Lompoc is adding a new mural to its collection, and the public has an opportunity to participate in its creation. Mural in a Weekend, which takes place Oct. 6 through 7 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., will offer the community a chance to pick up a brush and put their own strokes into the […]
Painter Art Mortimer returns to Lompoc for Mural in a Weekend
Local high schooler brings awareness to childhood cancer
Garhett Carter was only 2 years old when he was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that most commonly affects the adrenal glands in young children. He was only 4 when the disease killed him in 2012. The months leading to Garhett’s death were filled with long hospital visits, astronomically expensive […]
Spotlight on: Domestic Violence Solutions
For more than 40 years, Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS) has provided resources for Santa Barbara County families in need of protection from abusive spouses. The nonprofit is the area’s sole full-service operator with 24-hour emergency shelter and services for domestic violence victims. DVS currently manages three shelters in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, and Lompoc. The […]
Lompoc to contract out dispatch center to either county or Santa Maria
In the five years Pat Walsh has been police chief in Lompoc, he’s hired 16 people to supplement the city’s understaffed emergency dispatch center. Not a single one works there today. It’s problem he says isn’t new for the Central Coast city. “Before I started here, one chief told me that at one point […]
Money fight: Millions pour into the 24th District Congressional race while candidates take aim at each other’s donations
It takes a lot to win a congressional election: A message that appeals to voters, a dedicated staff of paid operatives and volunteers, a well-organized ground game, and lots of money. The race for California’s 24th Congressional District, which includes Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, is no exception. The race, a rematch between […]
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes campus abortion bill
California universities will not be required to offer medical abortions, according to one of the governor’s last ever vetoes. Gov. Jerry Brown signed and vetoed a slew of his last bills as California’s leader on Sept. 30, and Senate Bill 320 didn’t make the cut. The bill, which would have required each of the state’s […]
Sheriff’s pot task force destroys thousands of pounds of cannabis in September
It’s been a busy month for the newly activated Sheriff’s Cannabis Compliance Team, the law enforcement arm tasked with eliminating Santa Barbara County’s illegal marijuana cultivation sites. Since Sept. 6, deputies and collaborating police officers destroyed more than 15,000 pot plants with what they said had an estimated street value of $7 million to $9 […]
Local priests named in California sexual abuse report
Several Catholic priests who worked at schools and churches throughout Santa Barbara County were named as accused sexual assailants in a report on clergy abuse that was released by a national law firm on Oct. 2. The report, which spans 125 pages and lists more than 300 clerics, religious employees, and volunteers who have been […]
Artists fighting cancer find new meaning in their own work through art therapy
When a doctor told Tonya Schultz she would have to have her arm amputated to fight the cancer slowly creeping through her body, she was determined to find another solution. “[They] told me we don’t have any other treatments, we need to amputate,” she said. “That’s when I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do […]
Back up: Rebecca discovers one of the harshest truths about middle age: Your back hurts
My back hurts. Literally right now it is screaming in pain at me, like a bratty child whose mother won’t let it have two cookies for dessert. My back just won’t shut up. In my youth, many people told me many important and serious truths about growing up that I would later find indispensable. Truths […]
Elverhoj hosts poetry event
The Elverhoj Museum of History and Art will host a poetry reading featuring local poets on Oct. 6. The Poetry of Transition will feature readings from Steve Braff, Dorothy Jardin, and Teresa McNeil MacLean. Each poet has created work inspired by the Elverhoj’s retrospective Past, Present, and Future. Braff (pictured below) is the co-founder of […]
Inside PCPA features conversations with actors and designers
The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) will host Inside PCPA, a chance to meet with creative artists from the theater and learn more about their work. Resident actors and designers at PCPA will meet with attendees and discuss their inspiration and work. The event is an opportunity to learn more about how the theater works behind […]

