Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martin is set to pass on leadership of the department to acting Police Chief Phil Hansen on June 23. Martin was hired as police chief at the end of 2012 after four months as interim chief following a “string of controversial incidents including a number of officer-involved shootings, the tragic […]
Santa Maria to appoint new acting police chief
Posted inNews
Santa Barbara supes pass budget, discuss doing more for revenue
With passage of the largest budget in recent memory ($1.08 billion), Santa Barbara County is cutting the equivalent of 178 full-time employee positions for the 2017-18 fiscal year. It wasn’t easy, but with a potential deficit looming, on June 14, the county Board of Supervisors approved about $28.5 million in cuts across county departments such […]
Posted inNews
Lompoc rallies around teen battling leukemia
A Lompoc police officer’s son took a turn for the worse in his battle with leukemia as the community continues to rally around him. Noah Scott, 14, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in July 2016 and started receiving chemotherapy at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Since then, Lompoc’s community has showered the teenager and […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
A King’s dance: Ballroom dance teacher Marie King returns to teaching
“T-A-N-G-O. T-A-N-G-O. T-A-N-G-O.” As she stands in the middle of a circle of dancers inside the Oasis Senior Center on a windy Wednesday evening, Marie King’s eyes dart between their feet and their arms, diligently hovering over them like a hawk. As she watches, she spells out the name of the dance, teaching them to […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Free for all: Santa Maria’s Youth Arts Alive program offers activities for local kids
Gale McNeeley was so alarmed by the spate of violent crimes in Santa Maria last year, he wanted to do something to help vulnerable youth in the community. What he wound up creating is Youth Arts Alive, a free month-long summer camp at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center that offers classes in music, dance, […]
Posted inNews
Who should pay for public art? A proposed fee that would charge developers to help fund public art in Santa Maria sparks debate among industry and advocates
Paintings of a salsa-dancing duo, monarch butterflies perched on flowers, and a ship sailing under a cloudy sky are all displayed on a unique canvas—utility boxes in downtown Santa Maria. Local artists added their own colorful illustrations to the industrial boxes in April, which are just a few examples of more than 20 public art […]
Posted inOpinion
What is the prettiest place in Santa Maria?
Korina Esqueda mental competency trainer “The riverbed because of the peacefulness, the quiet, and the view.” Ana Zepeda student “The scenery on the outskirts at Pioneer Valley with the mountains.” Dulce Zepeda VTC trainee “In the morning, like at sunrise, by the riverbed.” Colin Doyle electrician “The view across the valley of the strawberry fields […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Wake up, sheeple
I am very disturbed by the rash of alarmist conspiracy theories the general public seems to latch onto with a fevered irrationality that leads to mass panic, hysteria, and a bunch of memes that your mom will post three months later on Facebook. Flat earthers, chemtrail truthers, lizard people, moon landing hoaxers—it’s astounding what people […]
Posted inOpinion
An idea whose time has come
In his watershed book, Storms of My Grandchildren, Dr. James Hansen put forth the idea of a carbon fee and dividend policy as a mechanism to cut carbon emissions. Dr. Hansen was head of the Goddard Institute at NASA and arguably the most influential climate scientist in America. Dr. Hansen’s research predicted that ice around […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Naughty Oak in Orcutt is the go-to spot for craft beer
I can’t wait for the beer version of Sideways to come out. It will feature two women traversing the back roads of the Central Coast, looking for the best breweries, lamenting about the woes of middle age, and of course drinking a lot of local beers. Just like we have some of the world’s most […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Rock ‘n’ roll power-up: Noe Esquivel shares his guitar covers of video game music
Watch a video of Noe Esquivel in action. For hardcore video gamers, graphics aren’t the only draw to a great game. The music composed for a game has a way of sticking in the ear, like the original Mario Bros. theme, and can be a source of joy even when not button mashing a controller. […]