Morro Bay considers skipping November election
Morro Bay could skip its November election after just three candidates stepped forward for three open seats, trading the ballot box for roughly $30,000 in savings. In an Aug. 19 staff report, city staff recommended that the City Council cancel the Nov. 3 election and appoint the three candidates running unopposed: Mayor Carla Wixom and…
SLO County pays into renewed statewide coalition to combat offshore oil drilling
A coalition of California counties, sprouted in response to Reagan administration actions, has resurfaced for the first time in more than 30 years to block renewed federal plans to allow offshore oil drilling off the California coast. At its Aug. 18 meeting, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors joined the fight by approving…
Three candidates vie for Paso Robles 2nd District seat
Paso Robles City Councilmember Chris Bausch is asking 2nd District voters for another term after a tumultuous four years at City Hall that culminated in lawsuits and more than $840,000 in settlements and legal costs. This time, he isn’t running unopposed. Bausch, who was appointed to the council in 2022, faces two challengers in November:…
Jan Marx’s censure attempt against Mayor Erica Stewart fails
San Luis Obispo City Councilmember Jan Marx’s efforts to censure Mayor Erica Stewart failed to garner support from her peers. Following a final advisory opinion from the SLO Personnel Board that recommended against censuring the mayor for sharing a confidential SLO County grand jury report with a Cal Poly official, Marx tried to agendize a…
Money 101
“Attention, students. Today’s lesson is about how to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. Lemons are currently $2.13 per pound. The average San Luis Obispo hotel room is $247 a night. Do the math. Or better yet, let AI do it. You’ll quickly discover Cal Poly can make more money running a hotel…
Diablo Canyon is a policy choice
Cristina Talacko and Jeffrey Donovan’s claim that California would be “throwing $30 billion into the Pacific” by closing Diablo Canyon in 2030 makes for a catchy line, but it misrepresents the choice before California (“Don’t throw Diablo Canyon into the sea,” Aug. 13). California is not deciding whether to build a new $30 billion nuclear…
I’m disappointed in the SLO Personnel Board’s no censure decision
I attended my first SLO city Personnel Board meeting on Aug. 14 at 9 a.m. because I wanted to present my comments regarding a censure for Mayor Erica Stewart. I am very glad I attended, but I left extremely disappointed. The meeting was a clear example of a chairperson dominating and pushing his opinion on…
We need more fire access roads in the national forest
The ongoing Timber Fire serves as a critical reminder of the challenges faced by our firefighting personnel. Currently, hotshot crews are required to hike miles into steep Big Sur terrain due to a severe lack of fire roads. This situation is the direct result of policies that have deprioritized practical access in favor of extreme…
In response to antisemitism claims about July 16 Hodin cartoon
Joshua Burt’s Aug. 8 letter (“New Times is amplifying antisemitism”) ignores the fact that Israel is training with American soldiers—and, I’ve read, even U.S. federal ICE agents. The same cruelty and torture of Gaza prisoners is the present reality of people kidnapped by ICE and locked up in detention centers. There is no way to…
A plan to develop Cal Poly’s west campus puts agricultural land at risk
For generations of Cal Poly agriculture students, some of the university’s most important classrooms haven’t had walls. Their classrooms are the lemon groves and crop fields stretching along the western edge of campus, where students can walk out of a lecture and, within minutes, find themselves laying irrigation pipe, planting crops, driving tractors, studying pests,…
Health and safety risks from proposed Augusta St. residential complex weigh on neighborhood’s mind
Judson Terrace Homes resident Sharron Price-Saylor enjoys the view of San Luis Obispo from her apartment balcony on Augusta Street that looks toward Sinsheimer Park over a tall row of trees. That vista could change thanks to two developers’ vision to erect a three-story multi-family residential complex next to Judson Terrace, removing trees and shade…
Central Coast Refillery celebrates a year of cutting waste
Three years ago, a trip to Iowa introduced Central Coast Refillery’s owner, Tracy Anders Young, to a business concept she didn’t know existed. She was visiting her husband’s family when ads for a nearby “refillery” started popping up on her social media. “I thought, ‘What the heck is a refillery?’” she said. “So the more…
The Stone Soup Music Festival returns to Grover Beach Aug. 29 and 30
Many variations on the stone soup folktale exist, but it basically goes like this: A few hungry travelers happen upon a hungry village, and none of the villagers are willing to feed them, so the travelers pull out their cauldron, fill it with water from a nearby creek, and announce they’ll make stone soup and…
Jazz Jubilee is listing bands for its October festival
The Basin Street Regulars Hot Jazz Club (BSR) is well into the planning and booking process for its annual Jazz Jubilee, which takes place the last two weeks of October at multiple Central Coast venues. You can see what’s already planned at pismojazz.com/2026-schedule-jazzfest. Now, the Basin Street Regulars are working on filling out the festival…
Don’t miss a comedy pop-up at Krobar on Aug. 23
The six-week Open Mic Comedy Pop-Up Summer Series is coming to a close, but it’s not too late for budding comics or comedy lovers to be part of the fun. Join host Nevada Gibson on Sunday, Aug. 23, in SLO’s Krobar Craft Distillery. Comics of all experience levels are invited to sign up for a…
The End of Oak Street tries to channel Spielberg
David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, Under Silver Lake) wrote and directed this sci-fi dinosaur thriller about the Platt family—aspiring novelist Denise (Anne Hathaway), husband Greg (Ewan McGregor), and children Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery)—who after some kind of cosmic event discovers their suburban neighborhood has been transplanted to a strange and dangerous place.…
A Toxic Love Story is twisted, stranger-than-fiction true crime
Michelle Hadley was facing the possibility of decades in prison for the violent and malicious acts she was accused of by her ex, Ian, and his wife, Angela. Angela began receiving threatening emails from an account called “Lilithistruth,” a nod to the folklore of Adam’s first wife. While the Anaheim police are convinced they have…
The Dink gives pickleball the sports comedy treatment
Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Strays, Will & Harper) directs Sean Clements’ script about Dustin “The Hammer” Boyd (Jake Johnson), a former tennis prodigy trained by his domineering father, Chuck (Ed Harris, at his most taciturn). Tragically, Dustin broke his wrist in his first pro match with a young Andy…
The Damon Castillo Band plays Concerts in the Plaza for the 30th time on Aug. 21
This summer marks the 30-year anniversary season for the Concerts in the Plaza series, but the annual event isn’t the only thing celebrating a milestone. “This one feels a little different,” Damon Castillo wrote to his fans. “Friday, Aug. 21, I’ll be back at Concerts in the Plaza in downtown San Luis Obispo. Somehow, I’ve…
Lebber’s dishes up seasonal pizza, small plates with flavor and fun
Pizza in Atascadero comes with house-made mozzarella if you hit the right spot. That would be Lebber’s on Traffic Way, which is coming up on its first turn around the sun on Oct. 1. While that may be its first anniversary in downtown A-Town, Lebber’s has been a part of North County’s cuisine scene since…
