Daily Briefs


San Luis Obispo police chief to retire

San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deborah Linden announced Wednesday she plans to retire at the end of the year. Hired in 2003, Linden worked to stop Mardi Gras celebrations in the city. Linden also led the efforts to modify the... (Continue reading)

Hundreds of California’s state employees earn more than $240,000

More than 500 of California’s public service workers earned more than $240,000 before taxes in 2010, according to data released Tuesday by state Controller John Chiang. [San Francisco Chronicle] As legislators last year worked feverishly to reduce spending in the... (Continue reading)

Bill would require California schools to teach contributions of homosexuals

California’s students may soon be instructed on the contributions of homosexuals if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill that lawmakers delivered to him on Tuesday. [Associated Press] The bill, SB48, adds lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as well as... (Continue reading)

SLO City Council endorses parking permit fees

Despite mounting frustrations over the issuance of residential parking permits, the San Luis Obispo City Council introduced an ordinance amendment Tuesday to establish fees for the permits. The council voted 4-0 (Mayor Jan Marx abstained because her home is in a... (Continue reading)

Deputy stun guns patient at Templeton emergency room

A San Luis Obispo County Sheriff deputy used a stun gun on a 19-year-old intoxicated patient at the Twin Cities Community Hospital Emergency Room on Monday. [KCOY] Chad Gross, 19, of Camarillo was found unconscious at Lake Nacimiento and transported... (Continue reading)

Parolee sentenced in SLO County Sheriff deputy assault

The Salinas parolee who ran his truck into a San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $7,000 in restitution on Tuesday. Michael Youngblood, 26, pleaded no contest to a felony... (Continue reading)

Japan’s tsunami debris headed for California beaches

Millions of tons of debris from Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in March are slowly making their way across the Pacific Ocean; scientists using computer models say the West Coast will be inundated with the stuff by 2013 or 2014.... (Continue reading)

Child drowns at Lake Nacimiento

UPDATE: Divers with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department found the body of a 4-year-old girl in about six feet of water at Lake Nacimiento on Sunday. Park rangers told deputies Araceli Garcia of Greenfield, Calif.,went missing shortly after... (Continue reading)

Immigration status could block children from public healthcare

As many as 220,000 uninsured children in California will be excluded from health care reform programs because of their or their parents’ immigration status, according to an analysis released Thursday. [CaliforniaWatch] When fully implemented in 2014, the Patient Protection and... (Continue reading)

Dumb protester of the week

A motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws died Saturday after he flipped over the bike’s handlebars and hit his head on the pavement. [AP] The accident happened Saturday afternoon in upstate New York near Syracuse. Phillip A.... (Continue reading)