Cal Poly awards $28K in Hispanic-serving grants

Author

Carly Heltzel
February 10, 2026

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and I’m reading about every cringey San Francisco stereotype that aired at the Super Bowl. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Cal Poly awarded $28,000 in high-impact mini grants to Hispanic-serving projects across campus in its annual cycle. This year, the university chose initiatives like costumes for a dance club and recruitment efforts targeting high schoolers in Santa Maria. One recipient said the grant program is to prove that Cal Poly can not only maintain above 25% Hispanic students for the Hispanic-Serving Institution designation, but it will adequately serve them too. 

2.

After over a week of summery weather, it’s supposed to rain today, tomorrow and this weekend. It’ll be much colder too, and officials warned about intense winds starting today. Maybe the groundhog was right about winter. Because of the wet weather, death cap mushrooms will likely pop up along the coast, feeding concerns that more people will die from consuming them; there were already three fatalities and 35 hospitalizations. 

3.

Gender-affirming surgeries will be available in SLO County for the first time this month, as a San Francisco surgical center expands its services south. The first surgeries will take place at the end of February or in early March. A SLO nonprofit began coordinating the move more than two years ago, hoping to remove barriers to care for transgender people here. “I want to shout it from the rooftops, because it is going to change people’s lives,” one activist said.

4.

After illegal cannabis grows are busted, they leave behind a hazardous scene. Trash is strewn about, leaking fertilizers seep into the soil, unused pesticides canisters riddle the properties, which are then chewed by wildlife to release “little death bombs” into the ecosystem. Of the 7,000 estimated illegal grow sites in northern California, only 587 have been even partly cleaned up. A 2024 bill said the state must come up with a clean-up strategy, and the initial study is due next year. 

5.

Officials compared the high point of Los Angeles County, Mount Baldy, to the deadliness of Mount Everest. Baldy saw 23 deaths between 2016 and 2025, including three in one day in December, but Everest more than doubled that in the same period. Millions have access to Baldy while only a few people, who are generally trained mountaineers, go to Everest. And the deaths on Baldy are generally from slipping on icy sections without proper equipment, whereas on Everest you just can’t breathe.