Rat poison boxes left lying around Cal Poly

Author

Carly Heltzel
April 10, 2026

Good morning. It’s Friday, and I’m watching a few clips from Poly Royal Rodeo’s student showcase last night. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Rodenticide boxes are piling up around Cal Poly’s campus because pest control contractors are failing to remove them after contracts expire. Rodents enter the boxes, ingest the poison, leave and then die, usually to be eaten by some other animal who over time incurs a build up of the toxins. A club counted 464 boxes left around campus, and a wildlife center said larger mammals and birds have been dropping dead once enough rodent poison gets in their system.

2.

PolyCultural Weekend and Open House merged this year to create a PCW track during Open House this weekend. PCW is a three-day overnight experience for prospective students run through the Multicultural Center that features a drag workshop, hiking, bowling, dancing and a silent disco and is themed “growing together” this year. One board member of a cultural club said the theme is fitting for the year they merge with Open House.

3.

Diesel prices average $7.52 per gallon in California right now, and the Central Coast’s congressman Salud Carbajal is not happy about it. He criticized the war in Iran’s impact on fuel prices at the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, a 14-mile track that runs on diesel to transport commodities like fertilizer, frozen food and asphalt. A month ago, diesel was $5.10 per gallon. “Trump’s illegal war in Iran is driving a global energy crisis that hits us right here on the Central Coast,” Carbajal said.

4.

Riverside County Sheriff and Republican candidate for governor Chad Bianco had virtually no evidence behind him when he seized 650,000 ballots from the Prop 50 election last November to inspect them for voter fraud. But the judge he had endorsed in the past let him do it anyway and kept it under seal. Until now. An independent review of the evidence drew mixed opinions, with several saying it was troubling to see the lack of evidence presented to the judge before the seizure was approved.

5.

Ravine Waterpark in Paso Robles is getting an adult pool. The city just approved the expansion, which also includes a hot tub and concrete deck over the objections of a property development company who alleged mismanagement of parking and water drainage at the park. But the city responded to all eight points against the park and the water park won in the end. I just had no idea there was a waterpark in the county…