Daily Briefs


Santa Maria junior high students ill from smoking spice

A handful of students from El Camino Junior High School in Santa Maria became ill after smoking spice on Friday morning. The mother of one of the five students who smoked spice before school, found her son unresponsive at their... (Continue reading)

Man who shot and killed his father takes a plea deal

While the jury deliberated, a Santa Maria man on trial for shooting his parents after learning his father had molested his daughters agreed to serve more than 24 years in prison in a plea deal signed Thursday evening. During a... (Continue reading)

Elderly woman dies after Atascadero house fire

An 80-year-old woman died in the hospital Friday following an early morning house fire in Atascadero. Firefighters responded to the fire at 4510 Rosita Avenue around 4:34 a.m. They found the Shirley Martin, a former Templeton High School teacher, unconscious... (Continue reading)

Starbucks to move water business out of California

A week after media reported that Starbucks was running a bottled water business out of drought-stricken areas of California, the coffee giant announced it is moving the sourcing and production of Ethos Water to Pennsylvania. [LA Times] The Starbucks subsidiary... (Continue reading)

Grand jury charges 89-year-old woman with murdering her daughter

The Santa Barbara County Grand Jury has indicted an 89-year-old woman for the murder of her daughter. Solvang resident Heidi Good was suffering from ALS at the time of her death in 2013, but Good’s husband has since maintained in... (Continue reading)

Motorcycle passenger killed in SLO crash

A 29-year-old woman died after being ejected from a motorcycle that collided with a pickup truck Thursday night just outside of San Luis Obispo. [KSBY] The CHP has identified the victim as Molly Bear. The driver of the motorcycle, 47-year-old... (Continue reading)

Sanitation district board hires former IRS investigator for audit

By KAREN VELIE The South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District Board voted 3-0 on Wednesday to hire Knudson and Associates to pursue a financial and past managerial review of the last 12 years. After several years of voting against... (Continue reading)

ASH hit with whistleblower retaliation suit

A former Atascadero State Hospital social worker has filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit alleging hospital management punished her by making her work with a known violent patient who ended up punching her in the face. [Tribune] Amy Consolati, the plaintiff,... (Continue reading)

Burglar caught in Arroyo Grande

Arroyo Grande police caught a suspected thief Tuesday morning standing on a neighboring property of a home he allegedly just burglarized. The victim of the burglary woke up to find Arroyo Grande resident Stephen Onaga in his house, according to... (Continue reading)

Arsonist suspected of setting six fires in SLO

An arsonist or a group of arsonists is suspected of setting six small brush fires in San Luis Obispo Tuesday evening, including one behind the city’s police department. [Tribune] The fires occurred within a span of about four hours and... (Continue reading)