Physics students react to instructor's arrest

Author

Carly Heltzel
February 24, 2026

Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m listening to an on-air interview with Cal Poly’s Black Student Union President on the club’s role in celebrating Black History Month. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

After physics instructor Kevin Coulombe’s arrest for contacting and arranging a meeting with a minor for sex, physics students were shocked. One said Coulombe was the first faces incoming students see in the department, and after finding out she told her mom Coulombe was “one of the last people you’d think to be like that.” The student was disturbed by his mugshot, which she says differs from how she previously saw him. “This is someone I don’t even recognize,” she said.

2.

New glamping facilities are set to open this summer at Dairy Creek Golf Course, providing structures that look like tents on the outside but are built out nicely on the inside. The glamping facilities filled a space left empty by about half of the golf course. The space was left out to dry when the California Men’s Colony population was cut in half and the prison stopped supplying roughly 60% of the reclaimed water it previously gave the golf course. 

3.

Federal officials are stepping in to divvy up water resources from the Colorado River among seven western states, including California. The current agreement, set in 2007, will expire by the end of the year and the states have already missed many decision deadlines. New projections for this spring’s water runoff paint a dire picture of one of the largest water sources for California, which is currently allocated a third of the basin’s flow. 

4.

At least three counties and two cities in California have established funds for immigrants to use to defend themselves from deportation. Deportation is handled in civil court, not criminal, so if you can’t afford a lawyer, you don’t get one provided for free. One study suggested that 83% of deportation hearings where immigrants were represented by a lawyer ended in favor of the immigrants, but two-thirds of immigrants didn’t have access to one. 

5.

Two gelato stores recently opened up across the street from each other in downtown SLO. Tifa Chocolate and Gelato started as a chocolate retailer in Agoura Hills in 2007 but has since expanded to four different states. Gemlato began from a brother and sister from Atascadero who traveled to Italy to learn the craft of gelato from a chef who then traveled to the Central Coast to help them get started. Their gelato is made from scratch and uses 90% organic ingredients.