Cover Stories
A new California bill boosts eviction protection for survivors of domestic violence
Sacramento reinforced housing protection for domestic violence survivors this year. Co-sponsored by state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), and approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 27, Senate Bill 1017 allows survivors who are tenants to retain their current housing, avoid eviction, and even sue their landlords who try to unlawfully evict them because of…
Real Men Wear Pink raises funds, awareness for breast cancer one mimosa at a time
During the day, Tom Becker works as a senior project manager for Kadco Construction in Pismo Beach. But catch him after hours, and he’s doing more than overseeing home remodels—he’s raising awareness for breast cancer. Becker is a local representative for Real Men Wear Pink, a group of community leaders who work to raise awareness…
Awareness Issue 2022
October is both Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For that reason, this issue is dedicated to both. Inside you will find a story about legislation that aims to prevent domestic violence victims from being evicted from rental properties and a story about building trust with Spanish-speaking communities so they can receive…
Smile is derivative but worth a look for horror fans
What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10 In his feature-length debut, writer-director Parker Finn delivers a psychological horror thriller about Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), who witnesses a traumatic event concerning a patient. Soon after, she begins seeing unexplainable…
Cayucos Vets Hall reconstruction to begin by end of year
Inactive since 2016, the beloved Cayucos Veterans Memorial Hall will finally bustle with rehabilitation work. The upcoming construction will take place because the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, on Oct. 4, unanimously approved funding from multiple streams for the project. Last November, the board approved a $3.5 million loan to the restoration project.…
Devil in Ohio
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2022 Where’s it showing? Netflix Dr. Suzanne Mathis (Emily Deschanel) can’t seem to keep her personal and professional lives separate. When Mae (Madeline Arthur) turns up at the hospital all alone and with a pentagram carved into her back, Suzanne jumps into savior mode and takes the young woman home…
Atascadero and Paso Robles partner for faster internet
On Oct. 3, the cities of Atascadero and Paso Robles announced a new collaborative project to bring better internet access to North County businesses and residents. The North County Broadband Strategic Plan Project is the result of a partnership between Paso Mayor Steve Martin and Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno. “One of the things that we’ve…
‘Retreat rights’?
How’s this for job security? A disgraced California State University (CSU) chancellor who was forced to resign over his mishandling of sexual harassment complaints when he was Fresno State University’s president will now be teaching in Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business as a fully tenured faculty member making a cool $165,564 per year. And…
Correction:
• In the Sept. 15 article, “Paso Robles school board divided on gender-specific titles resolution,” New Times misreported the results of a vote at the Aug. 23 meeting. The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District passed the resolution about gender-specific titles 4-3.
Choose land over money for the Morro Bay power plant property
There’s an opportunity coming up very soon for the citizens of Morro Bay to come together to restore the land that was once just plain beautiful—without the power plant and its remnants of toxic waste. What’s on the table for us? Another corporation, this time with a different idea, wanting to build the largest battery…
Don’t submit to pepper spray or vigilantes
I’m writing to support the wisdom expressed in Dan Cook’s letter regarding the pepper spray incident on the Templeton overpass as it portends the threats to our democracy faced by all of us (“Templeton pepper spray attack is a symptom of political leaders’ rhetoric,” Sept. 29). Many downplay the similarities between the promotion of right-wing…
French Hospital patient advocate connects local Spanish-speaking women with breast cancer care
Obtener ayuda Para hablar con Eloisa Medina sobre la organización de una detección del cáncer de mama en French Hospital o otro centro médico local, llama (805) 786-6130, o visita dignityhealth.org/central-coast/locations/frenchhospital/services/hearst-cancer-resource-center. Get help To speak with Eloisa Medina about scheduling a breast cancer screening at French Hospital or another local health center, call (805) 786-6130…
Vote to keep John Headding as Morro Bay’s mayor
Small-town mayors are often ceremonial figures—smiling for the cameras, welcoming tourists, cutting ribbons, and letting events flow by. Fortunately for us in Morro Bay, John Headding is anything but that type. There have been a number of major issues dropped on us in the last few years, everything from the pandemic to major public works…
Spillover impacts mar SLO’s railroad safe parking program
Thank you, Peter Johnson, for your most insightful article concerning the railroad safe parking program at the railroad area (“SLO delays decision to make railroad safe parking program permanent following complaints,” Sept. 29). The issue is complex involving not only the city’s program, but the spillover effect it created in the surrounding parking area—it is…
Do revenge
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2022 Where’s it showing? Netflix Co-written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Thor: Love and Thunder) and Celeste Ballard (Space Jam: A New Legacy), Robinson directs this dark high school comedy about two mismatched young women at a posh school who make a pact to carry out revenge on one another’s bullies.…
Immigrants just want an opportunity to work hard
John Ashbaugh’s piece titled “Huddled masses” (Sept. 29) is the first and so far very best thing I have ever seen with nearly a half dozen positive strategies for the U.S. embracing the latest immigrant influx from mostly the southern border states. I only hope it can be reprinted and circulated widely among other states’…
SLO County makes private rural camping and RV parking top priorities
San Luis Obispo County planning officials say that not one county in California has passed an ordinance to address the rise in private rural campgrounds and overnight parking sites popularized by apps like Hipcamp and Harvest Host. But on Oct. 4, the SLO County Board of Supervisors gave its staff direction to do just that—and…
Anyone thinking of sitting out SLO County’s 2nd District supervisor race, don’t!
To begin, the district has been gerrymandered to favor Dr. Bruce Jones. Despite being a retired orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jones is an anti-vaxxer?! He has no experience in supervising a county government. He is a GOP hack from St Louis, Missouri. He has no roots in the district. He continues to cast doubt on the…
PG&E’s Diablo Canyon is like the Titanic—a disaster
An interesting thing happened at the SLO County Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Sept. 27. After PG&E’s presentation on SB 846 and its plans to extend operations at Diablo Canyon, the meeting was ending in an impromptu love fest of supervisors thanking and praising PG&E in its “difficult job” of planning for decommissioning while preparing…
Vote Marilyn Rodger for San Luis Coastal school district
School Board elections used to be straightforward enough. Just select a good candidate that had the will and experience to improve our schools and keep them current in this changing world. Now, national political and/or religious factions are targeting school board elections. Their aim is to control boards and thereby control the learning agenda. Look…
Country music icon Willie Nelson & Family plays Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Oct. 9
What can I say about Willie Nelson that you don’t already know? After all, he’s been a country music icon for longer than most of us have been alive. Maybe you didn’t know that Nelson, who stands 5-foot-6, played high school football—he was halfback. His grandfather bought him a guitar when he was 6 and…
Nigerian painter and drummer Abbey Onikoyi offers creative experiences at Spirits of Africa
Come out and play Painter and drummer Abbey Onikoyi has reopened his gallery, Spirits of Africa, in The Network Mall (778 Higuera St., space B, SLO), showing his original paintings as well as offering thrice-weekly art parties where attendees are guided through creating a painting and twice-monthly drum circles. The painting parties run from 5…
Clam poaching tops Fish and Wildlife-related crimes in SLO County
Though the Pismo clam broke its decades-long hiatus from Pismo Beach in 2016, the elusive mollusk has reason to leave again. All summer long, the clams have been subjected to undersized—and consequently, illegal—harvesting. From June until early September, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife documented people poaching 1,174 undersized clams in San Luis Obispo…
LA artist’s stolen paintings recovered in SLO
Danielle Eubank, a Los Angeles-based painter, announced in mid-September that two of her paintings, stolen during the spring of 2021 in the San Luis Obispo area, have been returned. The perpetrators of the crime remain unknown, but Eubank is relieved that her paintings were found, the artist said in a statement from EDNA Contemporary Fine…
Innovative menu at Paso’s In Bloom is a collaboration between culinary heavyweights
For farm-fresh fare Discover what’s In Bloom at 1845 Spring St. at Paso Market Walk. For more information and reservations, visit inbloompasorobles.com. Follow the restaurant on Facebook and Instagram @eatinbloom. Hours are Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 3 to 10 p.m.…
Great American Melodrama brings Scary Poppins to the stage
Scary Poppins, the Great American Melodrama’s latest production, premiered in late September and is scheduled to run through Saturday, Nov. 12, with performances held every Wednesday through Sunday. The plot of this spooky Mary Poppins spoof follows a group of children under the care of a bizarre, demented “super-nanny-gone-ballistic,” according to press materials. The two-act…
Paso school board candidates address critical race theory, LGBTQ-plus issues
At a recent school board candidates forum in Paso Robles, incumbent Chris Arend opened the conversation by addressing the elephant in the room. “One of these things that have been raised is all these social issues, these political issues, what are we doing with that in the school district? Well frankly, these issues have come…
