•Retired U.S. Navy commander and California District 24 candidate for congress Bob Smith issued a statement on July 15 regarding the July 10 ICE raids at Glass House Farms sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo. Smith credited reports from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with info on the raids he summarized. While executing federal warrants […]
Political Watch: July 24, 2025
Posted inNews
County supervisors amend zoning to protect senior mobile home parks
Almost 7,000 seniors populate housing authority waitlists for affordable senior housing in Santa Barbara County. “In the face of such high demand, the preservation of existing affordable housing, including mobile home parks, is clearly important,” county planner Lila Spring said at the July 15 Board of Supervisors meeting. “However, the county lacks regulations to prevent […]
Posted inNews
Buellton drafts motel reversion ordinance to help ‘revitalize’ Avenue of Flags
Some motels along Buellton’s Avenue of Flags gradually evolved into offering long-term housing without city permission over the past two decades, City Manager Scott Wolfe recently told the Planning Commission. Wolfe also described the motel conversion trend as contradicting the city’s vision for the area as a commercial corridor, which is outlined in the Avenue […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Clementine Carter pours cool climate Rhônes from the Sta. Rita Hills in Los Alamos
No two vintages of Clementine Carter are the same. “You should be able to read each vintage in each bottle,” owner and winemaker Sonja Magdevski said. “Everything that happened that year should be in this bottle.” The soil, sun, wind, rain, frost, temperature. The hands that tended the vines, the decisions that were made and […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Stories of local foster youth in Trauma to Hope exhibit now on display in Santa Ynez
Hope in art Located at 3596 Sagunto St., the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., and the From Trauma to Hope: Stories of Foster Care exhibit is on display until July 26. For more about the exhibit, visit at sbcasa.org. It was past midnight when a […]
Posted inOpinion
Vital affordability
In a time when affordable housing is in such high demand, when the California Legislature tries over and over again to alleviate the housing crisis and stimulate building, Buellton is trying to figure out how to kick certain residents out of long-term housing situations and turn those spaces into hotel rooms again. “Those motel uses […]
Posted inNews
Lompoc dissects new arrangements with chamber of commerce and TBID
Local artists, educators, and business owners were among the 40-plus public speakers who protested the Lompoc City Council’s initial decision to cut the Chamber of Commerce’s annual budget down from $108,000 to $60,000 in late June. Their efforts swayed the council to maintain the former allocation, via a newly revised contract that became the focal […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
55 Fiction 2025
Surprise! It’s the culmination of this year’s 55 Fiction contest! And much like the endings of the stories that people send us, the stories are always a shock—well not always, but mostly. We’ve got love, war, murder, politics, twists, and more for you in this year’s collection of printable pieces. Our judges sifted through hundreds […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Lompoc’s Pali Wine Co. triples operating grounds, announces 20th anniversary celebration for August, adapts appointments for tastings
Pali Wine Company’s 2024 Market Price orange wine blend bursts with pineapple, mango, and tangerine. The 2023 P.C.H. rosé of pinot noir has a zip of acidity and a refreshing wave of delicate red fruit flavors. The 2021 Jetty red wine offers up raspberries, strawberries, and cherries. You’re invited Pali Wine Co. will celebrate 20 […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
My Mom Jayne paints a new picture of ’50s and early-’60s pinup and starlet Jayne Mansfield
My Mom Jayne What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2025 Where’s it showing? HBO Max Mariska Hargitay is best known as Detective Olivia Benson on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit series, but she’s also the youngest child of 1950s and early-’60s pinup and starlet Jayne Mansfield, who tragically died in a car accident in […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
The Mortician chronicles the macabre and unethical practices of mortician David Sconce
The Mortician What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2025 Where’s it showing? HBO Max The business of death can be a lucrative one, and no one knows that better than David Sconce. His family’s funeral home in Pasadena became the subject of a scandal back in January 1987. David’s parents ran the funeral home while David […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Superman finds Clark Kent struggling with an identity crisis
Superman What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria, Movies Lompoc, Regal Edwards Arroyo Grande, Fair Oaks Theatre Writer-director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) helms this new take on Superman and other characters from the […]