Cover Story
Religion in the time of corona: Celebrating major religious holidays during the pandemic is changing the way people act on their faith
The 24 hours between March 11 and March 12 were all that Congregation Beth David, a Reform Judaism congregation, needed to close its doors due to COVID-19 concerns. The San Luis Obispo-based congregation was in the middle of organizing a March 14 concert, according to Office Administrator Robyn Friedman O’Leary. Congregation Beth David began planning…
Cal Poly Rec Center may serve as an overflow hospital through 2020
Yet to see a single patient, the Cal Poly Rec Center stands ready as an emergency overflow hospital for the COVID-19 pandemic, with the capacity to house 900-plus beds if needed. That will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. SLO County and Cal Poly officials confirmed this week that the $765,000 alternative…
New affordable housing available for farmworkers in Guadalupe
People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH) recently announced that 38 brand new affordable rental units reserved for farmworkers and their families are open for applications. PSHH CEO John Fowler said they expect Guadalupe Court’s first residents to be able to move in as early as August. At least one person in the applicant household must work in…
July 4 fireworks shows cancelled across Central Coast
Although it lands on a Saturday and is likely to be nice and warm, this coming Independence Day is shaping up to be a quiet one on the Central Coast. From Santa Maria to Cayucos, popular summer destinations and cities have cancelled their usual July 4 fireworks shows, which in some cases draw thousands of…
Federal, state agencies release $22 million restoration plan for Refugio Oil Spill
Five years after a pipeline ruptured and spilled nearly 3,000 barrels of crude oil into the ocean near Refugio State Beach, killing birds, fish, and other marine life, a group of state and federal agencies has released a draft plan to restore wildlife and recreational activities along the damaged shoreline. The draft plan, which the…
National Guard fills gap in Santa Barbara County Foodbank volunteer resources
Two National Guard members involved in an accident while delivering food from the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County were uninjured, Marketing Communications Manager Judith Smith-Meyer said. The incident didn’t involve any other vehicles, and the truck wasn’t speeding nor was it too heavy, Smith-Meyer said. “We’ve been distributing more than double the amount of food…
Local meat purveyors feel the impact of national meat processors affected by COVID
The novel coronavirus continues to disrupt normal food supply chains nationwide, and the beef industry is taking a particularly heavy hit. Processing plants throughout the U.S. have closed their doors because of coronavirus outbreaks among employees. The resulting meat shortage has trickled down to grocery stores, butchers, and fast-food and dine-in restaurants—that are currently serving…
Santa Barbara County allows some non-essential businesses to reopen for curbside pick-up
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department announced on May 7 that some non-essential businesses in the county could reopen for business starting May 8, but must follow guidelines that include no in-store shopping. Businesses allowed to resume on a curbside pick-up basis include antique stores, book stores, clothing stores, florists, and other retailers. This…
San Luis Obispo rangers urge trail users to leave valuables at home
Local shelter-at-home orders have caused many residents to work, study, and recreate within their living spaces, so many have resorted to socially distance walks and jog on trails close to home. Due to recent thefts at San Luis Obispo trailheads, law enforcement is reminding trail visitors to leave their valuables at home. While the city…
Mark Davis delivers a stirring song of hope
Mark Davis’ new song, “Room by Room,” wasn’t written about COVID-19, the shelter-in-place order, or our collective grief at dealing with our new reality, but it sure speaks to the new now. “Room by room … we’ll build a fire/ Room by room … we’ll keep it bright/ See and feed the inner fire/ With…
No Memorial Day tribute?
I just received my May issue of The Colony magazine. I am so disappointed in all the gutless people in this city who are afraid to honor our soldiers, who died on foreign soil for our rights. Evidently, there will be no Memorial Day tribute, as in years past, to honor our fallen heroes and…
Pismo votes down ordinance requiring face coverings
Despite the efforts of a few passionate Pismo Beach City Council members, employees and patrons of Pismo Beach’s businesses won’t be required to wear face coverings for the time being. But such a mandate could be coming soon. An urgency ordinance that would have required workers and customers in Pismo’s essential businesses to wear face…
Local galleries connect artists to art lovers online
It may seem like the whole world is essentially shut down, but artists are busily making art, galleries are working hard to find ways to connect to patrons and art lovers, and the work of art education marches on in many different forms. For instance, Studios on the Park Artistic Director and Chief Curator Henry…
SLO County supervisors’ hemp ordinance gets blowback
On May 5, the SLO County Board of Supervisors passed a hemp ordinance that sets stringent requirements on growers in an effort that four supervisors said is about distancing hemp away from communities, residents, and other types of agriculture. The rules—first put forth by 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold during the May 5 board meeting—require…
Youth Arts Foundation seeks donations for its fund drive
In light of the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation’s (PRYAF) cancellation of its annual Barn Bash and Dance Fundraiser, which was scheduled to take place on May 9, the foundation is seeking out donors to support its COVID-19 Response Youth Arts Fund Drive. The new fundraiser was created to bridge the funding gap between the…
SLO County gets a fifth ecological reserve
After a decade-long process, the California Fish and Game Commission voted in April to designate roughly 12,168 acres of state-owned land in SLO County as the North Carrizo Ecological Reserve. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the parcel between the La Panza Range and the Temblor Mountains is home to species listed…
Audubon Society presents The Wonderful Life of a Dying Tree
Gillian Martin, a representative of Tree Care for Birds and The Cavity Conservation Initiative, will host the Morro Coast Audubon Society’s next educational video conference program on Zoom, titled The Wonderful Life of a Dying Tree, on May 18 at 7 p.m. All ages are welcome to join the conference for free (the meeting ID…
SLO County opens two state-sponsored COVID-19 test sites
Grover Beach and Paso Robles are now home to SLO County’s first state-sponsored COVID-19 testing sites, where up to 132 people can be tested a day. The sites—located at the Paso Robles Veterans Hall at 240 Scott St. in Paso, and the Ramona Garden Community Center at 993 Ramona Ave. in Grover Beach—officially opened their…
Dunes Center announces upcoming collection platform
The Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center is currently in the process of finalizing its virtual collection platform, according to a recent announcement from Doug Jenzen, executive director of the Dunes Center. Guests of the virtual platform will be able to view any object in the Dunes Center’s permanent collection for free. The official premiere date for the…
County seeks gas tax grants for Bob Jones Trail, 101 congestion project
After years of planning, three major San Luis Obispo County transportation projects are almost “shovel ready.” But officials are banking on a funding boost from state gas taxes to get them to the finish line. After earning authorization from the SLO County Board of Supervisors on May 5, the SLO Council of Governments (SLOCOG) will…
Fireworks sales still on in Templeton
The Templeton Community Services District will continue to allow the sale of fireworks, as long as the booths comply with expected safety standards. The district board raised concerns during its May 5 meeting over selling the product, which normally draws large crowds at Templeton County Park on July 4 to watch and set off the…
Coronavirus 2.0
As I write this, nearly a month has passed since the beginning of the “lockdown,” and life goes on. Since I remain housebound, and the media onslaught makes it impossible to not fixate on the pandemic, here are more observations: For healthy and retired folks like myself, the lockdown constitutes a pretty minor inconvenience, at…
That magic potion
Good news everyone! Even COVID-19 can’t prevent 5th District San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Debbie Arnold from getting up to her old tricks. In classic Debbie fashion, she hoodwinked her fellow board members into agreeing to last-minute changes on the county’s long-awaited hemp ordinance, completely waylaying a year’s worth of work and the county’s painstaking…
Mrs. America dramatizes 1970s battle over the Equal Rights Amendment
MRS. AMERICA What’s it rated? TV-MA Where’s it showing? Hulu Mrs. America is a nine-part miniseries created by Dahvi Waller that examines the attempt to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) hailed by second-wave feminists Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne), Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman), Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba), Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale), and Jill Ruckelshaus (Elizabeth…
Little America
What’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2020 Where’s it showing? Apple TV Inspired by true stories chronicled in Epic Magazine, Little America features an anthology of eight separate tales of immigrants to the U.S.—many funny, poignant, and indicative of the complicated relationship America has with its newest arrivals. For instance, the third episode, “The Cowboy,” chronicles…
Dragged Across Concrete
What’s it rated? R When? 2018 Where’s it showing? HBO S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99) helms this hard-boiled, slow-burning tale of two old-school cops—Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn)—whose methods border overzealous and downright illegal. When they’re caught on tape going overboard in apprehending a subject, they…
SLO County is poised to reopen in phases but needs state’s approval of local plan
San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein chose a fitting metaphor to describe the coastal county’s approach to gradually easing the shelter-at-home restrictions triggered by COVID-19. “I think of this as sort of a building tide,” Borenstein explained on May 1, moments after local officials released a 64-page SLO County START Guide (Steps…
Baking memories: With most social outlets unavailable, it’s harder to say no when my girls want to make their own sweet treats
“Somehow I got banana up my nose!” And so today’s kitchen adventure begins. My 10-year-old daughter is mashing bananas for muffins and apparently had a mishap. She’s always loved baking, since long before she could read and follow a recipe on her own. Now she’s competent not only at mixing dry ingredients into the wet,…
Housing is still short
You would be forgiven if, in the last several weeks of pandemic coverage, you had forgotten about the housing shortage that was already crushing the Central Coast. A year before the first shelter-at-home order went into effect, Beacon Economics reported that high housing costs were stalling SLO County’s ability to diversify our economy and retain…
Bubble Gum Alley needs a deep clean
Now that we all have masks and gloves on I think it would be a good time to clean and disinfect that petri dish in downtown SLO called Bubble Gum Alley. It’s not a selling point or a tour bus stop, it’s disgusting. Make it happen. No bellyaching please. People are scared to shake hands…
ECHO expands one-to-one homeless outreach program
The El Camino Homeless Shelter (ECHO) realized that with the spread of COVID-19, there was a great need to get information out to the people they try to help on a regular basis. Wendy Lewis, president and CEO of ECHO, said $10,000 in funding from The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County allowed ECHO to…
Fox misinformation is a threat to public health
SLO County Public Health is considering loosening social-distancing restrictions and is savvy enough to include provisions to evaluate its ability to “convey physical-distancing recommendations that change behavior in most residents” in determining whether to loosen or tighten restrictions. SLO County will find it difficult to change behavior unless it eliminates, or at least mitigates, the…
