Libertine's live music is safe for now

Author

Carly Heltzel
February 25, 2026

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and I’m reading about key takeaways from Trump’s state of the union address last night. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Libertine Brewing looks to be safe from shutting down for now, as the city decided the bar’s permit did not need to be modified to continue its live music operation on Monday. More than 30 people spoke about Libertine’s significance in SLO’s live music scene and its impact on their lives for an hour and a half, and one couple spoke about how the noise has impacted theirs. Neighbors previously called in enough noise complaints to trigger the meeting.

2.

A masked federal agent pepper-sprayed and tackled an 80-year-old lawyer to the ground in Santa Barbara, and he intends to sue in criminal and civil court. Last Friday, he approached agents who were holding down a different man in a way that felt inhumane. He approached them and tried to remove a backpack from under the man’s face so he could breathe. That’s when he says the agents assaulted him. “What they did to me was a crime,” the criminal defense lawyer said.

3.

One in 10 Cal State students face housing insecurity or homelessness. Rapid Rehousing has helped 9,000 students since its start in 2020 by providing emergency housing, subsidizing rent and managing cases. Within those helped by the program, 18.5% are Black, a third are transfers, 75% are first generation college students and 17% are foster youth. Rapid Rehousing is at 18 Cal States, all of the UCs and 25 community colleges across the state. 

4.

The Trump administration sued the UC for allegedly allowing rampant antisemitism on UCLA’s campus and violating the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students and faculty. The lawsuit alleges that UCLA’s admin “turned a blind eye to — and at times facilitated — grossly antisemitic acts and systematically ignored cries for help.” The university rejected the claims, and last September, 200 Jewish UC faculty signed a letter denouncing Trump’s attempt to “hobble” the UC under the “cynical and pretextual guise of ‘combating antisemitism.’”

5.

One tiny library in the Los Angeles public library system has movie posters lining its computer lab — all from Leonardo DiCaprio’s most famous films and all signed by him. In fact, it’s called The Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center and the room stands exactly where the actor’s childhood bedroom once did. He’s quietly funded it for years. As a result, tourists often stop by the branch and before its construction, one woman flew in from Wisconsin just to get a scoop of the plot’s “sacred, sacred dirt.”