F. McLintocks owner found dead in hotel room

Author

Carly Heltzel
January 29, 2026

Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m reading about the top 10 most romantic SLO County restaurants according to Yelp. Onto the five Cal Poly, SLO and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

F. McLintocks owner Toney Breault was found dead in his room at Hotel Cerro Tuesday. He was 54. Police declined to give a cause of death. The news came two days after police announced F. McLintocks had been caught serving alcohol to minors during a recent undercover operation. Breault also owns Buffalo Pub & Grill and Frank’s Famous Hot Dogs. KSBY reported that all three establishments will be closing following his death, but there have been no official announcements. 

2.

Cal Poly’s Anderson Aquatic Center was drained and will remain closed until April to replace the pool’s aged waterproof lining. Club sports that used to practice in the athletic pool are now using ASI’s recreational pool, blocking out nine more hours per week for practice than usual and forcing clubs to coordinate their practice times around each other. Because the swim and dive teams were cut, the university had its window for the repairs this winter. 

3.

The paddleboarder who attacked a surfer in Morro Bay in August will stand trial for two felonies, both assault with a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty. The surfer recounted: the paddleboarder allegedly ran her over on a wave she was surfing which she then chastised him for. She said he then stood up yelling obscenities, raised his paddle over his head and hit her with it before jumping onto her board, knocking them both off and holding her head below the water for “long enough for me to think I wasn’t going to be able to surface.”

4.

California’s senate advanced a bill that would make it easier to sue federal agents, such as immigration enforcers, over civil rights violations. The bill passed the senate on party lines, with the bill’s author calling it a “sad statement” that civil rights are a partisan issue. Another of Democrat’s bills would ban local police from taking a second job as a federal agent, a third bill would ban ICE from taking people from courthouses and a fourth would tax 50% of detention center profits.

5.

A coyote who swam 1.2 miles through frigid water to reach Alcatraz, is doing quite well living there. This was the first coyote documented on the island since the National Park service took over in 1972, and officials doubted its ability to survive after the taxing swim it took in early January. But it’s thriving. “He’s certainly much fatter than when he arrived,” one Alcatraz cruise operator said.