Guadalupe’s Dunes Center will receive a $25,000 grant from Phillips 66 to fund nature and science education programs. The grant money will go toward educational opportunities to underserved students in programs such as science, technology, engineering, and math. Education programs that will benefit from funding include guided student field trips to Oso Flaco Lake, classroom […]
Dunes Center receives funding for educational and archeological programs
Posted inOpinion
Sticky issue …
You smell that? No, I don’t think it’s a pack of skunks, it’s something else… could it be, Santa Barbara County’s new recreational marijuana regulations? The County Board of Supervisors’ Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Cannabis Operations in Santa Barbara County announced how the cannabis industry will roll out in Santa Barbara County […]
Posted inNews
Hobnobbing with Helen: On team teal
Social life in Santa Maria often occurs in clumps. At some times of the year, there will be a flurry of happenings—so much going on that a hobnobber could be out every night and sometimes in the afternoons, too. April and May this year were like that. I was swept up in a swell of […]
Posted inNews
Buellton considers wildlife ordinance following resident complaints
The Ranch Club Estates in Buellton has open space as its backyard, but lately that wilderness has become more of a nuisance than something to peacefully coexist with. This spring, the mobile home park for residents aged 55 and older has seen “unprecedented destruction to residences by raccoons,” according to a letter the Ranch Club […]
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Hundreds register pot operations with Santa Barbara County
As a 5 p.m. deadline loomed on June 30 for marijuana growers in unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County to register their operations, residents packed a hearing room in Santa Maria to tell the county’s ad hoc committee on marijuana exactly what a future ordinance should regulate. When the hearing started at 2 p.m., 437 […]
Posted inOpinion
Ambulance bill not good for anyone
Private ambulance companies put “lives before lunch” breaks. However, the State legislature is attempting to place more importance on making sure EMS workers get to finish their lunch, even if it will cost lives. This is totally unacceptable to private ambulance companies��”the EMS providers that transport 85 percent of the patients in California. AB 263 […]
Posted inOpinion
Get facts straight on bail reform
As a former bail agent in California for 17 years, I believe there is misleading information given in the opinion “We need prison bail reform” (June 15). First, there is no bail schedule for California as a whole. Individual counties set bail schedules. Secondly, a bail of $50,000 is considered a high bail. The majority […]
Posted inOpinion
North County needs a 4-year college
The EconAlliance of Northern Santa Barbara County is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, supporting, and encouraging economic development. One major element of economic development is an educated and literate workforce. In cooperation with other nonprofit organizations like the United Way and People Self Help Housing, we are engaged in literacy programs at the […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch 7/6/17
• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) questioned former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns on June 28 as part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, raising questions of the current administration and President Donald Trump‘s response to the threat of Russian interference in the past election and possibly in the future. “I think the American […]
Posted inNews
Former Vandenberg airman indicted for traffic fatalities
A former airman with the United States Air Force who served at Vandenberg Air Force Base has been indicted on multiple charges relating to a traffic collision that occurred last summer near Vandenberg that left two dead. A statement from the United States Attorney’s Office named Shaquille Lindsey, 23, of Covington, Ga., as the subject […]
Posted inNews
Body of missing Pasadena boy found near Cachuma Lake
The body of a Los Angeles boy missing since April was found near Lake Cachuma on June 30. According to a press release issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the body was discovered after a search “based on additional leads developed in the Andressian case.” The boy’s father, Aramazd Andressian Sr., was arrested […]
Posted inNews
APCD working with Nipomo to address waste treatment odor
Dust from the Oceano Dunes isn’t the only issue giving SLO County air quality officials a headache in the county’s southern region. The SLO County Air Pollution Control District is trying to work with officials from the Nipomo Community Services District (CSD) to address complaints about a pungent odor emanating from the CSD’s Southland Wastewater […]