In celebration of the grand opening of Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s new Performing Arts Center, Pioneer Valley High School students will stick it to the man on Nov. 2 with an exclusive performance of School of Rock the Musical. The production, based on the 2003 film starring Jack Black, was written by […]
Pioneer Valley’s Performing Arts Center to open its curtains in November
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Spotlight On: Studio 8
When Berta Cabrera first started cutting hair, she wasn’t sure how long she would stick with it. “I wanted to be a police officer, but my parent’s didn’t believe in a girl being a police officer,” she said. “My father said, ‘No.’” The refusal was hard to bear. Around that same time, one of Cabrera’s […]
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Punching back
Javier Solis has lived in La Plaza Villas Apartments for nearly eight years. The complex, a series of cream-colored stucco buildings at the end of Olivera Street in Guadalupe, is one of the largest in a town that lacks abundant affordable housing for its residents. Eight years ago, Solis said he felt lucky to have […]
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The art of funding
The Santa Maria City Council is in agreement for the need of a public arts master plan. What council members cannot agree on is how to fund it. “That’s what it really is about,” Councilmember Mike Cordero told the Sun. “It’s gotta be paid for. The trick is, who pays?” On Oct. 3, council members […]
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Residents criticize Santa Maria youth safety task force
Another in a series of public meetings on the Mayor’s Task Force on Youth Safety went awry on Oct. 9 after a string of community members criticized the city of Santa Maria’s attempts at addressing recent spikes in violence in the city. The intent of the meeting, held in the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center, […]
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Humor: Ariel is a ghoulish grandma
My God! Is it already October? Is Halloween really almost upon us? It is my favorite holiday because I love a good fright! Give me the scary and I’m there! My love of a good scare comes from my mother and her sisters. They were the mistresses of scare tactics. One of the last times […]
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Local Notes: Local remembers Tom Petty’s legacy and last show
Josh Kitchen grew up in Santa Maria to parents who always cranked the great American songbook of the 1960s and ’70s. They also took him along to concerts, often, and he’s seen just about everyone, from Paul McCartney to Emmylou Harris, from Randy Newman to Kanye West. Kitchen (full disclosure: Kitchen and the author are […]
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Community theater group launches in Orcutt
Community theater may have a new home in Orcutt. If the people behind the Orcutt Community Theatre group have their way, it will eventually be a permanent fixture in town, performing several diverse shows every year. For now, the group, which includes comedian and ventriloquist Lezlie Thoroddsson, is trying to raise funds to get the […]
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Women’s equestrian fashion featured at historical exhibit in Santa Ynez
A cowgirl refused to wear a corset during a competition and helped change the way women equestrians dressed forever. That’s just one small nugget revealed in a new exhibition presented by the Costume Council at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum. The Evolution of Women’s Equestrian Attire Through the Past Century, which opened with a […]
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SpaceX launches satellites from Vandenberg, completes landing
Another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted into low-earth orbit just after 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. After delivering its payload of Iridium Communications Inc. satellites, the rocket booster successfully landed on a platform in the Pacific Ocean, according to a SpaceX news release. “Each successful launch brings us one step […]
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Solvang City Council ends deadlock, appoints new member
Solvang City Council appointed Karen Waite to its recently vacated seat on Oct. 6, ending a weeks-long debate over protocol codified in 2009 that outlines ways to fill a prematurely emptied position. Council members voted 0-3, with one abstention, to appoint Waite, a local businesswoman and the runner-up of the November 2016 election by only […]
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Lompoc City Council grants city manager vote of confidence
Following months of public feuding, Lompoc City Council members unanimously agreed in closed session on Oct. 3 that they had confidence in their city manager, Patrick Wiemiller. Mayor Bob Lingl made the announcement in open session at that night’s City Council meeting. “We had a very good discussion, some back and forth, and at the […]
