Cover Story
Summer Guide 2023
After a winter and spring of more rain than most of us have ever seen on the Central Coast, everyone’s ready for some warmth. Well, if the sun’s out, the fun’s out—and the kids are also out … of school. So if you’re looking for ways to celebrate that summer lifestyle; places to stick your…
Deaf theater troupe, Sunshine 2.0, performs for SLO and SB County students
In mid-May, Sunshine 2.0—a professional theater troupe from the Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf—held a series of theater workshops for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students from schools across Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The student workshops took place at Ralph Dunlap Elementary School in Orcutt, while the…
Americans should be more appalled
The Supreme Court has a serious ethics problem, and the latest revelations about Clarence Thomas should be alarming to every American. For 20 years, Thomas has accepted high-end, luxury, all-expense-paid vacations around the world from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. What’s more, he also sold three properties to the billionaire and never reported it on his…
Fast X is a bombastic hoot
FAST X What’s it rated? PG-13What’s it worth, Glen? Full priceWhat’s it worth, Anna? Full priceWhere’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10, Sunset Drive-In Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), the vengeful son of slain drug lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), blames Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) for his father’s death, but he doesn’t just…
Crack down on the highest court
The recent news about Clarence Thomas’ financial entanglements with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow should be alarming to every American. This is what happens when the highest court in the land is given free rein to police itself. Clarence Thomas isn’t the first justice to engage in unethical behavior. And if Congress continues to ignore the…
Arroyo Grande High School stages production of The Prom
The Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Arroyo Grande presents Arroyo Grande High School’s production of The Prom for one week only, with performances on May 25, 26, and 27, at 7 p.m. each evening, and an additional afternoon showing on May 27 at 2 p.m. The cast of the show includes Arroyo Grande…
Embrace white fear? Nah thanks.
It seems like a lot of people are having a conniption over the racists who held an “EMBRACE WHITE PRIDE” banner on the Vineyard Drive bridge in Templeton on April 29. Local organizations Little Queer Paso and the SLO County Branch of the NAACP are contacting everyone from Caltrans to the SLO County Board of…
A Small Light
What’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2023 Where’s it showing? ABC, Disney Plus, Hulu, National Geographic A Small Light follows Miep Geis, a young Dutch woman who sheltered and hid the Frank family for more than two years during World War II. Portrayed by Bel Powley, Miep struggles with the terror of hiding the family as…
Take a tour of Indo-Chinese cooking through Calcutta’s iconic Bar-B-Q restaurant
Around the world Visiting Calcutta? Check out Bar-B-Q. Call +91 (033) 3028-8689 to reserve a table, or walk into the restaurant on 47 Park St., Calcutta, from noon until 10:45 p.m. on weekdays, and until 11 p.m. on weekends. My love for regional Chinese food is insatiable and never-ending. I’ve demolished fair portions of it…
SLO Airport area residents demand cleanup of ‘forever chemicals’ in groundwater
More than 40 people packed a meeting room near the San Luis Obispo County Airport on May 22 to ask a panel of county officials for one thing: clean water. “Forever chemicals” known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been detected at high levels in the groundwater near the SLO Airport, impacting dozens of…
Morro Bay songstress Amalia Fleming returns from Nashville for some hometown shows
Like a lot of songwriters, Amalia Fleming has the trials and tribulations of romance on her mind. On her newest EP produced by Tyson Leonard, Shifting States, all five songs examine ups and (mostly) downs of relationships. “The Truth Is” a song about loneliness and abandonment: “I don’t want to sound like another lost soul/…
The Diplomat
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2023 Where’s it showing? Netflix Creator Debora Cahn (The West Wing, Homeland) helms this new Netflix series about a career diplomat who’s used to dealing with messy situations. In fact, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) thought her next posting was Afghanistan, but after a British aircraft carrier is bombed in an…
After a white pride sign showed up on a Templeton bridge, residents are banding together to counter hate
What started as a rally against a banner in Templeton with the phrase “EMBRACE WHITE PRIDE” emblazoned across it has turned into a movement. According to Eric Alcosiba with Little Queer Paso, this movement comprises people pushing for an end to white supremacist ideology in San Luis Obispo County. “When it comes to things like…
Fire Authority agrees to OCSD’s terms for fire services contract
The Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) prevailed in its attempt to negotiate an interim emergency fire and medical services contract with the Five Cities Fire Authority (FCFA). In a unanimous vote on May 24, the Arroyo Grande City Council accepted the changes the OCSD wanted to a proposal the city had drafted with its neighbor…
Morro Bay wants to address Highway 1 homeless encampment
Individuals living at a homeless encampment in Morro Bay along Quintana Road and Highway 1 may soon be the potential benefactors of a housing program. At its May 23 meeting, the Morro Bay City Council expressed its support for SLO County to apply for a $5 million grant from the California Encampment Resolution Funding Program,…
Georgia Brown elementary to remain at its campus after school board pauses remodel
The whiplash continues for Georgia Brown Elementary School in Paso Robles. As teachers and staff packed up their classrooms and offices to prepare for a move to a temporary campus this summer, unforeseen circumstances are forcing a last-minute change of plans. An “anomalous feature” found 30 feet below the 36th Street campus—a potential earthquake fault…
DA’s Office prosecutes deadly fentanyl sale as homicide
San Luis Obispo County is possibly facing a first: prosecuting a fentanyl overdose death as a homicide. On May 15, the Sheriff’s Office arrested Templeton native Brandi Turner for allegedly selling fentanyl to 31-year-old Quinn Hall that resulted in his death. Hall’s body was discovered behind the county Animal Services building on Oklahoma Avenue on…
Paso Robles airport renovations create potential testing site for moon projects
As the Paso Robles Spaceport Project begins a long ascent to its final form, it’s helping serve as testing grounds for projects that could get mankind closer to the moon. “Major space initiatives such as NASA’s Artemis project involve a wide range of specialized firsts to create new tech required for space exploration,” said Paso…
SLO Partners is offering scholarships to women for a career-setting summer course in STEM
San Luis Obispo County’s manufacturing industry is anticipating a rise in the number of women in the workforce. This June, SLO Partners—a nonprofit economic development initiative of the county Office of Education—will bring back the Modern Manufacturing Bootcamp course. It’s meant to increase women’s representation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields through a…
Protection that matters
Gabriella is a survivor of intimate partner violence. When they were together, Gabriella’s husband was very controlling and would sometimes hit Gabriella or threaten her with his handgun. Gabriella is now separated from her husband, but he continues to contact her. He leaves her frequent messages, and sometimes shows up to her work or home…
Santa Barbara native and Hollywood actor Timothy James Bottoms releases The Pier, a childhood memoir
Fresh catch The Pier: A Fisherman’s Story, a memoir by Hollywood actor Timothy James Bottoms, is now available in paperback and eBook from Barnes & Noble. Everyone has a cherished childhood memory. Maybe it’s that feeling of freedom that came with riding your bike down a treelined country road or swimming in the ocean for…
Beware of the Administrative State, the fourth branch of government
Tom Bordonaro is spot on in his support for the California state Board of Equalization remaining an elected body (“Protect accountability to taxpayers by keeping the state Board of Equalization,” May 18). The citizens of California deserve accountability from bureaucrats that expect such large remittances from taxpayers. The last thing they need is another unaccountable,…
SLO, Santa Barbara county school districts partner with local Medi-Cal plan to revamp mental health services on campuses
Twenty-one percent of San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) ninth graders reported that they seriously considered suicide in 2021. Another 37 percent said they felt chronically sad or hopeless—a number that has steadily ticked up in recent years, according to California Healthy Kids survey results. “Student behavioral and mental health needs have increased, and…
If you don’t like the proposed marine sanctuary, ask for changes
We’ve all heard that expression, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!” There is nowhere this might better be applied than to the issue of the designation of a marine sanctuary off our Central California Coast. Many support the designation as is; all well and good. These folks are just pleased as punch…
