Cover Story
Winning Images 2018: See the people, places, and more that won top honors in our annual photography contest
A picture is more than just the image it portrays. It encompasses the way the photographer who captured it sees light and dark, angles and lines, animate and inanimate. Each snapshot is as unique as the person holding the camera. Since 1994, New Times Media Group has invited local photographers to show us life from…
SB County pays SLO County back for emergency assistance
Santa Barbara County is reimbursing San Luis Obispo County for its help during the Thomas Fire and subsequent mudslides to the tune of more than half a million dollars. The SLO County Board of Supervisors voted June 17 to accept $613,651 for expenses incurred by the SLO County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement…
Italiano!
Bella bites: Harmony Cafe at the Pewter Plough Playhouse (824 Main St., Cambria) has revamped its already killer menu to include pizzas made with imported Italian flour, fresh yeast, and the best EVOO topped with everything from baked eggplant to roasted chicken to salami! You can also find house-made tortellini and capellacci and salads that…
Social media sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts about our June 14 news story, “Grand jury says Oceano Dunes dust is a risk to ‘thousands.'”
A sea education: Central Coast Aquarium welcomes new executive director, continues mission to teach community about marine life
Among Avila Beach’s hidden treasures is one that is as blue and calm as the ocean. The Central Coast Aquarium is housed in a deep blue building just off Avila Beach Drive. Entering the two-story facility, you’re instantly greeted by an antique diving suit, children’s voices, and the sounds of water filtering in tanks. The…
Cheers!
Meet ya on Broad: Broad Street Public House (3590 Broad St., SLO) is officially open for biz! Billed as “a neighborhood beer and wine pub/community place to gather around beverages and enjoy fellow human beings,” this spot offers food, darts, a vinyl turntable, and Sunday brunch (learn more by following the business on Facebook) ……
Studios on the Park art show focuses on rock ‘n’ roll
Rock on Rock ‘N’ Roll Transcending will be on display at Studios on the Park in Paso Robles through July 1 and features the works of Alan Messer, Bob Schneider, Brandon Boyd, Brian Duffy, Celeste Hope, David Corio, Gareth Maguire, Geoff MacCormack, Ian Tilton Jorgen Angel, and Kirk Weddle. Visit studiosonthepark.org for more information. Celeste…
Summer savor now
Throw it in the pot: Make use of all your spring seasonal surplus with a few luscious recipes courtesy of SLO County’s favorite food savers, GleanSLO. Sign up for the nonprofit’s mailing list and learn about how you can transform your green garden haul into artichoke lemon pasta; snap pea, radish, and avocado salad; or…
Selections: Bay Area exhibit highlights two San Francisco artists
Hella art The Selections: Bay Area exhibit, featuring the works of San Francisco artists Anne Subercaseaux and Flora Davis, will be on display at the SLO Museum of Art through Aug. 19. A reception with the artists will be held June 23 from 2 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided.…
Hat’s off to you, Vlad
I don’t know how long it took you to assemble this program of destruction to our democracy and humanity. However you pulled it off, Vladimir Putin, you sure must have had a lot of friends (on the inside) to get so much accomplished in less than two years. Yes, two short years is all it…
A-Town bound
Atascadero’s annual Lakeside Wine Fest grand tasting uncorks this June 23, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Atascadero Lake Park, which (as I spent some childhood years in A-Town) I will always associate with the nearby Charles Paddock Zoo. Long gone are the days when the best thing to do at the park was…
Brazilian singer Seu Jorge plays the Fremont Theater on June 25
Like a lot of his fans, I “discovered” Seu Jorge when he played Pelé dos Santos, the acoustic-guitar-playing David-Bowie-cover-singing member of the Calypso crew in auteur Wes Anderson’s 2004 Jacque Cousteau comedy homage The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Seu Jorge’s renditions of “Starman,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Rock & Roll Suicide,” “Life on Mars?,” and “Five…
American gun culture
Tesa Becica’s recent opinion piece (“Guns aren’t the problem, society is,” June 14) dances around some telling statistics, misuses other statistics, and applies a distorted logic that appears too frequently in these pages. This country’s gun problem is framed by the facts, which have been well documented for decades in worldwide gun ownership and homicide…
SLOMA receives grant for outreach to at-risk youth
The California Arts Council will award a $2,500 planning grant to the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art as part of its JUMP StArts program, museum officials announced June 12. The JUMP StArts program is specifically for youth in the juvenile justice system. The museum will use the grant to establish the roles and responsibilities…
Stop child concentration camps
Christians, Rejoice! Biblical scripture is now the law of the land! Kidnapping and disappearing children of asylum seekers from Central America, ripping them from their parents, is ordained by God. The resultant trauma inflicted is a righteous club intended to outweigh that inflicted by the life-threatening conditions in their homelands. Ku-Klux-Klan-infused Attorney General Jeff Sessions…
Compton loses court case, remains ahead in District 4 supervisor race
Neither Supervisor Lynn Compton nor her challenger Jimmy Paulding was in the room on June 15 when San Luis Obispo County election workers processed and counted what was likely the decisive batch of ballots in the 4th District county supervisor race. Instead, a small group of the candidates’ closest confidants huddled together in the bullpen…
The progressive takeover of SLO City Council is no good
I was ecstatic when I saw Bernie Sanders finally rise to fame, and I voted for him. My enthusiasm quickly waned because the progressive movement that first supported him was obviously taking over. I do not recognize Sanders in the present SLO Progressives, who put ideology above the will of the majority of our residents,…
Morro Bay’s reclamation pipe dream
The Morro Bay City Council has been selling (and I mean selling) Morro Bay citizens on the idea that the outrageously expensive sewage treatment plant 3 miles out of town is going to be a state-of-the-art water reclamation plant. The only problem is there is no hard evidence that the city will ever be able…
Cannabis application process ‘a war’ in SLO County, industry reps say
With just a single cannabis business permitted and only six given temporary state licenses to operate aboveboard as of June 1, industry members and advocates blasted San Luis Obispo County at a Board of Supervisors meeting for having a “broken” permitting process that feels like a “war” between applicants and county staff. County planning staff…
We can’t do WWII anymore
Historians unhesitatingly heap praise on the “Greatest Generation” and so they should. They toughed out the Great Depression, the dust storms of the Great Plains, drought, and crushing poverty for more than a decade and then took on and crushed two highly militarized dictatorships in less than four years, then rebuilt Western Europe’s economy. They…
About face: SLO County Veterans Services has worked ‘relentlessly’ toward improvement, says department head
The old photos of SLO County’s Veterans Services Office (VSO) are grim. They show walls with large splotches of crumbling plaster and cardboard boxes carelessly stacked against counters. “The condition of the office was very poor,” Veterans Services Officer Christopher Lopez told members of the SLO County Board of Supervisors June 11. “The carpet was…
Zeros
Wahhh! I haven’t heard this much crying since John “Spray Tan” Boehner was House Speaker. Of course, this time around it’s not a visit by Pope Francis or being handed the gavel that’s got a “brown” person’s waterworks flowing. No, it’s the caterwauling of actual brown children being separated from their brown parents at the…
Carbajal pushes bill to end family separation
The Trump Administration’s policy of separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents sparked a wave of planned protests and rebukes by U.S. lawmakers, including those on the Central Coast. U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) told New Times that his office was flooded with more than 2,000 phone call, emails, and other communications expressing outrage…
Let your little one’s imagination out to play with Pyjama Drama Central Coast
Pyjama Drama Central Coast will host a class for youngsters, to sing, dance, and play pretend. The class will explore different themes and lead in different directions each week. This program is designed to promote development in children ages 6 months to 7 years old, and helps to boost their confidence, concentration, and imagination. After…
Fracking ban heads to November ballot
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors managed to maneuver into compromise during a tense June 19 discussion that could have left a routine decision up to the courts. The debate over just how to package the citizens’ initiative to ban fracking and oil expansion in SLO County for the November ballot had supervisors…
City by the Bay: A short trip to enjoy the delights of the bustle of San Francisco
Check out the foggy city Visit sftravel.com to plan your next visit to San Francisco. It’s Memorial Day weekend when my brother and I decide on a whim to take a short trip to San Francisco. I went to the Fog City three years ago for the Outside Lands music festival. The festival was in…
Paso police officer under investigation
A Paso Robles police sergeant is under investigation after allegations that he committed a “serious criminal act” surfaced last month. Paso Police Chief Ty Lewis confirmed that the officer, identified as Sgt. Chris McGuire, has been on paid leave since May 9 while the SLO Sheriff’s Office conducts an investigation into the unspecified allegations. “Regretfully,…
‘Incredibles 2’ is a fun sequel, but not worth the 14-year wait
INCREDIBLES 2 What’s it rated? PG What’s it worth, Ryah? Rental What’s it worth, Spencer? Full Price Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10, Sunset Drive-In Editor’s note: Arts Editor Ryah Cooley and Sun Staff Writer Spencer Cole stepped in to write this week’s Split Screen while Glen and Anna Starkey were partying…
Cities enticed back to animal shelter project
Promising to shave $1 million off the cost of a new animal shelter, San Luis Obispo County appears to have convinced two estranged city partners to rejoin the regional project. On June 19, SLO County supervisors approved an amendment to the original animal shelter agreement with all seven local cities aimed at luring Paso Robles…
Guilty Pleasures: Spawn
When? 1997 What’s it rated? PG-13 (theatrical release), R (director’s cut) Where’s it available? Hulu, DVD Some of you may be too young to remember this, but there was once a time when not every comic book movie was a smash hit. In fact, in those dark days most attempts to translate comic-book heroes to…
Sanitation District hires administrator
Ten months after its last full-time administrator left his post, the South SLO County Sanitation District’s board of directors voted to hire his replacement. The three-member board voted unanimously June 14 to hire Jeremy Ghent as sanitation district administrator. Ghent, who starts his new job July 2, is a licensed civil engineer and currently works…
Film Listings, 6/21/18 – 6/28/18
ADRIFT What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Rental Where’s it showing? Stadium 10 Baltasar Kormákur (Contraband, 2 Guns, Everest) directs this true story of survival about Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Sam Clafin), two free-spirited lovers and avid sailors who set off to cross an ocean only to encounter a catastrophic hurricane…
Paso mulls new conference center
Paso Robles city leaders are teaming up to explore building what’s dreamed up as the largest conference center in SLO County, a proposed $26-million, 19,500 square-foot facility across the street from the Paso Robles fairgrounds. The Paso Robles Event Center, Travel Paso, and the city of Paso Robles unveiled a draft feasibility study of the…
The Truck is a mobile feast for fans of Il Cortile and La Cosecha
Keep on Truckin’ The Truck full-service mobile catering company is located in Paso Robles. Check it out for yourself at Rava Wine Company in Paso Robles on Aug. 4. To book The Truck, or to find out where it’s heading next, go to thetruckpaso.com. On-site catering—with its intense prepping and controlled chaos—is a heck of…
