The headline from the California Employment Development Department press release last month touted the drop in unemployment to 12.2 percent, from the previous month’s high of 12.3 percent.
Nov 18, 2009 | 9:15 pm | (3) Comments
In case you wondered how hysteria spreads, we offer the following “news” item, gleaned from a recent Web search. The item’s headline screams:
Nov 18, 2009 | 9:15 pm | (2) Comments
And while the Big Debate over health care continues to boil, there is a subtext argument going on about breast cancer-detection protocols.
Nov 17, 2009 | 9:15 pm | (0) Comments
In the world of sports, the prevailing belief is that a good offense is the best defense. Score enough points, and you don’t have to worry about stopping the other guys from scoring.
Nov 17, 2009 | 9:15 pm | (1) Comments
As America’s trade with the Far East — principally China — expanded massively during the 1980s and 1990s, California reaped the benefits as the gateway for both exports and imports.
Nov 17, 2009 | 9:10 pm | (0) Comments
In California, water policy is an issue that has produced huge conflicts and little progress over the past 30 years. As a result, many farmers have had to cut back their crops because there wasn’t enough water to grow them.
Nov 16, 2009 | 10:00 pm | (3) Comments
Santa Maria is not the world’s most bicycle-friendly community, a fact that has been made abundantly clear in the recent debate over a bike/car incident in which a rider was killed.
Nov 16, 2009 | 10:00 pm | (2) Comments
Have you taken a close look inside your medicine cabinet lately? You know, the one in the bathroom, with its lineup of prescription medicines with expiration dates going back to the Clinton administration.
Nov 16, 2009 | 10:00 pm | (0) Comments
Veteran’s Day has come and gone, and unfortunately, so has the attention many Americans pay to the lives and well-being of our armed forces veterans.
Nov 14, 2009 | 9:40 pm | (0) Comments
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it is refreshing to pause from the many challenges we face and give thanks to one priceless and timeless gift that so many residents up and down the Central Coast give on a regular basis — the gift of community service.
Nov 14, 2009 | 9:40 pm | (0) Comments
With the holidays right around the corner, now more then ever, families are feeling strapped for cash. The thought of affording gifts and a big turkey dinner can be a bit overwhelming for the 12.2 percent of Californians out of work this year.
Nov 14, 2009 | 9:35 pm | (1) Comments
In a long, complicated project like preserving the Gaviota Coast, it’s a good idea to occasionally step back and remind ourselves why we bother. What’s so important about the Gaviota Coast anyway?
Nov 13, 2009 | 11:00 pm | (1) Comments
There was a time in America when Saturdays were really something special, the end of a long work week, when you could forget the nerve-fraying insistence of the alarm clock next to your bed, and get a few extra ZZZZZs. Saturdays were the whole basis for TGIF festivities.
Nov 13, 2009 | 11:00 pm | (1) Comments
The big holidays are rushing toward us like an asteroid homing in on Earth. Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and the space between that respite and the Christmas season barely gives folks a chance to take a deep breath.
Nov 12, 2009 | 9:05 pm | (0) Comments
To learn about local events and people, you can’t beat the local paper.
Nov 12, 2009 | 9:00 pm | (2) Comments
Twenty years ago, voters agreed to tax themselves for road improvements throughout Santa Barbara County. Measure D raised the sales tax rate one-half of 1 percent, and paid for a lot of freeway-construction and road-maintenance projects.
Nov 11, 2009 | 9:55 pm | (4) Comments
At certain times during the year, the Los Angeles Times teams with various research organizations to produce an opinion poll, the purpose of which is to give readers — and voters and lawmakers — an idea of what Californians are really thinking.
Nov 11, 2009 | 9:55 pm | (4) Comments
The last of Santa Maria’s 2009 citywide blood drives is happening this week, and there are plenty of reasons why you should consider being a donor.
Nov 10, 2009 | 11:05 pm | (0) Comments
It’s Veteran’s Day, and there’s something we’d like you to consider doing at precisely 11 a.m. of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year:
Nov 10, 2009 | 11:05 pm | (1) Comments
Here’s a question that all thoughtful college professors must ask themselves occasionally: Beyond the football and fraternities, the manicured lawns and the book-lined shelves in their own offices, beyond the binge drinking and parties and networking and casual sexual liaisons, beyond t…
Nov 10, 2009 | 11:00 pm | (4) Comments
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