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Education Today 2023
With school starting, it’s time for New Times’ annual Education Today issue. Teach the future The Ticket 2 Teach program aims to support aspiring preschool teachers with mentors and resources, and ease local teacher shortage. BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL Return to limbo Georgia Brown Elementary’s status remains unclear as Paso’s school board seeks answers in the…
A deceptive measure
A group called Citizens for Estero Bay Preservation (CEBP) is gathering signatures to place a measure on the March 2024 ballot to freeze the visitor-serving/commercial land use designation for the power plant site and the commercial/recreational fishing designation for the north Embarcadero (Measure D area) unless changed by a vote of the people. This action…
Meg 2: The Trench is a campy, implausible, preposterous but fun big budget B-movie
MEG 2: THE TRENCH What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10, Sunset Drive-In Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, Sightseers, Kill List) directs this sequel to 2018’s The Meg, about the research scientists exploring the Marianas Trench who encounter the prehistoric…
Eat vegan, prevent wildfires
The massive wildfire ravaging the Mojave Desert Preserve doesn’t only pose a danger to Joshua trees. Desert tortoises, black-tailed jackrabbits, bighorn sheep, coyotes, and other animals are at risk, too. Thick smoke disorients them, stings their eyes, and makes it hard for them to breathe. Those with babies, as well as animals who are very…
Deyo Dances premieres original dance compositions in San Luis Obispo
Come to the show Catch Deyo Dances performance on Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. or Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. at Studio @-Ryan’s American Dance (located at 279 Tank Farm Road, San Luis Obispo). Tickets can be purchased at deyodances.eventbrite.com. Lisa Deyo may be a dancer and choreographer in her day-to-day, but she’s an etymologist…
Our freedom is dying, and guns are to blame
With more than 200-plus mass shootings so far this year, this nation’s misinterpretation of the Second Amendment is a death sentence—suicide. While lawmakers mumble incoherently about faulty mental health and background checks, the truth is that hoards of weapons flood our streets. Recently, noted criminologist James Densley stated on national media that mental health isn’t…
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
What’s it rated? R When? 2023 Where’s it showing? Apple TV-plus Now 62 and in the depths of his Parkinson’s disease, which was diagnosed at age 29, Michael J. Fox has been living with the reality of both his fame and his disease for most of his life. This documentary, written by Fox and directed…
Trump needs to be held accountable
One hundred eighty-seven minutes. That’s how long Trump knowingly failed to act while his armed supporters stormed our nation’s Capitol. Instead, he watched the violence unfold on cable news, and even sent messages of encouragement by social media, telling the insurrectionists that he “loved” them. This is one of many disturbing details in the most…
SLO County Arts Open Studios Tours 2023
Visit art at its source for the 25th Anniversary of the Open Studios Art Tour! The San Luis Obispo County Open Studios Art Tour, a program of SLO County Arts Council, takes place over two weekends in October each year. Free to the public, visitors create their own self-guided tour using the catalog. This year,…
We need to find common ground as we head toward the next election
The month of August regularly serves up earth-shaking, history-making events: • Two years ago in August, the U.S. finally pulled out of Afghanistan after our longest war. • On Aug. 6, 1945, our nation dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Japan, soon ending World War II. That’s the event at the center of…
American Pickers series seeks California-based antique collectors
The producers of American Pickers, an ongoing documentary series on the History Channel, are currently seeking California residents who collect valuable antiques and other unique items. The show is shot in different states throughout the year and will center on California during the month of September. The series does not highlight flea markets, museums, or…
Wounded Tigre
Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the fate of Georgia Brown Elementary School in Paso Robles, a geologic anomaly flipped the school’s future on its cabeza. The ramshackle campus has been the subject of an ongoing debate about that to do with it: shutter it, remodel it, swap its dual immersion language…
Kandahar
What’s it rated? R When? 2023 Where’s it showing? Redbox and streaming platforms In their third collaboration, Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Greenland) directs Gerald Butler once again, this time as Tom Harris, a freelance special operator working for the CIA. He’s a world-weary mercenary with a young daughter he doesn’t see enough and…
Templeton winery Bella Luna wins prestigious blind-tasting competition two years in a row
Taste for yourself Bella Luna Estate Winery, located at 1850 Templeton Road, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for walk-ins and reserved tastings. Enjoy a flight of five to six wines for $20, which is waived with a two-bottle purchase. For more information, visit bellalunawine.com. Follow the winery on Instagram and Facebook…
Art Center Morro Bay holds free calligraphy demonstration
Prolific calligrapher and teacher Mary Lou Johnson will lead a free calligraphy demonstration at Art Center Morro Bay on Monday, Aug. 14, from 3 to 5 p.m. Johnson began hand lettering during the 1980s, according to press materials, and joined the Los Angeles Society for Calligraphy during the 1990s. Throughout her career, Johnson has created…
The United States Youth Volleyball League opens registration for Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande, and San Luis Obispo
The United States Youth Volleyball League has been on the Central Coast for 20 years, Executive Director Veronica Sanchez said. “We’ve been in Santa Maria for quite a few years, at least 15 years,” Sanchez said. “There was a person, who has since passed away, [that was] a volleyball player who had kids in the…
Rock and country crooner Chris Isaak plays Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Aug. 12
Way back in my nightclub managing days, Chris Isaak played D.K.’s West Indies Bar a couple times, and it was glorious. His crew would hang tiki lights around the club, and Isaak wore these custom-made suits with outrageously colorful floral designs. It was a spectacle, and of course the ladies went crazy for the tall,…
Teach the future: The Ticket 2 Teach program aims to support aspiring preschool teachers with mentors and resources, and ease local teacher shortage
The Central Coast is addressing its early childhood teacher shortage by equipping aspiring educators through an apprenticeship program with the goal of employing them in the local workforce. While teacher shortage is a national problem, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties are facing a serious demand for preschool teachers. But through state grant funding…
Return to limbo: Georgia Brown Elementary’s status remains unclear as Paso’s school board seeks answers in the face of public response and state rulings
Stay in the know For more information on the status of the 36th Street Campus renovations and plans, visit pasoschools.org. Georgia Brown Elementary School’s long-awaited renovations halted before they could begin after an anomalous geological feature was discovered under the campus in May—pushing students and teachers back toward uncertainty. Paso Robles Joint Unified School District…
School districts struggle to make up the learning loss experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic
Although students in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District are still behind compared to before the pandemic, the district is positive it’s moving in the right direction. “We’re on a path of growth in the single digits,” said said the districts’s new assistant superintendent of education, Lisa Yamashita. “As a district, we’ve increased [testing…
Arroyo Grande City Council counters recommendation to pause safe parking ordinance adoption
The Arroyo Grande City Council recently resisted city staff’s recommendation to suspend efforts to adopt a safe parking ordinance. That recommendation stemmed from being unable to receive commitment from its preferred social service provider, 5Cities Homeless Coalition (5CHC), to support potential sites in the city should the ordinance be adopted and enacted. “What’s the harm…
San Simeon CSD appoints interim general manager, sets deadline for permanent replacement
At its Aug. 3 meeting, the San Simeon Community Services District (CSD) extended its acting General Manager Patrick Faverty into an interim role after his initial appointment on June 23. Faverty will be sworn into the interim role for the next 90 days as the CSD begins its search for a permanent general manager—a goal…
OCSD budget approval for Parks and Recreation Committee gets heated
The Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) earmarked almost $20,000 from its general fund reserve to create a Parks and Recreation Committee. In a contentious 3-2 vote on July 26, with board members Linda Austin and Shirley Gibson dissenting, the OCSD approved the budget for the committee. Board member Charles Varni told New Times on Aug.…
Morro Bay Garbage Service proposes 38 percent rate increase
The Morro Bay Garbage Service and City Council will move forward with the next steps of a proposed rate increase following information presented at the Aug. 8 meeting. But some residents are concerned the rate increase for garbage pickup will prove to be too costly for the people it serves. “Please do not approve higher…
