Cal Poly adds a second Mustang Shuttle

Author

Carly Heltzel
September 29, 2025

Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m reading about Dylan Efron, a Cal Poly alum and Zac Efron’s brother, and his journey to “Dancing with the Stars.” Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Cal Poly added a second Mustang Shuttle that runs in the opposite direction during the daytime and evening routes. After students complained that the shuttles were inefficient for getting around campus, the university made the change. The shuttles run 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the day Monday through Friday and 7 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. in the evening, seven days a week.

2.

“Jungle Jumpstart” is Cal Poly’s rose float theme for the year, featuring a “Wild Robot”-esc scene of a jungle animals coming together to fix a broken down robot. The overall rose parade theme is ‘The Magic in Teamwork,’ leading the float’s Cal Poly SLO and Pomona leadership to the current teamwork-centered proposed design after an eight-month selection process. 

3.

The Palm Theatre’s annual Haunting party returns this Wednesday Oct. 1 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for a spooky night of horror movie screenings, live music, food and a costume contest. Tickets are $15 for non-members. The first annual Haunting took place last year as an all-out decorated kick-off for the Palm Theatre’s new leadership, and the owners decided to make it a yearly ordeal after they “had so much fun with it.”

4.

Five candidates for the 2026 gubernatorial race debated on stage for the first time since former Vice President Kamala Harris announced she would not run to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom. The candidates vied for attention while supporting most of the same policies and viewpoints. The differentiating factors might end up being stances on criminal justice (specifically Proposition 36 which imposed stricter penalties for theft and fentanyl-related crimes) and a single-payer healthcare system (where a single government agency replaces private insurance).

5.

If you want to see fall foliage in California, now might be the time. The Eastern Sierras, where the state’s prominent and potentially most beautiful colors are, is about a week ahead of schedule, set to hit peak hues in the first two weeks of October. In California, the colors change based on elevation, starting high up in the mountains and working its way down to the coast. “It’s like one last grasp of colorful beauty before everything turns white,” one mountain-dwelling-autumn-enthusiast said.