Amortization schedules. Defined contribution plans. Actuarial tables. Unless you’ve got a degree in economics, the words alone are enough to make the head spin. Unfortunately, these terms and others are likely to come up a lot in the near future, as pensions for public employees continue to be the hot button issue at the county […]
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Rewriting history
A Santa Maria Red Cross volunteer introduces a Santa Barbara woman to a past she never knew
On any given day, people building family histories discover new information about their genealogy. The revelations tend to be interesting, but not often earth shattering. They may find a new relative here or there, maybe word of an interesting career or a love story. Nearly 1.4 million subscribers search Ancestry.com’s databases for help tracing their […]
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Cupid, draw back your bow …
The Sun celebrates Valentine’s Day with some local love stories
The Santa Barbara County hills are alive with the sound of Cupid’s harp. This Valentine’s Day, the Sun decided to put the county’s romantic side on full display. The area is a lovers’ paradise packed with picturesque vistas, quaint B&Bs, and breathtaking sunsets—the perfect setting for a romance of epic proportions. Inspired by our surroundings, […]
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The road ahead is riddled with potholes
Defendants and law enforcement officials discuss recent medical marijuana mobile dispensary raids
The operation was, by all accounts, industrious. It boasted cooperation from the Santa Barbara regional Narcotic Task Force, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, SLOPD, Santa Maria PD, and the California Highway Patrol. Their combined effort focused on people providing medical cannabis in San Luis Obispo County, an […]
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Senseless acts, sensible prevention
Child abuse reports are increasing as the county braces for impacts of budget cuts and realignment Child abuse reports are increasing as the county braces for impacts of budget cuts and realignment
On the afternoon of June 11, 2008, paramedics responded to a 911 call at the Santa Maria apartment of Sylvia Dominguez, her boyfriend Gabriel Peralta, and the couple’s three children. Dominguez’s 3-year-old foster son Gilbert, her sister’s biological child, wasn’t breathing—the apparent victim of a drowning. Gilbert Dominguez never regained consciousness. Visible cuts and bruises […]
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Healing with food
Sometimes medicine is not always the best medicine
Common wisdom says when you’re sick, go to the doctor, but modern wisdom says go to your refrigerator—or more appropriately, your fruit and vegetable drawer. Just as the four food groups have given way to the food pyramid, which is now often criticized as well, so has the idea of relying on medication to fix […]
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From the land, with love
Volunteers with the Marine Mammal Center work to help sea lions, seals, otters, and whales in their times of need
The Marine Mammal Center was founded in 1975 to provide care for stranded, sick, and entangled marine mammals along California’s coast from Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County to the northernmost point of Mendocino County. More than 800 volunteers help with approximately 75 creatures at the Morro Bay facility. Funding for the organization comes from private […]
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For whom the bell tolled
Orcutt Union School District allows Orcutt Academy to move into May Grisham to gain a financial upper hand, despite parental outcry
May Grisham sits in Old Orcutt, surrounded by rustic foliage and a neighborhood that calls to mind an episode of Leave it to Beaver. You half expect to see Wally tossing around a football in the street. It also sits next to the Orcutt Union School District (OUSD) office, Orcutt Junior High School, and a […]
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Stars of wonder
We present a constellation of gift ideas for nonprofits near you
Sometimes, when planning for the future, nonprofits reach for the stars. This year, for the Sun’s annual presentation of local nonprofit wish lists, we decided to appoint you, the community, as those stars. Pretty shiny, huh? Don’t worry: You won’t have to remember where you fit into Ursa Major or hang in the sky for […]
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Welcome the new ducks
Those people we elected into office a while back will soon officially step up�
It was a long, miserable, and drawn-out election season. Local mayors and other officials have mostly been sworn in. Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian has stepped up from his San Luis Obispo County supervisor seat. The state and national changes, however, are yet to come. Liberals and progressives are glad the horror of the national election results […]
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‘Nobody will sit with me’
Lompoc’s Japanese population all but disappeared at the end of 1941
Ed. note: Freelancer John McReynolds took a couple-year hiatus from Sun projects to work on an independent book: Vanished: Lompoc’s Japanese. He explored what happened locally in the days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the anniversary of which was just a few days ago. The following story is an excerpt from his book. Copies […]