Cover Story
Education Today 2021
It’s that time of year again: back to school time. And this year, kids actually get to start the year in classrooms! In this year’s Education Today issue, we give you the full report on what lasting changes schools have made after more than a year of COVID-19 disruptions. Assistant Editor Peter Johnson writes about…
SLO County to ‘review’ Dayspring cannabis permits in wake of bribery charges
San Luis Obispo County and three local cities are conducting internal reviews of their cannabis programs after Natural Healing Center dispensary founder Helios Dayspring pleaded guilty to bribing late SLO County 3rd District Supervisor Adam Hill and attempting to bribe former Grover Beach Mayor John Shoals in exchange for favorable votes and permits. The U.S.…
Jolt
What’s it rated? R When? 2021 Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime Tanya Wexler (Buffaloed, Hysteria) directs this action comedy about Lindy (Kate Beckinsale), a former bouncer prone to murderous rage who controls her homicidal tendencies with an electrode-lined vest that shocks her back to normal. Under the care of therapist Dr. Munchin (Stanley Tucci), Lindy…
Former IWMA board secretary charged with embezzlement
The SLO County District Attorney’s Office recently filed embezzlement charges against Carolyn Grace Goodrich, who served as the SLO County Integrated Waste Management Authority’s (IWMA) board secretary through 2018. The complaint filed in SLO County Superior Court on Aug. 3 lays out nine counts of felony embezzlement and one count of felony public records violations…
Witnesses testify in Kristin Smart murder case hearings
Sitting at opposite sides of a courtroom counsel’s table, Paul and Ruben Flores stare ahead at the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court bench, their expressionless faces partially covered by masks. SLO County Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle steps in front of them at around 10 a.m. on Aug. 3 and places down an image…
Hometown favorite Jade Jackson headlines the grand reopening of the Fremont Theater on Aug. 7
This Saturday, after being shuttered for nearly a year and a half, the Fremont Theater will reopen with Santa Margarita native Jade Jackson at the top of the bill. Jackson, too, has been cut off from what she loves most: performing. She and her band had just returned from an early 2020 U.S. tour with…
Paso Robles considers turning its airport into a spaceport
Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin believes that the city airport’s future could be in the space industry. “For 40 years now we’ve been saying we have an airport that’s a diamond in the rough and looking for a way to polish that diamond up,” he said during Paso City Council’s Aug. 3 meeting. “We actually…
Camino Scholars program at People’s Self-Help Housing sites helps kids succeed at school
The Camino Scholars program, quite literally, meets kids where they’re at. People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH), the biggest affordable housing organization on the Central Coast, offers a variety of free, site-based services to its residents. One of those services is Camino Scholars, an after-school education program. “We have 11 learning centers throughout the Central Coast, all…
Conserve for the future
Our lives have been profoundly changed by the pandemic. We have mourned the loss of loved ones, been separated from family members and friends, and experienced economic upheaval. Through this hardship, places like the Los Padres National Forest have provided many of us with much-needed solace and comfort in nature. We are more aware than…
A bike path could be coming to your neighborhood
The city of San Luis Obispo would love for you to think the “Anholm Greenway” (aka “Anholm Bikeway,” aka “North Broad Bike Boulevard”) will be the most marvelous thing they’ve ever done. Don’t swallow spin. The real story is ugly and dirty. This is the most neighborhood-unfriendly city project in memory. It is racist, ableist,…
Local filmmakers examine the 1977 Honda Canyon Fire in new, award-winning documentary, FireStorm ’77
Local screenings FireStorm ’77, which won Best Documentary Feature Film in the SLO International Film Festival’s Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase earlier this year, will be included in the Cambria Film Festival’s SummerFest, which runs from Aug. 20 to Aug. 23. Visit cambriafilmfestival.com for more details. While taking a film course at Allan Hancock College back…
Mental care
As COVID-19 has swept the world, the ripple effects continue to grow and expand and become the issues we cannot ignore. From increased consumption of single-use plastics to economic impacts on small business owners, from tumultuous partisan divisions to the extraordinary toll taken on working mothers, the impacts have been tremendous and aren’t going away…
Table & Vine Supper Club showcases the bounty of SLO County with hand-picked dining experiences
Menus and more For details on upcoming dinners and partners, visit tableandvinesupperclub.com or follow the company on Instagram and Facebook @tableandvinesupperclub. The Central Coast culinary scene is heating up this summer with the launch of Table & Vine Supper Club, the brainchild of Paso Robles-based event producer Morgen Hoffman. Table & Vine aims to create…
‘Rona fatigue
Raise your hand if you’re super sick and tired of the novel coronavirus affectionately known as COVID-19. Wow, I haven’t seen this many hands in the air since Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic Three dropped “The Roof Is On Fire” in 1984. “Throw your hands in the air like you just don’t care. We…
Shuttered Venue Operators Grants to benefit local music and entertainment businesses
Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) recently announced that 41 venues in California’s 24th District will receive funds from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants (SVOG) program, divided between a total of more than $27.3 million. The program was created to support hard-hit businesses in the music and entertainment sector that were forced to close due to…
805 Wave hosts comedy, barbecue fundraiser in Nipomo, featuring comedian and actor Terrence Delane
805 Wave is hosting a special comedy night fundraiser at Willow Ranch in Nipomo on Saturday, Aug. 21. Doors open at 6 p.m. A portion of the event’s proceeds will be donated to United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County. Guests of the event can look forward to comedy acts from host Terrence Delane (Hart…
New rules: Local students will be back on campus full time but with a statewide mask mandate in the face of the COVID-19 Delta variant
Patsy Mitchell, a third grade teacher at Calvin Oakley Elementary School in Santa Maria, got a pretty good test run at teaching during the pandemic when her school partially reopened for in-person instruction in the spring and summer. Even with a less-than-full classroom, the experience wasn’t easy. Indoor masking was mandatory, and that adjustment proved…
Foundation for the Performing Arts Center opens registration for grant program
All eligible nonprofit arts organizations are encouraged to apply for the 2021-2022 Clifton Swanson Community Access to the Performing Arts Center (PAC) Fund, a program founded by the Foundation for the PAC to support local arts groups that use the venue for events. The fund was established in 2015 in honor of Clifton Swanson, a…
Lucia Mar Unified School District opens K-12 independent study school during pandemic
Watching her oldest daughter toil to spell her name correctly in kindergarten, Melissa Walker-Scott knew something wasn’t right. “You have no idea, she was a kindergartner, and she was spelling her whole name backwards. And she was still doing it in first grade,” Walker-Scott said, adding that teachers attributed it to being left-handed, which Walker-Scott…
The Green Knight is a surreal and fascinating exploration of honor and legend
THE GREEN KNIGHT What’s it rated? R When? 2021 Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Palm Theatre, Park, Stadium 10 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Writer-director David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Pete’s Dragon, A Ghost Story, The Old Man & the Gun) directs this film based on…
Local school districts are ahead of the curve in offering pre- and transitional kindergarten, and state legislation will soon expand these efforts
Universal public preschool is a concept long-discussed, and recently politicians started making serious policy proposals in pursuit of preschool for all. President Joe Biden’s American Family Plan released in late April proposes universal, high quality preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds. In early July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to make transitional kindergarten available to…
The Mysterious Benedict Society
What’s it rated? TV-PG When? 2021 Where’s it showing? Disney Plus Based on a young adult book series by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society follows Reynie Muldoon (Mystic Inscho), a bright but lonely orphan whose out-of-the-box logic gets him a spot at a prestigious private school—or so he thinks. When he finally meets…
