Daily Briefs


SLO County supervisors dump plans to become a charter county

By KAREN VELIE The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to indefinitely postpone plans to move from a general law county governed by the California Government Code to a charter county with one unique law, a mandate... (Continue reading)

COVID cases and deaths on the rise in San Luis Obispo County

By KAREN VELIE San Luis Obispo County has reached a grim milestone, more than 500 residents have died from COVID. The county reported four additional deaths during the past week. COVID cases continue to gradually increase. The county reported a... (Continue reading)

Fire scorches Templeton home

By KAREN VELIE An early morning fire scorched a single-family home in Templeton on Wednesday. At 5:34 a.m., a caller reported the blaze burning at a home on Sunnyside Way, according to Cal Fire. Firefighters from Cal Fire and the... (Continue reading)

ExxonMobil sues Santa Barbara County over oil transportation denial

By KAREN VELIE ExxonMobil is suing the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors after it denied a request to restart offshore oil wells shut down in 2015 following an oil pipeline spill. Specifically, ExxonMobil asked the county board to approve... (Continue reading)

Sick pelicans showing up along California’s Central Coast

By KAREN VELIE Wildlife organizations report a large increase in the number of sick and dying brown pelicans along the coastlines of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties during the past three days. Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network... (Continue reading)

CHP identifies Nipomo teen killed in hit-and-run crash

By JOSH FRIEDMAN The CHP has identified the 19-year-old Nipomo man who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle on Los Berrros Road last Thursday as Joshua Thomas Edward McFarland. At about 11:20 p.m., McFarland... (Continue reading)

California judge deems gender quota for corporate boards unconstitutional

By JOSH FRIEDMAN For the second consecutive month, a judge has struck down a California law requiring diversity on corporate boards. SB 826, signed into law in 2018, required every publicly traded California company to have one female director on... (Continue reading)

Judge sentences five Santa Maria gang members to life in prison

By JOSH FRIEDMAN Five Santa Maria MS-13 gang members each received life sentences without parole on Monday for a series of murders and other crimes they committed in Northern Santa Barbara County. Amid a string of gang violence, murders in... (Continue reading)

Judge rejects another attempt to dismiss lawsuit alleging bias in Atascadero

By KAREN VELIE After losing a motion to dismiss a case against Atascadero and two City Council members for alleged bias and prejudice, the city filed a motion to strike most of the allegations, which led the judge again to... (Continue reading)

Santa Barbara massage therapist accused of sexual assault

By JOSH FRIEDMAN A man who allegedly operated an unlicensed massage parlor in Santa Barbara is accused of committing multiple sexual assaults at his facility. Bernardo Rojas Ruiz, 43, allegedly ran a massage therapy business at a party supplies and... (Continue reading)