Cover Story

The earliest memories Erik Garcia has of growing up in California are of living in Oakland and then later in Modesto. He remembers going to flea markets where his dad had a stand selling a number of goods. “We tried to have our own business, but obviously like with most businesses there are hit and […]

The first homicide within Santa Maria city limits in 2017 wasn’t the result of a gang-related shootout or stabbing, but rather a suspected act of domestic violence. Natalia Morozova was found shot when Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) officers responded to the scene near her home on North College Street in Santa Maria on Aug. […]

What does it take to keep a community theater open? There isn’t one simple answer. Theater groups up and down the Central Coast have been around for decades. Some have come and gone, yet others have more staying power. While groups like the Santa Maria Civic Theatre are fortunate to have a permanent location, that […]

To Jeremiah Hernandez, getting a four-year degree seemed just out of reach. He was about to graduate from high school in Santa Maria, and his parents, despite their inability to financially support his future, had always pushed him toward the path of higher education. “‘You’re a smart kid,’” Hernandez said his parents often told him. […]

It’s Tuesday night, Sept. 5, and the Lompoc City Council is in session. After a long and arduous meeting, the city’s 2017-19 budget has finally passed, albeit contentiously, at a 3-2 vote. The boogie man of a budget—now four months late and the source of countless hours of bickering, bemoaning, and battling for a say […]

As she swings around a tight curve in her John Deere Gator, rancher Katie Parker-McDonald’s eye is keenly trained on the horizon, trying to spot one of her elusive cattle. By now, she could probably drive this route blindfolded; these are the same narrow dirt paths she’s navigated since she was a child. As we […]

Things don’t move too fast in rural communities like New Cuyama, and they especially slow down when the midday sun bears down and the heat hits the high 90s. That is, except for Louie, the pit bull/black lab mix who bounded after a small lizard darting for the safety of the nearest desert shrub on […]

It was almost midnight, Dan was 7 miles from home, and all he had was his wheelchair. He didn’t have a phone, money, or a coat. He had just spent almost all of Aug. 9 in Santa Barbara County Jail sobering up, after being caught, yet again, drinking a beer on West Carrillo Street in […]

If you called 911 from an unincorporated spot in Santa Barbara County after dark on Aug. 19, you most likely spoke with one of eight people. Sitting in semi-darkness, responding to crackling voices coming over their radios and basking in the glow of at least four computer monitors, their fingers clickity-clacked away on keyboards while […]

The drive into Tepusquet Canyon from its south end offers rolling hills, ranch homes and ancient oak trees, coyotes dodging between grape vines, and deer grazing in pastures. But on the approach from Santa Maria, a long skyline of bruised black hills reveals the devastation wrought by the Alamo Fire and the real threat it […]