Cover Story
What lurks beneath: PG&E and water board reach draft settlement over water flushed back into ocean from Diablo Canyon Power Plant
Editor’s note: This article was edited to include more information clarifying the recipient of the proposed settlement funds. PG&E has agreed to pay $5.9 million to a local nonprofit as part of a tentative settlement between the company and water regulators that resolves a long-running investigation into Diablo Canyon Power Plant and its cooling system’s…
40 Prado homeless shelter faces COVID-19 outbreak
More than 15 residents at the 40 Prado homeless shelter in San Luis Obispo have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last several days, forcing it to close to newcomers and sending those infected to motel rooms or trailers, which are now in short supply. Community Action Partnership of SLO (CAPSLO) Deputy Director Grace McIntosh…
Cal Poly’s Dream Center offers DACA application assistance
Locals who are eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can once again renew or apply for it—and Cal Poly’s Dream Center is offering assistance in the process. The Dream Center is working with attorneys at Immigrant Legal Defense to help students with their pending or new applications. In a statement to…
Local and state representatives unite to prepare for sea level rise
Local and state officials from across California are celebrating one of the first successful efforts to band together in the fight against sea level rise, a contentious issue that has historically had stakeholders on all sides up in arms. At a California Coastal Commission and local government workshop on Dec. 17, commissioners and local government…
Ventura’s ICU capacity plunges as Tri-Counties await state response to separate region request
As Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties await a response from the state about creating a new region on the states’ five-region map for COVID-19 restrictions, Ventura County’s ICU capacity decreased to less than 2 percent. The three counties sent a letter on Dec. 7 asking the California Department of Public Health to…
Templeton residents want their district to collaborate on creative solutions for future water availability
Templeton Community Services District doesn’t have water units available for new development—and although the district says it’s working on projects to ensure future water availability, some residents are asking the district to do more than it’s proposing. Residents and businesses that are already allotted water units have access to plenty of water, but there’s a…
Fermentation creations: Colony Mash Brewing Co. brings new beer and hard seltzer to Atascadero
Suds and more Currently open from 4 to 8 p.m. from Wednesday to Friday and noon to 6 p.m. on weekends, you can pick up canned beer from Colony Mash and food from Colony Culture at 3164 El Camino Real in Atascadero. Find them on Instagram @colonymashbrewing. When Colony Mash Brewing Co. first opened in…
Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation helps Central Coast families coping with childhood cancer
Seven-year old Isabella Ramirez has always been a high-energy, bubbly kid—the kind who never seems to get sleepy no matter how much she runs around all day. She’s tough, too, always popping right back up after a fall without so much as a peep. So her mom, Santa Maria resident Fabiola Ramirez, knew something was…
Alive and well
Just when I thought I had heard all of his grievances, disinformation and alternative facts, Al Fonzi goes from the ridiculous to the absurd in his recent column. In his Dec. 3 Rhetoric and Reason piece, “A conservative perspective,” Fonzi claims that Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy” (a cynical attempt to bring racist white Southerners over…
Local artists and photographers showcase their work through original 2021 calendars
Seize the day(s) Find out more about each artist online: Lori Mole (lorimole.com); Angelina LaPointe (on Instagram, @sidecarpress); Paul Irving (bigbigslo.com/calendar); and Amy Joseph (centralcoastpictures.com). Imagine holding an entire art exhibition in the palm of your hand. For Orcutt-based contemporary painter Lori Mole, the concept isn’t far-fetched, especially in the form of a desk calendar…
A coming flood in Oceano
In the debate about whether ATVs should be allowed to tear up environmentally sensitive habitat and run over endangered birds in the Oceano dunes, or whether a moneyed Central Valley tradition should trump the rights of disadvantaged locals to a safe beach and clean air, there’s one significant point that’s largely overlooked. Operation of the…
The Laboratory Series’ next virtual program features guest speaker Zalika Azim
The Laboratory Series, a Black-identified artist showcase program co-hosted by R.A.C.E. Matters SLO and the Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery, holds its next episode with special guest speaker Zalika Azim, on Thursday, Dec. 17, from about 5 to 6:30 p.m. This virtual program is offered via Zoom, and admission to join the meeting is free.…
Phony survey by State Parks OHV Division
After years of ignoring Oceano, State Parks Off-Highway Vehicle Division is distributing a flyer to Oceano homeowners with their water bills from the Oceano Community Services District. It advertises a survey about the Public Works Plan for the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA.) State Parks Director Armando Quintero and Deputy Secretary for Ocean…
DPAC Dancers perform to benefit Arroyo Grande’s Clark Center and Santa Maria Elks Recreation
The Dellos Performing Arts Center (DPAC) Dancers will perform live on stage as part of Christmas in the Country at the Elks Unocal Event Center in Santa Maria, on Thursday, Dec. 17, from 6 to 7 p.m. The dance performance, set to a variety of seasonal music, will be streamed live through YouTube and Facebook,…
A community question
If cases of COVID-19 are traced to a business that has openly operated in violation of local, state, and Centers for Disease Control guidelines for COVID-19 safety, can the patrons of those businesses who contract COVID-19 or the families of those who die from COVID-19 sue those businesses for pain, suffering, loss, or wrongful death?…
Godmothered offers magical modern-day fairy tale
GODMOTHERED What’s it rated? PG What’s it worth, Karen? Matinee What’s it worth, Caleb? Matinee Where’s it showing? Disney Plus Editor’s note: Staff Writer Karen Garcia and Calendar Editor Caleb Wiseblood took over Split Screen while the Starkeys enjoy their holidays off. Director Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary) takes the audience on a lighthearted and…
Our Constitution
We Americans love and revere our Constitution. The problem is that we have very different ideas on what the Constitution is and what it means. For example, the recent Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision striking down the New York COVID-19 restrictions on churches has a lot of liberals worked up, arguing that…
The Prom
What’s it rated? PG-13 When? 2020 Where’s it showing? Netflix Ryan Murphy (Glee and Eat Pray Love) takes a stab at adapting the book-turned-broadway musical The Prom to a television screen near you. In a high school gym in a small, conservative Indiana town, angry parent-teacher-association moms argue against allowing lesbian student Emma Nolan (Jo…
Awkward!
What’s more awkward than being SLO County Distirct Attorney Dan Dow and getting dismissed from an obviously political case because you were too obvious about your politics? Being SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson in an extremely uncomfortable attempt at a public relations video, saying, “I’m white, and I’m American, and you are safe with us,”…
Mank
What’s it rated? R When? 2020 Where’s it streaming? Netflix David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Gone Girl) directs this black-and-white period drama that chronicles the life of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour) during the development of the script he’s most famous for, Citizen Kane. The film starts in 1940, when a bedridden…
Paso clarifies COVID-19 restrictions and enforcement
The Paso Robles City Council danced around saying it wouldn’t enforce recently implemented state stay-at-home orders for nearly an hour at its Dec. 15 council meeting—until it did, stating it would continue observing purple tier restrictions. However, the city made it clear that businesses (mainly restaurants) that knowingly don’t comply with the regional stay-at-home order…
Los Osos gets new growth and vacation rental policies
The unincorporated bayside town of Los Osos is another step closer to getting the greenlight to develop for the first time in decades—with a long road still ahead—after the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a new Los Osos Community Plan on Dec. 15. Several logistics are still pending—including the Coastal Commission’s…
County launches Arroyo Grande Subbasin sustainability project
SLO County recently launched a project aimed at developing a groundwater sustainability plan for the Arroyo Grande Subbasin and is calling for community members with wells that tap into the basin to help improve the county’s water level data. Although the state considers the Arroyo Grande Subbasin to be very low priority and it is…
Attorney General to decide on Tianna Arata case after SLO DA was disqualified
After a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge disqualified the SLO County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting Tianna Arata and her co-defendants, the California Attorney General’s Office is asking for 30 days to decide whether it will take over the cases. Deputy Attorney General William Frank told the courtroom on Dec. 15 that he was…
Cuesta College censures Pete Sysak over Facebook posts
The Cuesta College board of trustees has done about all it can to boot trustee Pete Sysak from his position over controversial posts he shared to his Facebook page. But Sysak isn’t budging. At a meeting on Dec. 9, the board of trustees unanimously approved a resolution to censure Sysak, the result of an ad…
Hundreds left in dark about botched COVID-19 tests in Nipomo
County residents who received COVID-19 tests early this month in Nipomo are still awaiting their results, without explanation, as the clinic mistakenly sent three days of test swabs to the wrong laboratory. San Luis Obispo County public health officials said the error affected as many as 495 tests administered on Dec. 3, 5, and 7…
In The Healing, Kristen Black chronicles her son’s drug addiction and death, and her effort to heal herself
Longtime SLO resident Kristen Black was a pretty hot ticket around these parts, constantly playing gigs and recording great music, but a divorce and the death of one of her twin boys were two blows that would knock anyone off their feet. She’s now in Nashville in a new relationship with Jeffrey Perkins, the longtime…
