Cover Story
Pushing for better: New Times introduces you to nine of the newest recruits attending the Grizzly Youth Academy
Editor’s note: New Times is following the lives of nine Grizzly Youth Academy students, from the start of their journey down a new path toward academic and personal success, to the end. This story is the first installment in a series about the cadets. The last of the fog is melting away from the hills…
Eye-opening week in Moscow lends new perspectives on Russia
It’s Saturday, Aug. 3—the day of my best friend’s wedding—and I am standing in the center of the Moscow Kremlin. In every direction around me, I can see magnificent, centuries-old cathedrals adorned with golden domes. Seas of tourists maneuver in and out of each building. Somewhere around here, President Vladimir Putin is hanging out (if…
Community power purchase: The rest of the story
Thank heaven for a city council that wants to look behind the curtain of unknown information. The questions asked by our Atascadero City Council are valid. Just where is all of this “green energy” going to come from. It’s dark at night, and solar power would have to be subsidized with batteries that are not…
New federal requirements could affect local family planning services
The Trump administration’s Aug. 19 announcement to enforce changes made earlier this year to a federal program that helps fund family planning services for low-income individuals moved Planned Parenthood to withdraw from the program’s funding. The national announcement about the $286 million Title X Family Planning Program and Planned Parenthood’s exit leaves local recipients of…
Ready for a losing battle?
It’s notable that talk show host Andy Caldwell–apparently a candidate for the GOP nomination in our district–told New Times he “hadn’t planned on running for Congress but was urged on by GOP leaders in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.” Recall that it was Ventura ranching and medical device special interests that helped bankroll Justin “Let’s…
New advocacy group to call for more housing in SLO County
A new group of soon-to-be-vocal residents is forming in San Luis Obispo County, and these concerned citizens are unique—they’re self-proclaimed yay-sayers. Their mission? To increase the availability of housing at every level of affordability—through projects built in whoever’s backyard necessary. The pro-development locals are coalescing under the mantra, “Yes, In My Backyard (YIMBY),” a nationwide…
I need some answers
Al Fonzi (“Stoking the fires of division,” Aug. 15) is so wrong on so many levels, I don’t even know where to start, but I’ll try. First, he gives Trump credit for his “accomplishments,” but he can only name one of them—appointing a lot of judges. Big deal. Presidents get to pick judges. It’s what…
Core values: Food History Project brings in the man who knows apples better than Adam for a presentation
Apples, apples, apples … SLO Provisions restaurant participates in Nonprofit Mondays, donating 10 percent of dine-in sales to a rotating cause. SLO Provisions is located at 1255 Monterey St., SLO; learn more at sloprovisions.com. Mike Cirone, of Cirone Farms, sells apples and stone fruit at the Morro Bay Farmers’ Market at Spencer’s Fresh Market on…
This is why Fonzi is wrong
I am surprised that New Times continues to lend its megaphone to Al Fonzi who features hyperbolic gross generalizations in his diatribes. Let’s unpack a few of his latest rants (“Stoking the fires of division,” Aug. 15). He says that “leftists” despise anyone with deeply held religious views. Not so. No one seeks to prevent…
‘No plans’ to reuse facilities at Diablo Canyon, SLO County says
With no active plans for repurposing facilities at the outgoing Diablo Canyon Power Plant, San Luis Obispo County will advocate for a full restoration of the site to state regulators next month. It’s one of several positions the county plans to take at an upcoming California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proceeding in San Francisco. At…
New Times must be intimidated by an advertiser
Al Fonzi. Like a persistent cockroach, his column keeps appearing in your paper in spite of many well-argued letters calling for you to stop publishing his irrational, ultra-partisan rants. In his latest screed (“Stoking the fires of division,” Aug. 15), Fonzi rails against the so-called “progressive agenda,” stating without evidence that leftists in America wish…
Water Board finalizes TCE cleanup order on Buckley Road
For more than 20 years, Central Coast water quality regulators knew that a carcinogenic solvent, trichloroethylene (TCE), had contaminated the groundwater in a rural mixed-use area near the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. After years of inaction, including a 15-year period where the case went cold, on July 31, the Central Coast Regional Water…
Possible hate crime occurred at a motel in SLO
On Aug. 13, a transgender woman of Latina and Native American heritage was assaulted at a San Luis Obispo motel, and police launched an investigation to determine whether the incident was a hate crime. New Times spoke with the assault survivor who asked to be referred to as “J” to conceal her identity, as the…
Stoking division
The commentary from Al Fonzi called “Stoking the fires of division” (Aug. 15) is exactly what this article is doing. In the second paragraph, the author correctly points out “President Trump bears a good deal of responsibility for the chasm of political division within our nation. His mercurial temperaments, his coarse language, and use of…
Local farmers on high alert as China boycotts U.S. agricultural goods
It’s been more than a year since the Trump administration launched its first round of tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S., making trade a hot topic for all Americans. But tariffs and trade are issues that weigh even more heavily on the minds of local farmers and ranchers, who fear that their businesses will…
Seasonal eats
Just in time for apple season, the Avila Apple Festival is happening on Aug. 24, from 3:30 to 7 p.m. on 191 San Miguel St. in Avila Beach. The festival will be celebrating See Canyon’s legendary apple farmer, James Brown, who planted the first of the apples in the 1800s. The event will also be…
What is balance?
In response to Steve Ryburn’s opinion piece “Balance?” in the Aug. 8 edition of New Times, it seems he is agreeable to everyone’s opinion as long as they are consistent with his. Not only does he not like those opposing opinions, but wants them silenced. Mr. Ryburn does not like Al Fonzi’s or John Donegan’s…
Grover Beach responds to grand jury report on affordable housing
Housing, or the lack thereof, is likely to be a central topic in Grover Beach for the next several months. At a meeting on Aug. 20, the Grover Beach City Council discussed and approved the city’s official response to a San Luis Obispo County grand jury report on the lack of affordable housing in the…
Within our reach
On Sept. 3, the city of San Luis Obispo is poised to pass an aggressive building electrification reach code. OK, before you de-glaze your eyes and flip to the movie reviews, let me take a shot at explaining why—assuming you are concerned about climate change, indoor and outdoor air pollution, deadly gas leaks and explosions,…
Ready to practice: SLO College of Law graduates first class
When the San Luis Obispo College of Law first opened its doors a little more than three years ago, its classes were held in the basement of a downtown office building. Founding administrators wondered if they’d be able to attract the students and retain the faculty to thrive as a community-based law school. This June,…
Eat and learn
Firestone Walker wants in on all these winemaker dinners, only they must do what they do best, so they’ll be holding a Firestone Walker Beermaker Dinner at Oceanpoint Ranch, 7200 Moonstone Beach Drive, in Cambria, on Aug. 25, from 6 to 9 p.m. Chef Adam Measrall will be preparing a tasting menu to pair with…
Toxic plume
For more than two decades, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (whew, that’s a mouthful, amirite?) has known about a toxic plume of chemical-infested water near Buckley Road and the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. Area residents have been pulling water out of wells contaminated by something called trichloroethylene (yep, that’s another…
Boo Boo Records celebrates its 45th anniversary with a party and IPA release at Central Coast Brewing on Aug. 24
Boo Boo Records, the venerated record store (and more!) located at 978 Monterey St. in SLO Town, technically got its start in the back of a Chevrolet Suburban, from which founder Ed Taylor would buy, sell, and trade records at swap meets. Through happenstance, Taylor met future business partner Glenn Forbes, who with a $750…
Raise a glass
Congratulations Lusso Della Terra Cellars, 2850 Ranchita Canyon Road, San Miguel, for winning the coveted first place in the People’s Choice category at the recent Winemakers’ Cookoff in Paso Robles … Have you been waiting for someone to treat you to a cheeseburger? Then you need to go to the Taste Buds Best Cheese Burger…
Sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts on Al Fonzi’s Aug. 15 column, “Stoking the fires of division.”
SLO to review council members’ compensation
San Luis Obispo City Council members voted unanimously on Aug. 20 to appoint seven residents to a committee that will deliberate potential increases to elected city leaders’ compensation packages. SLO council members currently earn $14,688 per year plus insurance benefits and the mayor makes $20,700 per year plus benefits. The SLO City Council last increased…
Nice Town, Normal People gives Arroyo Grande residents a space to feel heard
Despite being on summer break, Arroyo Grande High School (AGHS) is bustling with activity on Aug. 9. A teen clutching a trombone runs toward his fellow summer band camp attendees. A cacophony of musical scales, stand-tune snippets, and clarinet squeaks fills the air in the quad. But upon entering the multipurpose room, the chaos outside…
Grateful Ghee
The shelves at SLO Provisions hold some of my favorite gourmet food products, from exotic salts to honeycomb, but I like to veer to the local corner. There you can find Grateful Ghee, organic ghee made from grass-fed (and grass-finished) local cows. The ghee is holistically made in small batches, using a low-heat butter clarification…
Morro Bay-raised dancer moves to Portland to get paid for his passion
When Niko Yaroslaski was just 16, he moved to New York City for the summer to dance ballet. Raised in Morro Bay, he went from a small-town upbringing to “living alone for six weeks,” he said in an interview. “It was really wild.” Now 20 and no longer a stranger to the city life, Yaroslaski…
Forgetting Bernadette
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Karen? Stream it What’s it worth, Caleb? Rental Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy Editor’s note: Staff Writer Karen Garcia and Calendar Editor Caleb Wiseblood took over Split Screen while the Starkeys enjoyed the week off. Co-writer and director Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and…
By The Sea Productions presents Veronica’s Position
Veronica’s Position opens at By The Sea Productions on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. Director Lisa Woske helms this rendition of Rich Orloff’s comedy, set in Washington, D.C., during the early 1990s, about a self-absorbed movie star who agrees to co-star in a play with one of her ex-husbands. Performances run through Sunday, Sept.…
Bingeable: The Sinner (Season 2)
When? 2018 What’s it rated? TV-14 Where’s it available? USA Network, Netflix In the first eight-episode season, Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) investigated why troubled young mother Cora Tannetti (Jessica Biel) fatally stabbed a man on the beach, though she had no memory of the crime. It was a gripping mystery that garnered a couple…
Fremont Theater movie nights benefit school district
The Fremont Theater is hosting Back To School Movie Nights to benefit the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. The series kicks off with screenings of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on Friday, Aug. 23, at 8 p.m., and The Neverending Story on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 8 p.m. Admission is $5 or free when guests…
Enslaving the future
Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP) is the local community choice energy (CCE) program soliciting our county and local cities to join. Is this a private company competing with PG&E? No, MBCP is a public entity whose employees are covered by the PERS retirement plan. California law enables MBCP to take over managing how PG&E customers…
Cuesta College hosts discussion with former NPR journalists
Renee Montagne, former co-host of NPR’s Morning Edition, and Kelly McEvers, former host of NPR’s All Things Considered, will take part in a special behind-the-stories discussion at the Cuesta College Cultural and Performing Arts Center (CPAC). Proceeds from the event will benefit KCBX (Central Coast Public Radio). Tickets are $45 for adults and $35 for…
Film Listings, 8/22/19 – 8/29/19
ANGEL HAS FALLEN What’s it rated? R Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10 New After being framed for attempting to assassinate the president, Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) must evade the FBI and his own agency as he works to clear his name and find the true culprit, who aims…
