Cover Story
Translating the crisis: A handful of sign language interpreters help local public officials get the pandemic message out
Robin Babb and Katie Voice function as a team. Babb stands in front of the TV camera and Voice looms just behind it, but together, the two American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters work as one. As officials like San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein speak into microphones to give the latest updates…
Central Coast lawmakers ask Newsom to boost funding for domestic violence shelters
With domestic violence on the rise across the state amid the COVID-19 crisis, two Central Coast lawmakers are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to make more money available to the nonprofits that are working directly with the victims of violent households. A bipartisan group of eight state assembly members—including Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) and…
Lompoc penitentary’s COVID-19 infection rate leads federal prisons nationwide
In a letter sent April 15 to Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein made a series of requests to the director in an effort to get a rapidly spiraling outbreak at the Lompoc federal prison under control. As of April…
Newsom outlines framework to guide state changes to stay-at-home order
In a press conference on April 14, Gov. Gavin Newsom outlined a framework state officials will rely on to decide when to make changes to the existing statewide stay-at-home order. That order has been in place since March 19, and has forced many businesses to close and millions of Californians to apply for unemployment. This…
Central Coast Snake Services warns of upcoming rattlesnake season
Biologist and Cal Poly professor Emily Taylor has nearly 20 years of experience studying rattlesnakes, and as one of the only experts in the region, she’s been called out to a lot of homes and farms to safely remove unwanted snakes. Over the years, she’s seen a lot of interesting reptilian behavior, like the time…
Santa Maria-Bonita pushes off naming new school after unprecedented “virtual” meeting
The Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s (SMBSD) April 8 meeting was highly anticipated by board members, district employees, and the community alike. After receiving more than 100 submissions and months of narrowing them down, a naming committee created for the district’s new elementary school had settled on three top choices—Bill Libbon, Pleasant Valley, and Enos. The…
Tranz Central Coast moves to virtual support services
Tranz Central Coast announced on April 9 that its peer-to-peer support groups have moved online for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organization Chair Jaime Woolf told New Times that similar to the rest of San Luis Obispo’s residents, the transgender and nonbinary communities are feeling stressed but are “feeling it a little bit more…
Driver who killed pedestrian at North Oak Park Boulevard not at fault
It’s been more than two months since an Arroyo Grande man was hit and killed while trying to cross a notoriously dangerous Grover Beach roadway on foot. Now the long-awaited findings of an investigation into the incident are available to the public, and the surviving driver won’t face any criminal charges. In a report released…
Buellton distillery trades spirits for sanitizer
Instead of distilling alcohol to drink, Jay Lockwood, the owner of DorWood Distillery in Buellton, is using his equipment to make hand sanitizer to assist first responders and health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In early April he stopped making spirits—which include vodka, tequila, whiskey, gin, and limoncello—and transitioned to making hand sanitizer. He…
COVID-19 leads to increased interest in home births
These are uncertain times for everyone, but for many pregnant women and expecting families, those feelings are especially magnified. With COVID-19 spreading across the nation and social-distancing measures in full-force, many local hospitals are limiting visitations and human-to-human contact as much as possible. For individuals about to give birth, that means most family members, friends,…
Is this democracy?
Los Osos is facing an increase in sewer rates when the system has been online a mere three years. A virtual hearing is planned for Tuesday, April 21. Protest vote ballots have been received in the mail, however because of the COVID-19 shelter-at-home mandate, there is little Los Osos residents can do to spread the…
Pismo moves forward with affordable senior housing project
Pismo Beach could soon be home to another set of affordable housing units. At a meeting on April 7, Pismo Beach City Council unanimously voted to begin negotiations with the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) regarding a proposed mixed-use senior housing project at 2655 Shell Beach Road. Although the potential project has a…
Dunes can now heal
Over the years there have been holiday periods with many thousands of vehicles disturbing the dune crust at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. On those high-usage days, unless there was wind, there was no plume of air pollution. But the next time the wind blew, the dust went into the air and dangerous…
SLO brick-and-mortar shops pivot to online sales
Retail brick-and-mortar shops currently have their doors closed to the public but are shifting to selling their products via online and phone orders in order to continue operating. According to the San Luis Obispo County website readyslo.org, retail stores are not on the list of essential businesses, but they do fall under the county’s list…
Restrict rentals
As a resident of a neighborhood where the average age of my neighbors is 74, I am quite shocked and appalled that my closest neighbor has continued to rent her home on VRBO. I am even more shocked and appalled to see that this is actually considered an essential service in this county during this…
Five stages
Good news, people! We’re halfway there! Think of this as the Hump Day of grief. We’ve already been through denial: “We have it totally under control,” President Donald J. Trump said. Then COVID-19 was a “hoax” caused by Democrats. Then as things got worse, Trump said, “I don’t take responsibility at all” for the federal…
The addiction trap
The worldwide coronavirus pandemic is serious business. Every responsible citizen ought to inform themselves about that seriousness and do everything possible to protect themselves and others. That being said, I fear that our country is falling into a trap out of which it may never recover. That trap is the addiction to negativity and fear.…
Local singer-songwriter Kelly Moreno releases “Mourning Lullaby”
You or people you know are probably going to lose someone before this whole COVID-19 pandemic is over, and it’s going to hurt. Social distancing and sheltering in place is already taking a heavy psychological toll on all of us. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty stressed out. I do take comfort, however,…
Devin Nunes has dangerous views
U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of the Fresno district is one of the GOP’s top leaders in the House and is regrettably a Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, graduate. He thinks it is more dangerous for people to shelter at home from the coronavirus than be exposed to the virus itself. He has also encouraged Americans…
Meet SLO County’s new poet laureate, Kevin Clark
A love sonnet by Kevin Clark POSTMODERN NIGHTS—The Capay Valley, CA, 1984 You’d think the stars were emissaries, the way I’d still my pulse to listen on the floor of the razed barn, ardent for signals.Was it love or the click of fate that sent my wife out to search with me? Neither the stars nor…
SLO County needs capable board chair
As a 3rd District constituent of Supervisor Adam Hill, I am requesting that at the next board meeting, the Board of Supervisors remove Hill from the position as chair of the board and appoint Vice Chair Supervisor Lynn Compton to take on that responsibility. This county is facing severe financial challenges starting now. There is…
Central Coast Astronomical Society hosts free, virtual stargazing event
San Luis Obispo-based astronomers Aurora Lipper and Kent Wallace will guide the Central Coast Astronomical Society’s (CCAS) online stargazing show, which is scheduled to take place on April 18, at 7 p.m. This free event is described in press materials as a virtual planetarium for participants to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes.…
SLO Botanical Garden seeks multimedia artists for November exhibit and fundraiser
The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden (SLOBG) is accepting art submissions for its annual juried exhibition, Art in the Garden, through April 30 (deadline is 5 p.m.). Twenty artists will be selected to participate in the exhibit, which is currently slated to be held in the garden’s Oak Glen Pavilion on Nov. 6, 7, and…
Great American Melodrama offers Stay at Home Special package
The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville in Oceano is currently offering its Stay at Home Special coupon online for a limited time (through April 12). The package adds up to more than a 30 percent discount on its featured items. For $100, buyers will receive four tickets to an upcoming show (once the theater reopens),…
HBO’s The Plot Against America paints an alternate reality in which Charles Lindbergh beats FDR to become U.S. president
THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA What’s it rated? TV-MA Where’s it showing? HBO Based on Philip Roth’s acclaimed 2004 novel of the same name and developed for HBO by collaborators Ed Burns and David Simon (The Wire, Generation Kill), The Plot Against America imagines an alternate reality in which famed aviator and xenophobic populist Charles Lindbergh…
Hunters
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2020 Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime It’s 1977 New York, and troubled young Jewish man Jonah Heidelbaum (Logan Lerman)—after the murder of his grandmother—is taken in by a diverse group of Nazi hunters led by Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino). They’ve discovered Nazis living among us who are trying to set…
Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2020 Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime Ted Bundy documentaries are ubiquitous and mostly focused on the reprehensible, albeit charismatic and endlessly fascinating, serial killer himself. But in this new five-part series directed by Trish Woods and co-written by Richard O’Regan and Carolyn Saunders, Bundy takes a backseat to the women…
Rolling with the punches: Restaurants, cafes, wineries, distilleries are not only coping, but innovating
Up-to-date info For a list of which SLO county restaurants are offering to-go and delivery options, visit this handy guide at newtimesslo.com. If you are in food service (catering, food serving, barista, etc.) and you would be willing to share how you are coping without gratuity income, please contact Flavor writer Beth Giuffre at bgiuffre@newtimesslo.com.…
Coronavirus
Sitting around housebound during the first week of the countywide coronavirus shelter-in-place order, and inundated with relentless, depressing media accounts of the pandemic, I have had plenty of opportunity to reflect on the crisis, and on our reaction to it. It is likely that once this column is published in three weeks or so, the…
Los Osos residents object to sewer rate increases during COVID-19
“Unconstitutional.” “Undemocratic.” “An injustice.” That’s how some Los Osos residents are describing the process around San Luis Obispo County’s proposed new sewer rates for the bayside town, which are currently set for a final hearing at the Board of Supervisors’ April 21 meeting. The county put forward a new five-year rate schedule that has an…
SLO preschool teacher creates a guide to help parents talk to their kids about the coronavirus
Mona Smith has been a preschool teacher in San Luis Obispo for more than 25 years and loves working with children who are 4 to 5 years old. Smith enjoys that age because, over the years and through raising her own four children, she’s found that age to be very honest. “You always know where…
Morro Bay creates a financial and economic recovery plan
In recognition of the significant hardship imposed by the novel coronavirus on Morro Bay residents, the business community, and city finances, the city created the Rock Solid Together plan to preserve essential community services and support its businesses. Morro Bay City Manager Scott Collins told New Times the city has a tourism-based economy, and local…
Government bodies and residents grapple with accessibility amid COVID-19 pandemic
Atascadero resident Eric Greening is what you might call politically active. A frequent attendee and public commenter at meetings all over San Luis Obispo County, Greening knows the rules and regulations of running public meetings inside and out. And right now, he’s concerned. Government transparency is becoming increasingly limited due to measures to prevent the…
