County Planners Reject the Island Breeze Cannabis Project
CARPINTERIA, Calif. – Island Breeze Farms, a small greenhouse pot operation across Foothill Road from the Polo Condos at the western end of the…
Continue Reading 
The Island Breeze Cannabis Project Stumbles Again
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif- In an unusual move, the county Planning Commission signaled this week that it may deny a zoning permit for a cannabis…
Continue Reading
Draining Groundwater and Pocketbooks in the Cuyama Valley
A water rights lawsuit by giant carrot corporations, well into its third year, is driving up legal fees and gumming up the plans for sustainability,…
Continue Reading
Island Breeze Farms goes back to the drawing board
The cannabis operation next to the Polo Condos in the Carpinteria Valley must install carbon scrubbers for odor control, county planning commission…
Continue Reading
Cannabis tax reform limps to an uncertain finish line; “It’s so frickin’ complicated,” a county supervisor says
As the county supervisors prepare to vote next week whether to propose a cannabis tax increase for the November ballot, they are facing a dilemma…
Continue Reading
Lompoc Cannabis Lab will pay $1.3 million penalty for air pollution
Lompoc Cannabis Lab will pay $1.3 million penalty for air pollution – the operator will install a state-of-the-art clean-air technology, setting a…
Continue Reading
County CEO: Cannabis tax revenues are falling short — again
County CEO: Cannabis tax revenues are falling short — again. Four pot shops in unincorporated areas were expected to open but didn’t, officials…
Continue Reading
After a state audit, Santa Barbara County will tweak cannabis licensing
After a state audit, Santa Barbara County will tweak cannabis licensing. Small changes such as “blind scoring” will enhance fairness, officials…
Continue Reading
County Supervisors punt on cannabis odor control: Board votes 3-2 for another study on how to solve a six-year-old problem
A long-awaited county Board of Supervisors hearing on cannabis odor control ended in a split vote this week, as three board members voted for more…
Continue Reading
Election Post-Mortem in Carpinteria, the “Land of Weed:” How Roy beat Das 2-1 in their hometown, and what it could mean for cannabis
Election Post-Mortem in Carpinteria, the “Land of Weed:” How Roy beat Das 2-1 in their hometown, and what it could mean for…
Continue Reading
A test oil and gas well will move forward in the Cuyama Valley
An exploratory oil and gas well, the first such project in recent memory in Santa Barbara County, and the first believed ever to be approved for a…
Continue Reading
Dreaming of oil in Cuyama, next to Harvard’s Grapes
A Michigan-based company wants to drill an exploratory well two miles…
Continue Reading
Fan noise from Ever-Bloom Cannabis Greenhouses creates a stir, but county says it does not exceed the legal threshold
The owners of one of the largest cannabis operations in the Carpinteria Valley, leaders in the effort to prevent the smell of pot from drifting into…
Continue Reading
Lompoc Cannabis Lab Averts a Shutdown Order … For Now
Central Coast Agriculture, a major polluter, has 60 days to get clean-air permits, regulators…
Continue Reading
The Cuyama Valley launches a carrot boycott
Farmers and ranchers take aim at Bolthouse and Grimmway, the carrot corporations that are suing all other landowners over water…
Continue Reading
Marilyn McMahon, veteran News-Press reporter, is dead at 93
Marilyn McMahon, a Santa Barbara News-Press features writer and a fixture at the now-defunct paper for 48 years, died at her home across from the…
Continue Reading
Feds petition D.C. judges to find News-Press owner Wendy McCaw in contempt of court
Feds cite News-Press owner’s “willful refusal to comply” with 2017 court…
Continue Reading
Showdown in the High Desert
Faced with mandatory pumping cutbacks, the biggest water guzzlers in the Cuyama Valley are forcing farmers, ranchers, water agencies and the school…
Continue Reading Amid a glut of pot on the market, county supervisors back stiffer penalties for growers who file taxes late or not at all
Against a backdrop of sinking cannabis tax revenues, the county Board of Supervisors took steps this month to get tough with growers who fail to…
Continue Reading
Mixed messages: county sues a Carpinteria valley cannabis grower, then okays a permit
It’s been a smelly five years with little relief at the Polo Condos, neighbors of Island Breeze…
Continue Reading