Cover Story
Justice: SLO County community members celebrate the long-awaited guilty verdict in the Kristin Smart case
San Luis Obispo County resident Trish Norman’s hoots of jubilation pierced the afternoon silence on the patio at San Luis Obispo’s Libertine Brewing Company on Oct. 18. “Go Kristin! Go Smart family!” she cheered and clapped. At 4:30 p.m., Norman was fixated on the bar’s small TV that showed Sheriff Ian Parkinson delivering a statement…
Coast Unified teachers upset over new position’s salary and qualifications
“I feel disrespected and taken advantage of as an educator.” Cambria Grammar School P.E. teacher Ginna Mueller wrote that in a letter to the Coast Unified School District board prior to its Oct. 13 meeting. She was one of several district faculty and staff members who expressed displeasure with a new job position. The district…
Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site gets a union
San Luis Obispo County gained its first homeless union after months of unrest brewing at the Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site. “We just want to be involved in the decision-making process and have a say in our own futures,” said SLO County Local of the California Homeless Union President Mallory Mejia. Mejia has been a…
U.S. sets lease sale date for Morro Bay offshore wind farms
The national push to bring offshore wind power to the Central Coast reached another milestone this week. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced that it’d set a lease sale date of Dec. 6 to auction off the five call areas proposed for offshore wind development near Morro Bay and Humboldt. Covering 376 square miles…
San Luis Coastal’s meal program gets national recognition for quality, sustainability, and nutritional value
Six years ago, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s (SLCUSD) meal program was struggling and losing money. So the district made a bet: by doubling down on high-quality ingredients, local foods, and healthy meals, student participation would follow suit. “The more you invest in these good, quality products, the more kids want to eat…
Luckiest Girl Alive is one woman’s story of confronting her tragic past
LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Glen? Full price What’s it worth, Anna? Full price Where’s it showing? Netflix Mike Barker (Best Laid Plans, Shattered) directs Jessica Knoll’s debut screenplay (based on her debut novel) about Ani Fanelli (Mila Kunis), a New Yorker whose life seems perfect. She’s got a writing…
Gallery at Marina Square showcases three featured artists in October exhibitions
Atul Pande, Donna Matchette, and Brett Harvey are currently the three featured artists at Gallery at Marina Square, where their respective artworks will be on display through Sunday, Oct. 30. Pande, whose paintings are showcased in the venue’s lower gallery, is a self-taught painter who works in an intuitive manner while “exploring line, form, and…
A Friend of the Family
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2022 Where’s it showing? Peacock Peacock’s new series A Friend of the Family starts its first episode with Jan Broberg, the real-life victim of Robert Berchtold, asking the audience to please remember that this is a story that really happened to her and her family. If you watched the 2017…
Photoshop in SLO extends Karl Kempton’s photography exhibit
An exhibition of Oceano-based artist Karl Kempton’s dune photographs is currently on display at The Photo Shop in San Luis Obispo, where it debuted at the end of August and was originally scheduled to run through the end of September. Kempton recently announced that the exhibit’s stay has been extended through Monday, Nov. 14. The…
Andor
What’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2022 Where’s it showing? Disney Plus Created by Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity, Beirut), this new Star Wars TV series is a prequel to Rogue One (2016) and follows Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) evolution from morally questionable thief to Rebel Alliance intelligence officer whose heroism helps retrieve schematics for the…
The development proposed near Monterey Street is a danger to students
I wish to bring to your attention the Sept. 17 Architectural Review Commission hearing, when a proposed affordable housing development was discussed. The project as proposed is five stories and 106 units of housing located at the corner of Monterey Street and California Boulevard. This is a tight intersection and the northern access to San…
Fiber optic cables will soon connect Grover Beach to Singapore for more robust data and communication systems
The Pismo State Beach parking lot near Fin’s Restaurant and Southeast Asia are about to have a common link. On Oct. 13, the California Coastal Commission approved a coastal development permit for RTI Solutions to install and operate a fiber optic cable extending from West Grand Avenue in Grover Beach and snaking through state and…
An open letter to the Oceano Advisory Council
Dear Mr. Varni and members of the Oceano Advisory Council, You have known for some time that Ms. April Dury, vice chair of your Oceano Advisory Council, serially attacks members of the public on social media. Very recently, after an OAC meeting, she made this comment about attendees on social media: ” … the whiteness…
Pismo clams rebound is tied to South County water treatment changes
I would like to offer my understanding on the Pismo clam rebound and provide an alternative to its last great population shrinkage, which some say was caused by the sea otter’s return (“Clams disappeared from Pismo Beach because of sea otters,” Oct. 13). Experts seemed puzzled that the oldest of the rebounded clams are 10…
Santa Ynez Chumash tribal member helms Spirit Rangers, a new animated Netflix series
Calling all rangers Spirit Rangers, created by Karissa Valencia, premiered on Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Oct. 10) and is now available to stream on Netflix. Visit netflix.com for more info. Getting “slimed” is a rite of passage for newbies at Nickelodeon Studios, former intern Karissa Valencia revealed. Like many millennials, Valencia—who grew up on the Santa…
Measure B-22 isn’t the answer to Morro Bay Harbor’s problems
1. I love the Morro Bay Harbor. 2. It has been mismanaged for many years. 3. It needs expensive work in many areas. 4. It is a very large asset that requires long-term planning and promotion to sustain and remain viable. Tax Measure B-22, which is on Morro Bay’s election ballot, does very little to…
Central Coast winemakers celebrate their harvest and international acclaim
Taste the hype For more information on October harvest events at Paso Robles wineries, visit pasowine.com. For details on Harvest on the Coast, held Nov. 11 and 12 in Avila Beach, visit slocoastwine.com. Wine Enthusiast will announce its full slate of winners for its 23rd annual Wine Star Awards on Nov. 3. Fall is crush…
The Republican Party leader isn’t the moral high ground
John Donegan’s Sept. 22 opinion (“Celebrity wisdom”) rambled on about his claim of the less-than-moral celebrities influencing the American political environment with progressive direction. Mr. Donegan failed to address the behavior and life of celebrity and Republican Party leader Donald J. Trump. Trump spent years seeking and placing himself within the eyes and ears of…
Chicago hip-hop, reggae, jazz, and soul ensemble The LowDown Brass Band plays The Siren on Oct. 22
You know how some bands just exude cool, just embody confidence, just signal they’ve got straight-up street cred? That’s The LowDown Brass Band—a Chicago horn ensemble that melds reggae-style dancehall with hip-hop and street beat rhythms, mixing in touches of jazz and soul. Check out any of their videos online and you’ll be intrigued. Keep…
Defunding the police didn’t really work out, did it?
Two years ago, we heard the chattering liberal hoards clamoring to abolish or defund the police and pledging their fealty to Black Lives Matter. Since then, the leaders of BLM have been preoccupied with trying to explain where all those donations went and in justifying their acquisitions of pricey real estate. The same liberals are…
The finger-pointing cha-cha-cha
Can I get an “oopsy-daisy”? No, louder! The MAGA right already believes our elections are “rigged,” so at a time when SLO County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano really needed to get everything right, the already mailed November general election ballot and voter guide got two things very wrong. Is there a conspiracy afoot? “Elaina Cano has…
A recent battery storage fire sparks Morro Bay residents’ concerns about energy plant plans
Since a battery storage facility in Moss Landing caught fire in September, some Morro Bay residents have lambasted plans to put something similar in place of the city’s iconic smokestacks. “People were paying attention to the news [of the Moss Landing fire] and saying to the city of Morro Bay, ‘Hey, I don’t think this…
Clerk-Recorder discusses voter guide and ballot errors
The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office is scrambling to correct multiple errors found on thousands of local voter guides and ballots for the Nov. 8 election. Two South County election candidates—Kevin Kreowski for Pismo Beach City Council and Ashley Smeester for Lucia Mar Unified School District Area No. 3—had their candidate statements omitted from…
