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Access to education: FAFSA’s new application process was supposed to make it easier for students to apply for help with college tuition, but it did the opposite for some
The U.S. Department of Education’s new financial aid form has made applying for help more difficult for some potential college students locally and across the country. On Jan. 30, the “better FAFSA form” was introduced to simplify and redesign the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to ensure that 610,000 more students from low-income…
Coastal Commission waits to decide whether SpaceX rocket launches can increase
The California Coastal Commission recently delayed deciding on whether SpaceX should be able to increase the number of rockets it launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. SpaceX proposed expanding its Falcon 9 space program by increasing launch activities from six to 36 per year, with anticipation for an additional increase to 100 per year at…
Just Looking Gallery is celebrating its birthday and its ability to bring art to SLO for the last 40 years
Look from anywhere To browse through what Just Looking Gallery is hanging, visit justlookinggallery.com or 740 Higuera St. in downtown SLO. One of San Luis Obispo’s oldest art galleries just turned 40, and it’s ready to celebrate how far it has come. Ralph Gorton first moved to SLO to work for Diablo Canyon in the…
VACO faces scrutiny from previous advisory council members for discriminatory bylaws
Two years after the SLO County Board of Supervisors unrecognized the Oceano Advisory Council (OAC) due to claims of dysfunction, former members are taking jabs at Oceano’s new advisory council. During a March 26 Board of Supervisors meeting, Oceano resident Lucia Casalinuovo said that the Vitality Advisory Council of Oceano’s (VACO) new bylaws are appalling,…
Paso Robles’ Spare Time Books celebrates one-year anniversary since ownership shift
Established in 1989 by Sharon King, Spare Time Books in Paso Robles was purchased in April 2023 by Carla Cary and Clio Bruns, who recently celebrated their one-year tenure at the shop with some festivities in mid-April. “We have spent the last year transforming the space while honoring the spirit of the original bookshop,” Cary…
Drones begin mapping unincorporated South County for broadband
Forty miles of fiber bearing broadband services is on the horizon for some neighborhoods in Oceano and Arroyo Grande—but not before a flurry of drones fly over the unincorporated areas to map them. From April 13 to 20, the drones will soar up to 3,000 feet overhead to capture data on poles and wires, roads,…
SLO County Arts Council seeks artist or artist team for Oceano sculpture project
In conjunction with the Clean California State Highway Beautification Program, the San Luis Obispo County Arts Council is seeking county-based artists and artist teams to apply to work on an upcoming sculpture project in Oceano. Requests for qualifications are due on April 30. Up to three finalists will receive $500 stipends and be invited to…
CAPSLO’s new mobile clinic brings care to remote SLO County areas
A 25-foot box truck is the site for sexual wellness and reproductive health care as it travels to the far reaches of San Luis Obispo County to assist homeless people and lower-income community members. Equipped with an exam room, a little laboratory, and an education and counseling space, the vehicle, dubbed Health Care on Wheels,…
Rail excursions through Central Coast wine country spotlight sips and scenery
All aboard! To book wine-inspired rail journeys from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara with the SLO Railroad Museum, located at 1940 Santa Barbara Ave., visit slorrm.com. For train experiences at Halter Ranch Estate at 8910 Adelaida Road in Paso Robles, visit halterranch.com. One unique rail journey highlights Santa Barbara County wines, while another explores…
Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn plays Cuesta College on April 24
Bruce Cockburn had been recording more than 20 years when I “discovered” him and his 1991 album Nothing but a Burning Light, which positively floored me. The songwriting, his voice, his guitar—how could he have flown under my radar for so long? He wrote these incredibly human, deeply resonant songs, poems really, like the lyrics…
Civil War feels frightenedly plausible
CIVIL WAR What’s it rated? RWhat’s it worth, Glen? Full priceWhat’s it worth, Anna? Full priceWhere’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Fair Oaks, Park, Stadium 10 Writer-director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men) helms this war movie set in a dystopian near-future America where Texas, California, and other states—in the face of an increasingly autocratic…
3 Body Problem
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2024 Where’s it showing? Netflix Based on Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin’s novel The Three-Body Problem (from his Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy), Netflix’s nonlinear, character-rich series is about the Santi, an alien race from a dying planet that contacts Earth. The story surrounds the humans who are aware of…
Lawmen: Bass Reeves
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2023 Where’s it showing? Paramount Plus Real-life Bass Reeves (1938-1910) was born into slavery and owned by Arkansas state legislator William Steele Reeves, and when the Civil War started, Reeves’ son George R. Reeves acquired ownership of Bass, joined the Confederate Army, and took Bass with him. Bass eventually attacked…
More than good enough
For all our sakes, the Dana Reserve must be good enough for a 5-0 vote in favor of approval. If it is not, the politicians we have elected are not serious about addressing our historic housing crisis. Nor are they serious about improving the infrastructure of Nipomo. On April 23 and 24, the SLO County…
Save SLO’s tree canopy
Yeah! For Will Powers and his letter about the destruction of our tree canopy by San Luis Obispo and developers (“SLO is losing trees to development,” April 4). All of those examples on North Monterey Street are spot-on. I don’t know where exactly the members of our City Council and Planning Commission live, but maybe…
Hero to whom?
The 2024 election is hurtling toward us like a runaway train. The far-right has launched a full-scale attack on alleged “indoctrination” of political correctness that they claim to find throughout public education, from kindergarten through high school and especially in colleges. I’m a retired history teacher with 20 years’ experience in our local secondary schools,…
David vs. David
There’s trouble ahead for Cambria if the Cambria Community Services District gets its way—and doesn’t it just always, almost get its way. Looking back at the Little CSD That Couldn’t’s troubled history is a lesson in why the district may be attempting to do exactly what it’s trying to do now. After a stalemate with…
San Luis Coastal will begin offering ethnic studies classes next fall
Two years after a bill to introduce ethnic studies to high schools passed in California, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) is finalizing plans for what that would look like for students. Assembly Bill 101 adds a one semester course in ethnic studies to the A through G graduation requirements for students graduating…
A dispute over a Cambria CSD well on school district property leads to eminent domain threat
For more than two decades, a well on Coast Union High School’s property has produced water for the residents of Cambria—up to 20 percent of the town’s water supply annually, according to the Cambria Community Services District (CSD). But a disagreement over renewing the contract for a long-standing easement put the CSD at odds with…
SLO County declines paying cost difference to election recount requester
The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office refused to pay an election recount requester $640 after a SLO Superior Court judge ruled to delete “extended hours” from the total cost of the manual count’s efforts. “Ms. Stebbens did not file a timely claim or counter claim in small claims court and therefore we do not…
