A spot of hope for the semester conversion scramble

Author

Carly Heltzel
April 16, 2026

Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m preparing to moderate the ASI presidential debate today at 11 a.m. in the University Union — and livestreamed on mustangnews.net. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

In a world seemingly devoid of information about Cal Poly’s semester conversion, there’s one bright spot coming up. College of Liberal Arts is hosting five study halls with advisers and department faculty to help students decide between the quarter and semester catalogs for graduation, check how their course requirements transfer and build their first semester schedules. Any major can attend, but each session will have targeted help for certain majors. They run from today until May 21.

2.

SLO County kicked off a program to replace mobile homes damaged in the 2023 storms and raise the new ones to avoid future storm damage. The first come first serve application, which opened yesterday, is for those who are still living in manufactured homes that have $3,000 or more in storm damage and meet certain income requirements. California received a $115 million grant from the federal government for long term storm relief, and $11 million of that was diverted to SLO County. 

3.

SLO Congressman Salud Carbajal will run against three opponents attempting to unseat him in the U.S. house of representatives. Carbajal has held his seat for nearly a decade now. Here are his challengers: Democrat Sarah Bacon is a former tech executive and current UC Santa Barbara administrator and graduate student; Helena Pasquarella is a Peace and Freedom candidate who ran in 2024 but didn’t make it past the primary; Republican Bob Smith is a former Navy commander and current engineer. 

4.

Lawmakers want to withhold state data on abortion and gender-affirming care from the Trump administration by banning doctors from disclosing data to the feds unless they tell the California attorney general, patients and providers first. But that could mean putting doctors in legal jeopardy if they are forced to choose between complying with state law or the federal request. The assemblymember who wrote the bill said people should not have to put “their privacy and their safety at risk” to receive care. 

5.

Mission Plaza just unveiled its newest upgrade, a “peace pole” that reads “May peace prevail on Earth” in 8 different languages relevant to SLO’s history, including yak titu titu yak tithini Northern Chumash. From pictures, it looks to be six to eight feet tall and viewers can spin it around to view all the languages. “A peace pole is more than just a monument — it’s a message,” the mayor said at the ribbon cutting ceremony.