Cover Story
Active with age: How some local seniors stay fit without straining their wallets
Staying active is challenging in many ways, but for senior citizens, getting older compounds the predicament. It takes longer to recover from an illness; soreness and stiffness are a daily companion; and getting injured is a much more serious concern. But for some local seniors, the prospect of staying active isn’t a challenging one at…
Riding high: SLO’s Lance Haidet takes on the world as a top U.S. cyclocross racer
Steadying his bike over bumpy, fresh-fallen Connecticut snow, San Luis Obispo-native Lance Haidet clutches his handlebars as he approaches a sharp left turn. He takes a perfect angle into it, exiting with a burst of acceleration. Fifty yards down the course, Lance screeches to a halt at the base of a hill. He jumps off…
What was your experience like participating in the Women’s March?
Pam Alford retired teacher “It was very exciting to be with like-minded people working toward a positive change.” Crystal Searing paralegal “It’s empowering and positive because it was peaceful. We all came together to rally in unity and it’s really beautiful.” Melissa Lovett-Adair nurse “I marched because I believe diversity is our superpower. Today we…
Meditate and relax: Local company offers the first yoga and cannabis class on the Central Coast
The practice of yoga is widely seen as a form of meditation, harmonizing the core through body postures, disciplined breathing, and a centered mind. Vanaspati Yoga based in Cambria has taken this meditative practice a step further by bringing cannabis products into the mix with a Restorative Ganja Yoga class. Vanaspati Yoga is a small…
Make believe: Paso Robles digital artist takes Halloween slant in Masquerade exhibit
Paso Robles artist Bruce Cook isn’t necessarily interested in reality, just as it is. From a young age, Cook was obsessed with old monster movies—like the original 1931 Dracula and Frankenstein films. He loved the idea of pretending to be something else, with just enough cheesy factors to tell it wasn’t really real. That Halloween…
Happy 2017
From passion to purveyor: This Feb. 7, attend a Slow Money San Luis Obispo meeting aimed toward getting local food entrepreneurs moving and making. You’ll learn how to make fruit leather at home using all that leftover gleaned fruit for long-lasting snacks. You’ll also get to meet some amazing artisans, including Karli from Best Ever…
Union Sacre’s 2015 Niven Rock Vineyard Riesling and Sidecar’s Fernie Sanders
Be honest. Does the word “riesling” make you think of potpourri, Golden Girls marathons, and those frilly doily things? Well, I have news for you. There is a fleet of sophisticated, dry rieslings out there that have less to do with grandma and way more to do with seriously crisp flavor. Next time you’re at…
Grab and go global: Café Fiero brings world fusion to SLO industrial area
There’s the design term “industrial chic”—clean, corrugated metal, intentionally exposed ceilings—and then there’s straight-up industrial. As in: located in a true industrial space, surrounded on all sides by, well, industry. Café Fiero definitely reps the latter. Located on Fiero Lane in one of SLO’s most bustling industrial parks, this new café represents a beacon of…
Cannabis science: Emerald Scientific creates industry benchmark
Proposition 64 may have legalized recreational marijuana, but there isn’t a universal quality assurance test that’s used by companies and individual labs across the industry. Well, San Luis Obispo-based company Emerald Scientific created such a test, and it looks at the concentration of THC, residual solvents, pesticides, and microbial activity within a product. Similar to…
Viewer discretion: Speak out
Jack Ratkovich, left, shows that he clearly has a different opinion than Jake Scott, right, and Nevada Shannahan, center, during an anti-President Trump protest at Cal Poly on Jan. 20.
Health scare: SLO County braces for the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act
The possibility that Republican legislators in the House and Senate could roll back or repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has many Americans wondering just what the future holds for the sweeping health care reform law that was one of the centerpieces of former President Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House. The same appears…
John Wallace to face felony charges
More than one year after an independent audit raised concerns over financial mismanagement and alleged malfeasance at the South SLO County Sanitation District, the SLO County District Attorney’s Office announced it had filed criminal charges against the sanitation district’s former administrator. John Lee Wallace, who headed the sanitation district from 1986 to 2013, was charged…
Cambria considers changing water emergency status
During the Jan. 19 Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) meeting, its general manager called out a member of the public for harassing the district and wasting its time. Before the CCSD’s board of directors could address the agenda—which included a discussion about lifting the district’s stage 3 water shortage declaration (it’s still firmly in place)—board…
SLO County jail inmate died awaiting mental health transfer
A 36-year-old Atascadero man who died of unknown causes in SLO County Jail Jan. 22 had been awaiting a transfer to the county’s lone inpatient psychiatric facility for 12 days, according to court records obtained by New Times. Andrew Chaylon Holland had a history of violence against police officers and jail staff and appeared to…
SLO Lacrosse: Free clinic kicks off season on the coast
You would think in a town where the college has a Quidditch team and the farmers’ market frequently hosts a juggler on a 6-foot unicycle, a sport like lacrosse wouldn’t be so uncommon. Fortunately for those lacrosse fans in San Luis Obispo, this may be about to change. The Central Coast’s youth lacrosse association, 805…
Committee appointments deepen divide between SLO County supes
Rancor between members of the SLO County Board of Supervisors continued Jan. 24 when the new conservative majority of John Peschong, Lynn Compton, and Debbie Arnold voted to appoint only members of that majority to positions on three influential advisory bodies. In a series of 3-2 votes, the board majority appointed Peschong, Arnold, and Compton…
Lies, damned lies, and The Donald
In the first weekend of its existence, the Trump Regime has laid out its basic position relative to reality: It is against it. Or rather, Trump is making a massive gamble, a bet against reality, if you will. His inaugural speech was historic in its promulgation of lies, my favorite being: “The wealth of our…
The gloves are off
For a few weeks now, it’s been an incessant question wherever I go: “What in the world is happening at the Board of Supervisors?” The subtext being: How did it get so nasty and squalid? Is this the ugly national melodrama now touring our local venues of government? I have been answering it bluntly, without…
You can make a difference
I did not join the march on Saturday. But I vowed to do the “hard work” … the follow-up. Marching was a great start, but the hard work is what now needs to be done. The global information age and economy cannot be denied. We can strive to be the best educated, produce the best…
Bullies, crybabies, and butt slappers, oh my!
I should have invested in pink yarn futures because after this Women’s March on Jan. 21, I would have been as rich as Trump! More than 3 million women marched worldwide, and SLO Town had an estimated 10,000 marchers itself, many clad in knit pink hats with adorable cat ears holding signs that read, “Hands…
It’s just wrong:
That my husband and I moved to one of the most beautiful places along the California coastline and, for so many days adding up to months, we are advised by the Air Pollution Control District (APCD) to stay indoors or suffer adverse health effects related to inhaling the dust known as PM10 and PM2.5. We…
Keep speaking truth to power
This seems to be a week of fairy tales (cartoonists, take note): The Emperor’s New Clothes, Pinocchio, and Little Red Riding Hood come to mind. President Trump may be my president, like it or not, but I didn’t elect him, and were we still living in an age when enraged peasants with pitch forks stormed…
Good advice
In his latest Rhetoric and Reason column, “President-elect Trump and Republicans,” (New Times, Jan. 19) Al Fonzi’s parting words were to talk with Republicans about their philosophy and reasonableness. Good advice, especially if both parties use it, as this should encourage people to listen to one another instead of perpetuating this awful polarization. — Ken…
Do the opposite of what the ‘alt-right’ advocates
Milo Yiannopoulos, the “fabulous supervillain” “alt-right” provocateur, will be visiting Cal Poly campus on the evening of Jan. 31. Mr. Y. is renowned for his divisive, racist, and hateful speech. At the University of Washington, the demonstration against Yiannopoulos’ presence turned violent and led to gunfire. It is the nature of provocateurs to delight in…
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water
My wife and I are self-employed. Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) we could not afford health insurance, and should the ACA be repealed without an affordable and accessible alternative, we and millions of other Americans will be back in the same tragic situation. In a just and well-functioning society, health care is a right,…
Don Lampson and the Vigilante String Alliance brings virtuosic Americana to Steynberg Gallery on Jan. 28
One of the benefits of being a talented old cruster who’s been playing music and living in SLO County for decades is you eventually meet all the other great pickers, pluckers, and bowers in the area and can gather them together every once in a while for a super show, which is exactly what New…
Get your dancing shoes on
Enjoy a kind of local version of Dancing with the Stars and drop by the 10th annual Mustang Ball DanceSport Competition Feb. 11 in Cal Poly’s Recreation Center. The event will feature competitive events in international standard and Latin, American smooth and rhythm, and nightclub dances. Spectator tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at…
We heart art
Get your little ones in that loving spirit with Studios on the Park in Paso Robles on Feb. 9 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Kids ages 6 and up are invited to get in the Valentine spirit with ArtSocial 805 at the gallery. Teaching artist Karyn Blaney will lead students through creating this mixed media…
Follow the music
The search for a new conductor and music director for the San Luis Obispo Symphony continues with a performance by Nan Washburn as part of the Classics in the Cohan series on Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. Washburn, of the Michigan Philharmonic, is the third auditioning conductor to helm the SLO Symphony for an evening.…
Bingeable: The OA
When? 2016 | Where’s it available? Streaming on Netflix. Fans of sci-fi, mystery, and supernatural fantasy can find something to enjoy in Netflix’s original series The OA, about a 28-year-old woman (Brit Marling) who returns after being missing for seven years. The woman’s adoptive parents Abel (Scott Wilson) and Nancy (Alice Krige) believed she had…
Demonstrating unity: SLO County Women’s March participants said it loud and proud
It’s 10 a.m. on a gloomy Saturday morning on Jan. 21, and a crowd of smiling men, women, and children is starting to grow at Mitchell Park in San Luis Obispo. The sprinkle of pink PussyHats, handmade shirts, and Planned Parenthood scarves pours in. We’re all gathering at the park in support of women’s rights…
The dark side: Short stories from ‘Twisted Tales’ turn the everyday upside down
Nothing is ever quite what it seems. The nice young couple at the nature retreat. The old man who knows a little too much on the ship. The gruff veteran neighbor down that country road. There’s always more to the story. Valuables go missing. A boy finds himself on a raft from the past. A…
Clubs 1/26/17 – 2/2/17
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. FIGUEROA MOUNTAIN BREWING CO.: Singer/Songwriter Night every Wed. from 7:30-10pm. 1462 E. Grand Ave., Arroyo Grande, 474-8525, figmtnbrew.com. 2/3: Kenny Taylor Band from 8:30-11pm; 2/4: Guitar Circus from 8:30-11pm. HARRY’S NIGHT CLUB AND BEACH BAR: Cypress and Pomeroy, downtown Pismo Beach, 773-1010.…
