View a slideshow of drones from around the Central Coast. Jordan Tolentino is your normal Santa Maria teenager with a busy schedule. Standing at 5 feet 11 inches, he’s a linebacker on the varsity football team at St. Joseph High School, a member of both the National Honor Society and 4-H, and president of the […]
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Community organizers eye Santa Maria for a possible voting rights lawsuit
View a slideshow of opposition to the ICE facility in Santa Maria. A win last week for plaintiffs in a lawsuit to create voting districts in Santa Barbara has community organizers considering a similar course of action for the city of Santa Maria. Filed last July, the lawsuit against Santa Barbara alleged that the city’s […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
The wildflowers are popping in Los Padres
View a slideshow from Willow Spring trail. As the sun’s warmth burnt off the dreary Sunday morning fog of Valentine’s Day Weekend, the green hills beckoned, but I knew if I wanted to hike, I would have to drive. The Santa Maria neck of the Central Coast isn’t really known for having lots of wide-open […]
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Learning the world: The Outdoor Classroom Project brings outdoor education to early childhood centers
View a slideshow of Allan Hancock College’s outdoor education center. The outdoor facilities at Allan Hancock College Children’s Center contained dozens of young minds exploring its diverse space on a recent, and windy, Tuesday morning. Three distinct yards separate infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and each area teemed with a variety of activities despite the limited […]
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Santa Maria couple says ‘I do’ in Costco frozen food aisle
View a slideshow of photos from the Santa Maria Costco wedding. Robert Bonilla was walking down the frozen food section at the Costco in Santa Maria. It was Dec. 21, 2013, days before Christmas and the aisles were crowded with shoppers eagerly stacking their carts full of those gigantic Costco-sized containers of food for their […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Ewe-phoria: No matter how you slice it, The Santa Ynez Valley Cheese Co. is a cut above
View a slideshow of the Santa Ynez Valley Cheese Co. We have our slogan, ‘If you’re not a cheese lover yet, we’ll make you one,’” Kristin Collins declared. That fondness of cheese started as a passion and is now a business for Kristin and her husband, Russ. The Santa Ynez couple loved eating cheese so […]
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Boyz II Men come to the Chumash Casino Resort
Watch Boyz II Men performing Better Half live. How does a group of high school boys working on harmonies after choir class grow into men who shatter billboard records set by Elvis and The Beatles? “Your guess is as good as mine,” said Shawn Stockman, the vocalist who makes up one third of the best-selling […]
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North County ag industry showcased in photo exhibit
View a slideshow of photographer Lee-Volker Cox’s work. Local photographer Lee-Volker Cox is a retired Air Force operations commander who served at Vandenberg Air Force Base beginning in 2008; his attention was immediately grabbed by the colorful rows of flowers cultivated in the Lompoc Valley. He began shooting photos of the fields from a distance, […]
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D’Vine Wine Bar features regular jazz, hip-hop, funk, and soul mash-ups
Watch a video of Andrew Beal and VineLyte. The saxophone is an enigmatic instrument. A member of both the brass and woodwind families, the saxophone is revered across genres for its unique voice, which can be subjectively manipulated based on an artist’s whims. One local artist, Lompoc resident and music teacher Andrew Beal, doesn’t blow, […]
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Plein air painter Susan Belloni shares her latest show and the benefits of working outside
View a slideshow of painter Susan Belloni’s work. The lifestyle of a painter is hardly considered strenuous, as most of the artists enjoy working while seated in the privacy of their own studio. But there is a specific breed of landscape artist that feels the only way to work is to go where the subject […]
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Head north of the Bay Area for an eclectic tasting experience
Drive into downtown Sonoma and you can feel the bourgeois atmosphere that comes with being a super destination for wine and food tourists. Boutique bakeries, $40- to $50-a-plate eateries, and those lovely little artisan-craft-selling stores that I love to look-but-not-buy-in are perched in a literal square around the historic city hall. And if you’re […]
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Rugged Rescue: Santa Barbara County’s volunteer search and rescue team saves lives in all terrains
View a slideshow of the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue Team. On the night of April 5, 2014, the residents of Isla Vista witnessed a party scene become a full-fledged riot. By 10 p.m., the informal spring break celebration known as Deltopia devolved into a violent mob of 15,000 people. Wedged in between the […]