia Wilderness—threatened ranches, remote houses, county parks, cattle, crops, […]
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Students learn from nurses and doctors during a summer mentorship program at Dignity Health hospitals
St. Joseph High School senior Ysabel Adoremos always knew she wanted to be a nurse. Both of her parents are nurses, and she loved the idea of working in the medical field. After her first week in the Dignity Health Centers of the Central Coast physician mentor program this summer, Adoremos discovered her interest in […]
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Butterfly is a family soap opera with action thriller trappings
Butterfly What’s it rated? TV-16 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Prime Daniel Dae Kim stars as David Jung, a former CIA operative living in South Korea. He’s presumed dead from an operation gone wrong nine years earlier, now living a quiet life with his new wife, Eunju (Kim Tae-hee). His big regret was leaving his […]
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Culture in the Valley flies through Santa Maria’s aviation history
Remnants of decades-old movie sets are still evident at the Santa Maria Museum of Flight. Museum docent Jerry Simas explains more about the Santa Maria Valley’s aviation history in the newest episode of the city’s online educational series Culture in the Valley. The Museum of Flight is located at the Santa Maria airport and houses […]
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Political Watch: August 14, 2025
• Approximately 190 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves are estimated to remain in the area off the coast of Santa Barbara County, according to the federal Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which announced on July 25 that it was working with Sable Offshore Corporation to bring a second Santa […]
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Santa Barbara County is ready to build out rural broadband networks
Designs are complete for high-speed internet networks in nine rural Santa Barbara County communities, but the projects are still waiting on funding for construction. The county received a state grant in 2023 to kick-start its broadband effort, Marjie Kirn, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) executive director, told the Sun. Using the grant, […]
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Local water agencies weigh in on federal cloud seeding bill
Solvang is planning to send a letter to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee opposing U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Georgia) bill that aims to ban cloud seeding. On Aug. 11, the Solvang City Council unanimously approved the move as part of its consent agenda. City Manager Randy Murphy told the Sun that he […]
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Gifford Fire exceeds 123,000 acres while crews plan burning operation
Air tankers and drones are among the forms of aerial support available to the crews—made up of more than 4,000 personnel—tackling the Gifford Fire, which has grown to 123,000 acres since Aug. 1. Helicopters are in the mix as well—some armed with a crucial accessory firefighters will use to essentially fight fire with fire. “We […]
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Breaking ground: An empty Santa Maria department store begins its transformation into apartments—aiming to revitalize downtown
Making its downtown area more lively and walkable has been a goal of Santa Maria’s since 2004. About four years’ worth of community workshops ushered in the city’s first downtown revitalization plan, adopted in 2008 with hopes of increasing foot traffic through new retail, restaurants, and housing opportunities. But over the course of the next […]
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PCPA’s Songs for Nobodies welcomes everybody to Marian Theatre and Solvang Festival Theater
A one-woman show featuring songs from five iconic artists will open at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria on Aug. 14. In Songs for Nobodies, five famous singers meet five women in a “tour de force of inspiration and resilience,” according to the PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s description. Award-winning actor and singer Bethany Thomas is […]
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Lompoc art duo’s fifth show is on display at Gallery Los Olivos
Visit the gallery Gallery Los Olivos is located at 2920 Grand Ave. in Los Olivos and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The current show, Rhapsody in Hue, will be on display until Aug. 31. For more information, visit gallerylosolivos.com. On a 12-by-16-inch canvas, artist Neil Andersson intertwines shapes and colors as […]
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Now is the time to help each other prepare for eventual evacuations
Two friends, who have lost absolutely everything to wildfires, say now is the time to help one another prepare to evacuate. If it’s not this fire, or an earthquake, or a tsunami warning … it will be some big challenge in the near future. How about we each help an elderly or disabled neighbor? Help […]