At a recent school board meeting, I stood up to speak—not to argue, but to ask our community to refocus on the real challenges facing our students. What I witnessed that night was deeply troubling: a growing effort to target trans students and trans athletes, often based on fear, misinformation, and political rhetoric. We owe […]
Category Feature
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning is an over-the-top spectacle
Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning 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 Christopher McQuarrie helms this part 2 to Dead Reckoning (2023), where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his Impossible Missions Force must […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Stage direction: Great American Melodrama artists and operators reflect on the quirky theater’s 50th anniversary
Flanked by unmarked gravestones, vampire coffins, and headless mannequins, scenic carpenter Martin Ramirez stands inside a two-story building on the north end of the Great American Melodrama’s parking lot. He’s one of the employees who breathes fresh life into the theater’s archive department on a regular basis. His workspace across from the theater preserves oodles […]
Posted inNews
Orcutt investment pro sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding elderly clients
Convicted of stealing more than $2.2 million over the course of seven years, a former financial advisor based in Orcutt will face a prison sentence of more than three times the amount her attorney argued for. On May 19, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II sentenced Julie Darrah to serve 121 months—a little more […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch: May 29, 2025
•Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) recognized the Immigrant Legal Defense Center as the California Nonprofit of the Year for Assembly District 37 on May 21. This recognition was part of the Legislature’s annual California Nonprofits Day, a statewide effort honoring the vital role that nonprofit organizations play in California communities, according to Hart’s office. Founded […]
Posted inNews
One local graduates from Righetti High School, Allan Hancock College at same time
Samantha McDonald was 13 years old when the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm, forcing schools across the United States to pivot from in-person to virtual learning sessions. Then a seventh grader, Samantha suddenly discovered she had a lot of free time for the first time in her young life. Most kids that age […]
Posted inOpinion
Eat, prey, love
Even as a fully fledged bird, I need a mother every now and again. Sometimes I miss the comfort of a sheltering wing; sometimes I just need to be reminded of what’s right and what’s wrong. But needing someone to fill that mama-shaped hole in my heart is no excuse for going all cuckoo on […]
Posted inOpinion
Reflections on the team spirit that fuels the Air Force
Old guys like me like to tell “war stories” about their military service, stories you never heard about on the news; I am no different. Like hundreds of thousands of military members, in 1976 I was chosen to serve a one-year “remote” tour of duty—that means that you don’t take your family with you, only […]
Posted inOpinion
Support a state law that helps those living in an insurance gap
I’ve been living with kidney failure since 2019. Like so many Californians, I’ve faced more than just one diagnosis—diabetes, high blood pressure, gastroparesis, gout—and even the amputation of my foot due to sepsis. Dialysis, an intensive treatment done three times per week to keep me alive, has permanently affected my life. But I’ve fought every […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Lompoc’s Pour Decisions blends a leisurely atmosphere with zesty margaritas
Pour it up Located at 724 E. Ocean Ave., Pour Decisions encourages thirsty locals to come in and try their fresh-squeezed margaritas and signature espresso martinis. The cocktail bar shares information about upcoming events on Facebook under the name Pour Decisions or on Instagram @pourdecisionslompoc. For more information, call (805) 972-3107. It’s happy hour in […]
Posted inNews
Guadalupe council member accuses Royal Theater project manager of misrepresenting costs
A status report on Guadalupe’s initiative to restore its shuttered Royal Theater teed up an argument between the project’s lead and the elected official who serves on its capital campaign committee. During the Guadalupe City Council’s May 13 meeting, Councilmember Whitney Furness said there’s not enough city oversight when it comes to finances tied to […]
Posted inNews
Political Watch: May 22, 2025
• On May 14, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, joined immigration advocates and some of his colleagues at a press conference to speak out against anti-immigrant provisions in Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill—such as increased funding for the border wall and immigrant detention centers, according to Padilla’s office. […]
