LOCAL

December 2

Monterey County judge Jennifer O’Keefe sets a new date for the sentencing of Paul Flores, who was convicted of first-degree felony murder in the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart when she was a freshman at Cal Poly. Her body has never been found. Flores, originally set to be sentenced in December, is facing twenty-five years to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Robert Sanger, attorney for Flores, says he has new information that he will use to ask for a new trial, and needs time to prepare. A status hearing is set for February 9, and the motion for a new trial will be heard March 10. If it is denied, sentencing will take place immediately after.

December 5

Dawn Addis of Morro Bay is sworn in to represent most of San Luis Obispo County in the State Assembly. The classroom teacher and former member of the Morro Bay City Council easily won the November election, garnering more than sixty percent of the vote, to represent the new District 30, which includes most of SLO County along with parts of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Addis co-founded the Women’s March SLO while serving as a board member of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and is the first Democratic woman to represent the area in the California Legislature.

December 5

The California Department of Corrections announces that it is closing the West Facility portion of the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. The Level I and II complex houses approximately 2,000 medium- and minimumsecurity inmates in a dormitory setting who will need to be relocated to another prison. Their rehabilitative, educational, and self-help program credits will transfer with them. The inmate total population at CMC was 3,466 in June, with a staffing level of nearly 1,500 employees. It is not clear when the West Facility will close, nor how many employees will be affected.

December 7

The SLO County Clerk-Recorder releases final results of the general election showing that Bruce Gibson won the District 2 Supervisor race against Bruce Jones by a margin of just thirteen votes. The final count shows Gibson with 11,722 votes, or just over fifty percent, and Jones with 11,709 votes, or just under fifty percent. Gibson retains his seat despite radical gerrymandering in the redistricting process. The race was even closer than the District 4 Supervisor race, in which Jimmy Paulding outpaced Lynn Compton by only 639 votes.

December 7

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) awards the first-ever federal Pacific Ocean wind leases to three companies for a combined total of $425.6 million. The leases, covering 240,898 acres, are in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, located about twenty miles west of Cambria and San Simeon. Equinor Wind US, Central California Offshore Wind, and Invenergy California Offshore made the winning bids. The area, spanning some 376 square miles and capable of producing 2.9 gigawatts of electricity, is the largest proposed floating offshore wind project in the United States. The companies have up to a year to submit site assessment plans, and up to five years to submit plans for development and maintenance. BOEM wants to have the project completed by 2030.

December 13

The Paso Robles City Council unanimously approves a $110,171 agreement with Cal Poly’s Digital Transformation Hub to execute a three-part plan for a spaceport and a technology corridor focused on the space industry at the Paso Robles airport. The plan includes completing the FAA spaceport application license process, developing a plan for public-private partnerships across the space technology and agricultural technology industries, creating a website that can be used to promote the city’s vision for a tech corridor, and assessing workforce development needs to make the vision a reality. The spaceport and tech corridor are expected to bring more head-of-household jobs to the North County.