Uncovered SLO


Superintendent skips class to spend time with teenage girlfriend

Last week, taxpayers paid for the San Miguel Joint Union School District superintendent to attend a symposium in Monterey. However, Supt. Dean Smith apparently skipped some of the meetings to spend time with a teenager with whom he is allegedly... (Continue reading)

Are patients dying while hospitals battle over profits?

While San Luis Obispo County hospitals are devoting major marketing dollars to the battle over who is in the best position to treat trauma cases, people with major life-threatening injuries may not be getting the critical care they need, when... (Continue reading)

Is Sheriff Hedges missing in action?

Is San Luis Obispo County Sheriff-Coroner Pat Hedges actively running the sheriff's department, or is he allowing a temporary employee to cover his repeated absences? Following the retirement of Undersheriff Steve Bolts on Jan. 1, Hedges declined to hire a permanent... (Continue reading)

Top two sheriff officials double and triple dipping

Though highly unusual, the methods San Luis Obispo County’s two top sheriff officials have adopted to double and even triple their incomes are entirely legal. In an interesting twist, San Luis Obispo County Under Sheriff Steve Bolts is taking home between... (Continue reading)

Weyrich living high while employees and brides-to-be suffer

While North County businessman David Weyrich has insufficient funds in his accounts to cover payroll checks and has refused to return wedding reservation deposits, he continues to live high on the hog, CalCoastNews has learned. Employees of Weyrich’s Villa Toscana have... (Continue reading)

Orcutt doctor disciplined for gross negligence

The Medical Board of California put an Orcutt doctor on three years probation for prescribing Viagra over the internet to patients he had not examined, according to a Jan. 13 board Settlement and Disciplinary Order. “It is hereby ordered that physician’s... (Continue reading)

Dog busts Atascadero State Hospital pot party

By KAREN VELIE A canine police officer is being credited with busting a group of patients at Atascadero State Hospital for allegedly smoking marijuana on Jan. 5. After the canine officer discovered a group of patients that smelled of marijuana, two patients... (Continue reading)

EXCLUSIVE: Doctor accused of running a medical marijuana mill

Former co-workers are accusing Dr. Atsuko Rees, a physician at HealthWorks in San Luis Obispo until July 2009, of writing medical marijuana prescriptions for almost anyone who asked, while not claiming the bulk of payments for the visits as income. The... (Continue reading)

Sheriff’s destruction of medical marijuana leads to lawsuit

A Los Osos woman filed a lawsuit seeking $36,000 to replace six pounds of medical marijuana the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department seized from her home and then destroyed. Before 1988, Kimberly Marshall worked in the foreclosure industry. Her life changed... (Continue reading)

Computer snafu temporarily halts birth control prescriptions program

A computer glitch with California Department of Health Services Computers prohibited low income patients from filling birth control prescriptions during that past few days. Pharmacists throughout the state, who attempted to fill certain birth control prescriptions for patients covered by the... (Continue reading)