Daily Briefs


Another elected county official leaves office early

San Luis Obispo County Treasurer-Tax Collector Frank Freitas announced Wednesday he will retire on Friday less than two years into a four year term. Two months ago, SLO County Auditor-Controller Gere Sibbach announced he will retire on Dec. 29, also... (Continue reading)

Credit card breach at SLO Barnes & Noble

Hackers have stolen credit card information from customers of 63 Barnes & Noble stores across the country, including the San Luis Obispo store. [LATimes] On Sept. 14, Barnes & Noble discovered that the customer information had been stolen but kept... (Continue reading)

Abel Maldonado’s mounting tax troubles

Note: this story first appeared in Noozhawk, an online news source in Santa Barbara County. By Gina Potthoff, Noozhawk Staff Writer Congressional candidate Abel Maldonado raised thousands of dollars for a state re-election bid during a party that his family’s... (Continue reading)

SLO County jobless rate drops to 7.4 percent

San Luis Obispo County is ranked fifth out of 58 California counties for lower numbers of unemployed workers, according to a report released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. In California, Marin County is ranked number one with an... (Continue reading)

City attorney reviewing Ashbaugh’s alleged campaign misconduct

The San Luis Obispo City Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that it is evaluating the complaint made by four candidates for public office against councilman and candidate for reelection John Ashbaugh. Council candidates Kevin Rice and Matt Strzpek, as well as... (Continue reading)

Cuesta College students help veterans

Cuesta College communications studies teacher Beth-Ann Dumas is a big fan of experiential learning. For members of her small group discussion class, learning by doing means planning and implementing a project that fulfills a community or Cuesta need. One project... (Continue reading)

Man killed by shark near Vandenberg Air Force Base

A shark attacked a 38-year-old man who was surfing with friends off of Ocean Beach near Vandenberg Air Force Base earlier today. The man later died later from his injuries A friend of the victim witnessed the attack, pulled the... (Continue reading)

Newspaper publishes phony anti-Lois Capps letter

The Santa Maria Times, on Saturday, posted a phony letter to the editor slamming Congresswoman Lois Capps’ performance and claiming a Democratic Club had refused to endorse the democratic candidate for the 23rd District. “As a Democratic Club we should... (Continue reading)

Capps taps Fluke to campaign on women’s rights

Democrat Congresswoman Lois Capps called on Georgetown Law graduate and renowned target of radio host Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke, on Monday to help her campaign. [Noozhawk] After Capps explained her own record of supporting women, Fluke spoke on behalf of... (Continue reading)

SLO candidates accuse Ashbaugh of election code violations

San Luis Obispo City Council candidate Kevin Rice filed a complaint with the city clerk Tuesday accusing his opponent, incumbent John Ashbaugh, of misusing city resources to benefit his campaign and violating a campaign finance code that the councilman voted... (Continue reading)