Cover Story
Education makeover
This school year’s kindergarteners won’t ever have to take the California Standards Test. But don’t get jealous just yet, every other student in America. Starting in the 2014-15 school year, California’s old standards will be fully replaced by a new set that comes with a new assessment test. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), as…
Coroner rules Brian Lawler’s death accidental
Though the San Luis Obispo Police Department initially reported that Brian Joseph Lawler, 26, “appeared to have purposely jumped” from the multistory parking garage at the corner of Palm and Morro street on July 18, a San Luis Obispo County Coroner’s Office report reversed that determination on July 31. According to Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Tony…
GALA’s inaugural ‘Q Youth Art Show’ will surprise you
Hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast, the inaugural “Q Youth Art Show,” a joint exhibit of work by artists Dane Smith and Liam Daley, is a surprisingly sophisticated affair. They may be young, but these two have something to say. Both Daley and Smith are Cuesta College art students in…
Turnabout is fair play
Dear editor, and to everyone complaining about the attempted end run around the 1001 rule: Turnabout is fair play. When you seek to end a legitimate use of the dunes, motorized recreation, by implementing an absurd rule that would attempt to monetize the sand and dust blown inland from the dunes, why do you act…
In school, what were you most likely to be or do?
Maria Vazquez administrator “Probably a teacher.” Crystal Garcia Outreach Coordinator for the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum “A journalist of some sort. I was on yearbook.” Sheryl Flores Director of Operations & Guest Services for San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum “A veterinarian. And I came close!” Shawn Kidwell security guard “Not in class. I went…
San Luis Coastal Unified School District administration prepares for big changes
It’s not breaking news that California’s public schools have been hit hard in recent years. They’ve lost more than 200,000 teaching and administrative positions in the last four years, and slashing from Sacramento continues to plague school districts statewide. But if local districts are faring pretty well given the hostile climate, San Luis Coastal Unified…
Rich kid, poor kid: Gov. Brown’s plan to close the achievement gap means different things for different local districts
When it comes to funding public education, California lost its mojo long ago. It started in 1971, when the California Supreme Court ordered the state to put a system in place to equalize district funding. California picked one, but inadequately funded it. The bottom dropped out in 1978 when Proposition 13 capped property tax rates…
Tony Bennett to play Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles
Tony Bennett just celebrated his 87th birthday on Aug. 3, but he still sounds great! I saw him a few years back at the PAC and was blown away by the strength and nuance of his voice, his impeccable attire, and his classy stage presence. Which is why I’m excited to see him again this…
Hey YAA!
There’s a new arts academy in the works that will make you want to be a teenager again. No, seriously. The Youth Arts Academy of the Central Coast, or YAA, is a unique arts school set to open in Grover Beach in approximately five years. Spearheaded by Nikolai Alexandrov, a South County resident and longtime…
Pairs of artists participate in Collaborate Combative Drawing at the Steynberg Gallery
It’s Friday, Aug. 2, and as I walk into the Steynberg Gallery, there’s a melee going on! Arms are flailing, people are being pushed into walls, and some are grabbing others and trying to twist them into submission. Meanwhile, people are standing around watching the chaos … with drinks in hand! Oh, the humanity! On…
Making school lunches fun, and healthy
School’s just around the corner, which means the long, restful days of indulging in ice cream and light summer repasts are nearly at an end. It’s true that preparing a planned meal—whether it be a boxed lunch for the schoolkid in your life, or yourself—is a lot less fun than just grabbing a bite when…
Macaron Prosecco D.O.C. Italy
What a killer find, I must say. Discovered this at BevMo! in SLO, which sold out. But that’s probably because Trader Joe’s bought it up and they’re offering it at $4.99 a bottle. This sparkling wine is impressive, considering the price. I’ve found it’s consistently refreshing and bought a case. It’s very dry compared to…
Got allergies?
A friend recently shared his uncomfortable experience while taking his family out to a chain restaurant that serves gluten free (GF) pasta because his five-year-old daughter shows signs of being gluten intolerant. She had ordered noodles, but while the family’s meal was being prepared the server returned to inform them that the pasta was GF…
Share your wisdom with students
The students are coming! The students are coming! Yes, the students, not the British. Before we know it, the Cal Poly students will be back moving into our neighborhoods, eating at our restaurants, drinking in our bars, shopping at our stores, and paying our taxes. But this is not the 18th century, and the British…
Your racism writer showed his true colors
In response to the strangely titled commentary, “The economy is paramount” (Aug. 1): While the piece was solely about racism, the only lifelong racist in this article is the author, Mr. Otis Page. Judging our president as strongly biased, because he has commented on the Trayvon Martin murder, Mr. Otis shows his own true colors.…
San Luis Obispo is one town
One recent announcement about the Dalidio Ranch property was that the shopping center was going to be like Fig Garden Village in Fresno. By the time this news could reach the downtown powers, there was a new announcement. The new plans for a shopping center now include big box stores that would mimic what SLO…
Here are 55 back at you
Kudos! Thank you to Sharaya Olemeda for the LTE, “A 55 Response to a 55 Critic.” [Aug. 1] This is exactly the kind of quality 55 Fiction that I was lamenting the demise of in my LTE of July 18. Perhaps we can initiate a trend to reincarnate 55 Fiction and restore it to its…
When life gives kids lemons …
There’s this thing online called “trolling.” It’s when you post something really outrageous just to get a reaction out of people. That’s what I think the online magazine Slate was doing recently when it posted an opinion piece critical of lemonade stands. I’m not making this up. In a piece headlined, “Down with Lemonade Stands,”…
What’s good for the Geaslen
Does anyone know a good seamstress, or seamster perhaps? (There’s no sexism here, just good ol’ fashioned equal opportunity incoherent rage.) I’m not looking for anything fancy, just someone who can sew white collars onto my collection of ironic T-shirts. Most of them don’t really have collars, which is OK for passing out on the…
Cougars & Mustangs
Summer is over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying. Well, not really, especially not for Cal Poly students, but in some respects it can certainly feel that way. Let’s put some affairs in order, then, shall we? While a Poly student may yet breathe easy, possibly not having yet returned from the…
Free candy for good students!
Another summer has just about come and gone, and school is right around the corner. There are not very many exciting things that can be paired with going back to school; new clothes and shoes, maybe new electronics, but the list ends there. Well, Powell’s Sweet Shoppe is prepared to make all students an offer…
Identity tracking
Tracking ancestry and bloodlines is an über-methodical process. Throw government regulations into the mix, and proving that you are who you say you are is a potentially years-long endeavor. Decades, even. At a recent Bureau of Indian Affairs-hosted meeting in Solvang, emotions also showed up as a starring role in the process to gain official…
Corrections
• An article regarding the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office’s recent action in the case of a former Grover Beach financial consultant (“SLO County punts Moriarty assets to bankruptcy court,” Aug. 1) contained a factual error. The most recently updated list of Al Moriarty’s creditors in his federal bankruptcy case now includes…
Grover Beach Mayor Debbie Peterson narrowly holds onto her Air Pollution Control District Board seat
The problem of harmful fugitive dust blowing onto the Nipomo Mesa from the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area continues to divide the South County. Grover Beach Mayor Debbie Peterson stepped into the divisive issue, and it nearly blew her off the San Luis Obispo County air pollution control board. Following a heated discussion on…
Phillips 66 unloads half a million dollars for its rail extension
Consultant and special services contracts for Phillips 66’s rail expansion project will cost the company nearly $550,000. On Aug. 6, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved two items on its consent agenda: the awarding of consultant services, at a price tag of approximately $429,000, for preparation of an environmental impact report;…
Supervisors agree to hold Paso groundwater urgency ordinance hearing
With the water supply for 20,000 North County residents in “crisis” amid thousands of acres of new vineyards, SLO County supervisors agreed Aug. 6 to look at enacting controversial emergency measures designed to reduce vineyard and residential demand for dwindling groundwater. An overflowing but sharply divided crowd of rural residents, vineyard owners, and their advocates…
SLO cop fired after Mexico trip sues city
More than three years after he pleaded guilty in federal court to transporting some 850 misbranded pharmaceuticals containing methylphenidate—a component of Ritalin—across the U.S.-Mexico border, a former San Luis Obispo Police Department officer is taking the city to court in a last-ditch effort to win his job back. Former patrol officer Dan McDow, 35, formerly…
SLO City deploys a sewer-trudging robot ahead of the Marsh Street Bridge project
San Luis Obispo Utilities Department employees recently deployed the city’s automated storm water inspection tool in a sewer main under the Marsh Street Bridge near Santa Rosa Street. The sewer camera was being used to map lateral connections in preparation for the city’s massive effort to replace the bridge, a major infrastructure project currently set…
