Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m reading about San Luis Obispo’s newest hiking and biking trails. Onto the five Cal Poly, SLO and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Last year, Cal Poly’s St. Patrick’s Day music festival tore up the grass fields where club athletes practice every day. Now, they’re worried it’ll happen again, especially with nearly triple the number of people. Rugby and ultimate frisbee team members said there was residual trash and hay as well as an uneven surface that persists to this day and puts athletes in harms way. Ideally, they wish the concert would move to a turf field.

Katy Clark / Mustang News

2.

The Cal Poly physics instructor who was charged with trying to meet a minor for sex pleaded not guilty to two counts. Kevin Coulombe, 38, was caught contacting a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl for the purposes of “exposing the genitals and pubic and rectal area” of the girl. The prosecutors allege that Couloumbe, who previously worked in high schools, was “motivated by an unusual and abnormal sexual interest in children.”

Staff / The Tribune

3.

Campus Health & Wellbeing will now offer free rides to and from the health center for students too sick or injured to walk there. This is a different program than the DRC transport. There are two drop-offs and pick-ups per hour, Monday through Friday during Health Center hours and can be reserved by calling the center’s front desk and requesting one. So far, students who receive the rides have been appreciative of the new service, health center officials said.

Grace Gillio / Mustang News

4.

Ten Cal State campuses have seen a decline in enrollment of over 10% since 2020. The persistent decline is causing Cal State officials to question if the schools are overfunded, and its threatening to pull funding if the enrollment gap isn’t closed. Schools like Cal State Dominguez Hills are introducing new orientation programs in an attempt to draw students in, and overall the CSU looks to be on track to hit total enrollment goals this year. 

Mikhail Zinshteyn / CalMatters

5.

Cal Poly just hired a head coach for its Division I women’s flag football team — the university announced last year that would would add the sport to its roster, the first California school to do so. Rod Sherman, the new hire, oversaw tackle football and girl’s flag football team at Orange Lutheran High School for the past five seasons, coaching the girl’s team with his wife to become ranked 7th in the nation. Sherman said he will build the team on “vision and culture.”

Joslen Jimenez / The Tribune