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Limited options: All of Morro Bay’s City Council candidates are running unopposed for the first time in city history
For the first time in the city’s 60 years, Morro Bay is having an uncontested election for City Council and mayor despite polarizing public opinions and activism over renewable energy issues. Incumbent Mayor Carla Wixom, first elected in 2022, has secured a second term as mayor because no one is running against her this year.…
Park Street Gallery welcomes new featured artist during Art After Dark
Arroyo Grande-based painter Patti Robbins is Park Street Gallery’s newest featured artist. The Paso Robles venue will celebrate Robbins’ new permanent wall art display during the gallery’s next Art After Dark reception, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 2, from 6 to 9 p.m. Robbins is a prolific still life artist who often paints flowers. Some of…
Venom: The Last Dance is an action-packed, banter-filled romp
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10, Sunset Drive-In In her directorial debut, writer Kelly Marcel (Saving Mr. Banks, Fifty Shades of Grey, Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) directs this script she co-wrote with…
Community Foundation of SLO County sponsors free USO Dance
In honor of military veterans, the Santa Maria Valley Senior Citizens Club will host its USO Dance at the Elwin Mussell Senior Center in Santa Maria on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Admission to the event is free, thanks to grant funding from the Community Foundation of San Luis Obispo County, according…
Trump is the face of fascism and women are one of his targets
Once a leading prime-time propagandist on Fox News, Tucker Carlson is the embodiment of the type of angry, hyper-masculine face that animates the Trump campaign. He regularly embraces such vitriolic, anti-feminist bombast that it fits perfectly with one of the defining features of fascism. Recently, Carlson introduced Trump at a rally in Georgia with a…
Vistra is seeking state approval for its proposed Morro Bay battery plant, bypassing the city
Vistra recently announced that it is pursuing state approval for its proposed battery plant, bypassing the city of Morro Bay, which has been reviewing the project since 2020. After a City Council meeting on Sept. 24 that added a minimum of 18 months to the project’s timeline, the city received a notice from Vistra requesting…
Tit for tat
The crescendo of drama in Paso Robles just keeps getting louder and louder. Is it a slew of October surprises or a story about a dysfunctional city with too many ultra-right crazies in it that don’t think the conservative governing bodies in the city are quite conservative enough for them? Or is it that certain…
Three seats are up for grabs on the Lucia Mar school board this election
Three incumbents on the Lucia Mar Unified School District board face off against three newcomers who share the same goal: to remake and rebuild the board. New Times spoke with the incumbents Don Stewart, Dee Santos, and Vicki Meagher but was unable to speak with the other candidates. Paul Bischoff declined New Times’ request for…
Halloween
What’s it rated? R When? 1978 Where’s it showing? Thursday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m., in the Palm Theatre of San Luis Obispo Writer-director-composer John Carpenter helms this classic slasher film about mental patient Michael Myers, committed to a sanitarium at age 6 for stabbing his teenage sister to death with a chef’s knife. It’s…
Port San Luis asks for extension on two campgrounds set to close
For the past 20 years, Port San Luis Harbor District staff has sent letters to the California Coastal Commission asking for an extension on two of its camping areas now expected to close Nov. 16. On Oct. 10, the district sent its most recent letter and waits for a reply, Port San Luis Harbor District…
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
What’s it rated? R When? Thursday, Oct. 31 (6 p.m.; 18-and-older; $32.36 to $39.05 at ticketweb.com), and Friday, Nov. 1 (6 and 9 p.m.; 18-and-older; $32.36 at ticketweb.com) Where’s it showing? Rod and Hammer Rock It’s Halloween, so naturally the 1975 cult classic musical comedy The Rocky Horror Picture Show is back. You know the…
DOJ appoints district election officer for Central Coast Election Day
The United States Department of Justice is going to be a watchdog for election-related crimes in the Central District of California on Nov. 5 as part of its nationwide Election Day program. Every two years, the department appoints a district election officer to oversee Election Day complaints about voting rights concerns, threats of violence to…
Whitney Bedford’s solo show at SLOMA highlights what’s been lost by looking back at historic landscapes
Find your view Visit the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art at 1010 Broad St. in SLO, Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Catch Whitney Bedford’s The Window through Feb. 16, 2025. Learn more about the museum by visiting sloma.org. Find Bedford’s work online at whitneybedford.com and on Instagram @whitneybedford. Neon orange…
PRJUSD school board candidate Hunter Breese responded to the allegations against him of election fraud
Amid an ongoing investigation of election fraud, Paso Robles school board candidate Hunter Breese denied the allegations agaisnt him and accused his incumbent opponent of violating federal law under the U.S. Postal Service. “Following an anonymous tip to authorities, several false statements and allegations have been made by my opponents regarding my eligibility to run…
The Dana Reserve will go before LAFCO on Nov. 14
The Dana Reserve inches closer to reality after the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a property tax agreement with the Nipomo Community Services District (NCSD) on Oct. 22. Following a back-and-forth negotiation between the NCSD and county, the two finally came to an agreement after negotiating over their conflicting property tax policies.…
SLO County Health Agency unites care with new access and crisis services division
San Luis Obispo County’s Healthy Agency is bringing crisis and stabilization services under one sustainable umbrella. “The current system is that access and crisis is spread out among all of the divisions,” Behavioral Health Director Star Graber said at the SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 22. “If it’s the youth division, it…
The Center celebrates 10 years of yoga and more under the Stackhouse family’s ownership
San Luis Obispo Yoga Center has been a hub for local yogis since the 1990s. But with multiple iterations over the years, the spot now called The Center is ushering in its 10th anniversary of being more than a yoga studio. “I just have always appreciated and enjoyed sort of that energy and motivation that…
It’s impossible for Democrats to be worse than Trump
I feel sorry for John Donegan (“Who threatens democracy,” Oct. 24). It must be hard to pledge allegiance to a political party that is completely under the dominance of someone who is patently corrupt; a multi-bankrupted debt deadbeat; a self-confessed serial groper and adjudicated assaulter of women; and a lying, foulmouthed, name-calling, draft-dodging megalomaniacal old…
Charles Varni is the one who’s for Oceano
I recently read mailers from each of the two candidates for Director of District 5 for the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD). The contrast could not be more dramatic. Charles Varni’s flyer is filled with important information from his endorsees, statements about his values and community priorities, and an extensive list of his accomplishments over…
Only one candidate would assure a balanced Port San Luis Harbor future
I appreciate the Port San Luis Harbor District Commission, District 2, candidate article by Samantha Herrera on Oct. 24 (“Port San Luis Harbor commissioner candidates discuss the port’s future”). The candidates, Richard Scangarello and Katie Lichtig expressed their vision for the harbor district if elected. One candidate had a myopic plan, and the other candidate…
Morro Bay Measure A-24’s elephant in the room
Morro Bay’s A-24 is a land use question—hard to understand, difficult to explain. Bottom line: Yes on A-24 will give citizens of Morro Bay the right to vote on the battery storage plant proposed at the power plant site. Those against A-24 will tell you it has nothing to do with the battery facility. Not…
Downtown SLO’s new Feral Kitchen and Lounge offers eclectic eats and drinks
Get feral Feral Kitchen and Lounge is open every day at 725 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, from 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday and 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday to Saturday. The spot on Higuera Street where Mother’s Tavern once stood now looks very different. A sophisticated lounge has replaced sticky…
A vote for Measure A-24 is a vote for safety
We need battery storage, but not next to our high school, sea otter nursery, and residential areas. We are talking about an evacuation situation because of fire and the release of toxic smoke. These installations catch on fire. With large-scale lithium ion battery energy storage systems (BESS) there have been 40 known fires in recent…
The Big Sur Jade Festival comes to Harmony on Nov. 1 to 3
If you’ve spent any time in Big Sur, chances are a shaggy hippie tried to sell you a “hand-carved jade pipe.” If it hasn’t happened to you, look in the mirror. You probably look like a narc. Jade Cove in Big Sur contains the only concentrated underwater nephrite jade deposit in the world, and the…
Think of our planet when you vote
As the election draws closer, we cannot ignore the growing impact of climate change on our communities. Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton, along with dozens of wildfires this past summer—they’re all clear warning signs of a very real climate crisis. This issue deserves more attention than it’s received so far this election cycle. During…
