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San Luis Obispo police holding DUI checkpoint Friday night

By KAREN VELIE San Luis Obispo police plan to conduct a DUI checkpoint in the city on the 900 block of Marsh Street on Friday evening from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. The department selects the location based on a... (Continue reading)

Candidates for this week’s dumbest criminal in San Luis Obispo

By KAREN VELIE Three people are facing mutiple criminal charges after attempting to transport drugs in a vehicle with expired tags in San Luis Obispo on Monday. Shortly before 3 am, an officer spotted a car with expired registration traveling... (Continue reading)

San Luis Obispo Juneteenth celebration canceled, NAACP president suspended

By KAREN VELIE The Juneteenth celebration in San Luis Obispo has been canceled amid issues with a former president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Juneteenth is a federal holiday that... (Continue reading)

Lompoc domestic violence suspect arrested after standoff

By JOSH FRIEDMAN Lompoc police arrested a domestic violence suspect on Tuesday following a standoff with officers, including the local SWAT team. In the early afternoon, a witness reported a domestic dispute between a male and a female at an... (Continue reading)

Grover Beach police recover stolen vehicle, arrest thief

By KAREN VELIE An alleged car thief is in jail after he led Grover Beach officers on a high-speed chase on Tuesday morning in a vehicle he stole in Paso Robles, police said. Shortly before 10 a.m., a community service... (Continue reading)

Sanctuary jurisdictions in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara counties

By KAREN VELIE The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday released a list of states, cities and counties it claims are defying federal immigration laws. The list identifies three jurisdictions in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. On... (Continue reading)

Woman charged with embezzlement in Carpinteria, again

By KAREN VELIE Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives arrested a 53-year-old woman today for allegedly embezzling more than $750,000 from a business in Carpinteria. In February, an organic food supplement business in the 500-block of Maple Avenue reported suspected embezzlement.... (Continue reading)

Disbarred attorney sentenced to 7 years in prison for swindling clients

By KAREN VELIE Disbarred personal injury attorney Thomas Girardi was sentenced today to 87 months in federal prison for leading a years-long scheme in which he embezzled tens of millions of dollars of settlement money that belonged to his clients,... (Continue reading)

Friendliest hardware store in America

Editor’s Note: The following series, “Life in Radically Gentrifying Cayucos by the Sea,” to be posted biweekly includes the notes, thoughts, and opinions of an original American voice: author Dell Franklin.  Franklin’s memoir, “The ballplayer’s Son” and “Life on The... (Continue reading)

Prosecutors seek to try Santa Maria murder suspects as adults

By KAREN VELIE The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office is seeking to move the trials of three suspects in a 2023 murder in Santa Maria from juvenile court to adult court. The three suspects were minors at the time... (Continue reading)