The family of Betty Scott asked me to emcee her Celebration of Life this week. It was held Nov. 29 at the Paso Robles Golf Club. The memorial service began at 2 p.m. with 170 friends and family joining in the celebration. As a long-time friend of the family, it was an honor to help…
Category: Current Events
Local holiday wine recommendations
For the fifth year in a row, I thought it would be a great idea to recommend local wines for upcoming holiday parties, dinners, and gift giving. Once again, I received an amazing amount of participation from our local wineries. Over the last few weeks, I received more than 100 entries. After tasting and tasting,…
Popularity of online news continues to grow
While print newspapers continue to close around the country, the popularity of local online news continues to grow. When we started the Paso Robles Daily News almost six years ago, we had no idea how successful it would become. With a record number of subscribers, readership continues to grow every month. Paso Robles Daily News…
Digital news subscriptions continue to grow, while print falls
A recent report from the Pew Research Center says nationwide printed newspaper weekday circulation has dropped to 34.7 million nationwide, the lowest it’s been in more than 70 years. The only time it was lower was in 1940 when circulation stood at 32 million and the US population was 132 million, compared to 325 million…
Search engine optimization basics for small business
Why should you care about search engine optimization? Well, if you are in business, you want customers to find you online. Did you know that 97-percent of Americans use the internet to search for local businesses. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a fancy term for getting your business to rank higher in Google search…
It’s time to prepare for autonomous vehicles
My take-away from the California League of Cities Planning Commissioner’s Academy –By now, everyone has seen news reports of Google’s automated cars around California and Nevada. Driverless vehicles, also known as autonomous, automated or self-driving cars, are no longer science fiction. The technology is here now, and many companies are already testing them on the…
Cinderella Story: My first wine judging experience
I’m put to the test judging Paso Robles wines It’s no secret I am a fan of wine. It started when I was a youngster. One Thanksgiving dinner, my uncle Randy slipped a little red wine in my cowboy boot cup and I was hooked. It probably helped that my dad was the liquor buyer…
Q&A with Hoot n Annie
Local food, wine and adventure blogger, and friend, Matt Browne interviewed me for a Q&A on his Hoot n Annie website. It was a lot of fun and I really appreciated it. Original post is here. This is a re-post: Q&A with Scott Brennan of Access Publishing I met Scott Brennan seven or eight years ago…
Disappointing decision made on medical marijuana cultivation
A last-minute planning commission meeting was called by city staff on the Tuesday before Christmas. The city attorney, police chief and community development director asked our commission to rush to pass new rules prohibiting or restricting cultivation of medical marijuana for personal use in Paso Robles. The staff said it was important to rush the…
LA Rams standout Dennis Harrah speaks to Rotary Club
I had the honor of introducing LA Rams standout Dennis Harrah at a recent meeting of our Paso Robles Rotary Club. He came to our annual Cats vs. Hounds luncheon, where we met all the high school football players from Paso Robles and Atascadero before they played in the big rivalry game. The game did…