By KAREN VELIE With costs outpacing revenues, Santa Maria is struggling with a $21 million budget deficit. The city is considering raising taxes and cutting expenditures. The primary cost driver is increased salary and benefits for city staff, according to... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE Nearly 3,000 PG&E customers lost power in Atascadero and Templeton on Friday morning. At 5.26 a.m., 2,915 PG&E customers lost power from Highway 41 in Atascadero to just south of Vineyard Drive in Templeton. Witnesses report hearing... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE The Templeton California Highway Patrol is seeking the public’s help in finding the vandal or vandals who splatter paint on Highway 46 in the Vineyard Drive area. Officers are seeking information on the vandal who tossed paint... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE A jury this week found a 45-year-old Morro Bay man guilty of making criminal threats against his former girlfriend. From Dec. 31, 2023 through Jan. 6, 2024, Eric Douglas Zentzis left over 50 voicemails and sent multiple... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE Nearly 3,000 PG&E customers lost power in San Luis Obispo County on Thursday afternoon. At 2:39 p.m., 2,989 PG&E customers lost power from northern San Luis Obispo through southern Santa Margarita. By 4: p.m., PG&E restored power... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department reported today that a 40-year-old inmate died from brain trauma after having a seizure and hitting his head on the ground last month. The coroner found Antonio Alvarado Orozco of Santa... (Continue reading)
OPINION by RICHARD SCHMIDT California’s new carbon-saving mantra seems to be “screw the small solar guy.” Small guys like me. In 2003, we went PV solar not because it made any economic sense, but because it was to us clearly... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE The San Luis Obispo CHP is seeking the public’s help to solve a hit-and-run crash in Nipomo on Sept. 17. Shortly before 7:30 p.m., a motorcycle and vehicle a vehicle collided on Tefft Street near Highway 101.... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE After allegedly setting a commercial building on fire in Santa Maria on Tuesday, a 33-year-old man came back and filmed firefighters extinguishing the blaze. Shortly after midnight, a caller reported a fire burning at a vacant commercial... (Continue reading)
By KAREN VELIE San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg snapped at callers, interrupted them and yelled during a drama-filled interview with KVEC radio talk show host Dave Congalton on Sept. 30. On a previous show on Sept. 21, two... (Continue reading)