Cover Story

If you’re wondering when it will be your turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the answer may soon be found on My Turn, a state-run vaccine scheduling platform that’s being onboarded by providers in Santa Barbara County and across California.  “The state envisions My Turn as the single point where communities across the state can […]

When Adam Elementary PE teacher and mother Desirae Felix heard that teachers were being asked to teach from their classrooms at the start of the school year last fall—despite students still being at a distance—her mind immediately went to who was going to watch her own kids. As a member of the Santa Maria Elementary […]

“From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be an actor,” PCPA alumnus Mark Herrier said, recalling his reaction to a production of The Music Man he saw when was 10 years old, at the historic Lompoc Theatre.  Herrier’s fond nostalgia for the long-dormant venue wasn’t the only thing that inspired him to join […]

Santa Barbara County is one of eight counties in California that has already carried out pilot programs to vaccinate their farmworker populations. The county launched its trilingual, tri-cultural pilot program on Feb. 28, providing vaccinations for nearly 500 farmworkers in Santa Maria.  Jackie Ruiz, Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health spokesperson, told the Sun […]

Compared to 2019, 2020 was a relatively good year for crime in Lompoc. According to 2019 data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and 2020 data from the Lompoc Police Department, murders ticked down from seven in 2019 to four in 2020. While total assaults went up, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults all […]

More people than usual are hitting the lakes to fish during the pandemic, locals say Cachuma is a great place to start BY MALEA MARTIN Ross Godlis has lived in Santa Barbara County since the ’70s, and before that he attended UC Santa Barbara in the late ’60s. When he wasn’t “living with a nose […]

Santa Barbara-based artist Nicole Strasburg based the subject of her new paper-cut silhouette series, Wintering: A Fox Tale, on the mascot of its venue, the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature. While the Solvang staple remains closed due to state and local mandates, this new window installation can be viewed from the sidewalk outside the […]

A sweeping landscape of Bien Nacido Vineyards in Santa Maria graces the cover of Vines & Vision: The Winemakers of Santa Barbara County, a new book from writer Matt Kettmann and photojournalist Macduff Everton. The duo first collaborated in early 2017, when Kettmann contributed a chapter to a group cookbook, Around the Table: Recipes and […]

It’s near impossible to talk about public health right now, without discussing COVID-19, so for our annual Health and Wellness issue, Staff Writer Malea Martin writes about flu cases being lower than usual, and local public health experts say that COVID-19 precautions have helped. Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash speaks with a nutritionist about COVID-19 weight […]

Street vendors in Santa Maria may soon be required to obtain a permit and undergo a background check under a new ordinance that has support from the majority of City Council but garnered significant community opposition. The ordinance would require street vendors to obtain a permit to vend from public sidewalks. Permit applicants must have […]

Santa Barbara County Foodbank volunteers reflect back on what it was like to serve the community during unprecedented times of need BY MALEA MARTIN Sherri Ederer started volunteering at The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County about a year and a half ago, meaning she was well-acquainted with what typical operations looked like pre-pandemic. So when […]