After spending nearly $1 billion in about 48 hours, much of it on former Los Angeles Dodgers stars, Major League Baseball owners have voted for a lockout, the first work stoppage since the 1994-1995 players strike.
It remains to be seen how long it will drag on … but the National Finals Rodeo is underway in Las Vegas so, for the next two weeks, I’m good.
Baseball’s bad hop aside, 2021 may have brought us slightly less drama than the year before, but in many respects it’s been just as tumultuous and no less bewildering.
While none of us could have foreseen any of that back when Noozhawk was founded in 2007, we actually were born to meet just such a challenge. The community needs an independent, fact-based local news source it can count on, 24/7 — because news doesn’t happen on a deadline or at our convenience.
Whether the topic is COVID-19, extreme wildfires, government accountability, housing, public schools, water resources, the environment, local sports, business, the nonprofit community, events or obituaries, Noozhawk is here. For you.
You trust and depend on our professional reporting to give you the unbiased facts you need to keep you informed, to keep you connected, and to keep you safe.
Noozhawk’s hyperlocal news is essential to your everyday life, but it costs money to keep us flying, and we can’t rely on advertiser support alone.
As we kick off our end-of-year fundraising drive, I want to thank our current Hawks Club members for their financial support, which helps ensure that Noozhawk keeps producing — and expanding — the high-quality, professional local journalism you rely on.
We can’t do this work without you. That’s why I’m asking you to contribute to our year-end fundraising campaign. Our goal is to raise $80,000 by Dec. 31.
Will you make a contribution to help get us off to a strong start in 2022?
Your financial support through a membership in our Hawks Club — at any amount — will help us stay focused on what’s important to you: our reporting on the local news and information you need, when you need it.
Thank you.
Noozhawk had an audience of 131,693 readers this past week, according to our Google Analytics, with more than a dozen stories in the hunt for Top 5 most-read status as the period came to a close.
What follows is my take on what ended up on the Top 5 list over the last seven days. And by my take, I mean my opinion. This is my column, not a news story.
1. Landsat 9 Delivers First Images of Earth after Launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
Landsat 9, the Vandenberg Space Force Base-launched satellite program dedicated to Earth observation, has produced its first collection of photos since hitching a ride into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Sept. 27.
As our Janene Scully reported, the images usher in a new chapter in the five-decade joint program of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.
In addition to the satellite series’ extensive Central Coast connections since the first launch in 1972, the Northrop Grumman Landsat 9 is powered by a solar array crafted at the company’s Goleta facility.
“Landsat 9’s first images capture critical observations about our changing planet and will advance this joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey that provides critical data about Earth’s landscapes and coastlines seen from space,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
“This program has the proven power to not only improve lives but also save lives.”
The Landsat data, he added, will help decision-makers “better understand the devastation of the climate crisis, manage agricultural practices, preserve precious resources and respond more effectively to natural disasters.”
The images focus on Navajo Nation in Arizona to help monitor crop health and manage irrigation; Detroit and the western end of Lake Erie, along with neighboring Lake St. Clair; the Florida coastline; Northern Australia’s coastal islands and shorelines; and the Himalayas in Asia.
“First light is a big milestone for Landsat users,” said Jeff Masek, NASA’s Landsat 9 project scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s the first chance to really see the kind of quality that Landsat 9 provides. And they look fantastic.
“When we have Landsat 9 operating in coordination with Landsat 8, it’s going to be this wealth of data, allowing us to monitor changes to our home planet every eight days.”
2. Sheriff’s Deputies Arrest Suspected Package Thief in Montecito
A Los Angeles woman has been arrested as a suspect in a series of brazen property thefts in Montecito. Such crimes of opportunity are notoriously difficult to catch but sometimes it’s the authorities who get the break, and not the other way around.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue first reported, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 1400 block of East Mountain Drive, near the top of Picacho Lane, after a resident chased away an intruder the afternoon of Nov. 28.
The resident provided a description of the suspect and the getaway car, and deputies quickly spotted the vehicle in the next block to the east.
According to sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick, a search of the BMW sedan turned up a pile of wrapped presents and other packages and items allegedly pilfered from houses in the area.
Zick said deputies arrested 43-year-old Despina E. Flengeris on two felony and four misdemeanor charges, among them burglary, robbery, possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property, identity theft and prowling.
“Flengeris was also identified as having physically stolen another package from a delivery driver attempting to make a delivery at a third residence, but that package was recovered by the driver and delivered to the recipient,” Zick said.
She said Flengeris was booked into County Jail with bail set at $50,000.
3. Motorcyclist Killed in Santa Barbara Crash Involving Suspected DUI Driver
A Santa Barbara motorcyclist was killed in a monstrous collision with an allegedly impaired driver by Santa Barbara’s Ortega Park on Nov. 27. The suspect has entered not guilty pleas in the case.
As our Tom Bolton first reported, Santa Barbara police Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale said the motorcyclist — identified as 78-year-old Kenneth Warfield Sterling Sr. — was riding south in the 600 block of North Salsipuedes Street around 2 p.m. when he was slammed from behind by a Jeep SUV just before East Ortega Street.
Ragsdale said the impact catapulted Sterling about 85 feet from the motorcycle, which itself was propelled through the intersection before colliding with a parked Toyota sedan another half-block away.
Sterling was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
The Jeep, which Ragsdale said was driven by 48-year-old Raul A. Gonzalez of Santa Barbara, crashed into a parked Dodge Ram pickup truck after hitting Sterling.
There were no other injuries in the carnage.
Gonzalez was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Ragsdale said.
He was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail, with bail set at $100,000.
According to the criminal complaint filed by the county District Attorney’s Office, Gonzalez was charged with one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, both felonies.
Enhancement charges include inflicting great bodily injury to a victim over 70 years of age, committing a serious felony causing great bodily injury, and being a habitual criminal.
Gonzalez pleaded not guilty at his Nov. 30 arraignment in Superior Court. He was ordered to return for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 16.
4. Suspect, Victim Taken to Hospital After Shooting at Goleta Hotel
A week after a Thanksgiving morning murder-suicide at a quiet Goleta hotel, the Sheriff’s Department finally released the names of the two people killed in the tragic confrontation.
On Nov. 26, sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick told our Tom Bolton that an adult female “victim” and an adult male “suspect” were found with gunshot wounds at the Best Western Plus South Coast Inn, 5620 Calle Real, around 11 a.m. the day before. She said both later died at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
“This is an apparent murder-suicide, and detectives do not believe there are any additional outstanding suspects,” she said.
On Dec. 2, authorities identified the victim as 36-year-old Mayra Uriarte of West Valley City, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb.
The suspect was identified as 37-year-old Manuel Altamirano Martinez of Mexico.
According to a Sheriff’s Department statement, the two “were in a previous relationship and share a child in common.” No other details were provided.
Uriarte reportedly is from the Santa Barbara area and was on the South Coast to visit relatives for the holiday. Three hours before she was killed, she apparently updated her Facebook page with photos of herself at Stearns Wharf and Goleta Beach Park.
Although Tom has been unable to confirm it, sources told him that Uriarte had been followed to the area by Martinez, her ex-husband who reportedly had a history of abusive behavior.
Uriarte’s funeral services are pending.
Friends have established a GoFundMe account to help pay for those expenses and to assist her three children. In a post on the site, the Salt Lake City restaurateur was described as a “very strong, independent, single mother raising her three young daughters.”
More than $13,000 had been raised as of Dec. 3. Click here to make an online donation.
5. Michigan Students Share Experiences Living in Dorm Similar to Munger’s UCSB Proposal
Not that he cares, but Montecito billionaire Charlie Munger has found himself at the center of a national controversy over his plans for a massive new student dormitory at UC Santa Barbara.
As we’ve reported previously, the 97-year-old amateur architect is donating $200 million of a stupefying $1.4 billion that UCSB needs to build a stout, 1.5 million-square-foot residence hall for 4,500 students.
UCSB desperately needs the rooms, and Munger’s generosity is deeply appreciated — aside from the fact it’s on the condition that his designs be followed exactly as he drew them. And that’s where things get, well, peculiar.
Although the 11-story building would be the tallest on the picturesque South Coast, most of the actual dorm rooms would have no windows. And by most, I mean 94% of them.
As for other features, does it really matter? Who in his right mind thinks it’s a healthy idea — mentally or physically — for more than 4,200 young people to live in rooms with no windows?
For his part, Munger touts a similar concept that he convinced the University of Michigan to build on its Ann Arbor campus so graduate students could have a “transdisciplinary” living experience.
The eight-story, 380,000-square-foot Munger Graduate Residences opened in 2015 and houses 630 grad students — in mostly windowless rooms. Unlike the fractional donation to UCSB, Munger gave U-M $110 million for the $155 million project.
Since Munger made the comparison, we asked our Jade Martinez-Pogue to check into it, short of actually going to the Wolverine State and having a “transdisciplinary” experience of her own.
Jade did a terrific job getting current and former Mungerville residents to dish on the dorm, and her story is well worth your time to read.
While the project is admirable and the amenities seemingly first rate, most of the alums were ultimately underwhelmed by their time in the alternate reality.
“Supposedly, the way they structured it was a design decision to force people to spend more time in the common area,” said Steven Cutlip, a five-year resident who graduated earlier this year.
“That just didn’t pan out the way they expected.”
Parisa Soraya has mostly fond memories and friendships from her year-long residency, and credits the diversity of her fellow dorm dwellers for that.
But she, and most of the other alums, told a cautionary tale about the windowless rooms.
“It messes with you when you don’t have sunlight, your circadian rhythm,” she said. “If this new structure (UCSB’s Munger Hall) is going to be built the same way, that’s very concerning.”
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Firefighters Battle Vegetation Fires Along Highway 101 in Goleta.
• • •
Americans Held Hostage: Day 95
More than 95 days after the United States abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban, hundreds of U.S. citizens and thousands of legal permanent residents remain stranded there. Still.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
We’ve still got plenty of time to prepare for the panic: Pair of Nearby Supermassive Black Holes Heading for a Collision.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
Fog engulfed my Instagram feed this past week.
• • •
Watch It
HT to Autumn Henry for seeing last week’s Best of Bill video about California’s enduring geoglyphs and trading them for a far more time-constrained creation from Yukon First Nations artist Megan Jensen in Canada.
(Travel Yukon video)
• • •
How You Can Help Noozhawk
Noozhawk is proud to be the go-to source of news for locals like yourself. You trust and rely on us to provide timely, relevant and thorough coverage of the issues that shape Santa Barbara County.
And we get up early — and stay up late — excited to report what’s going on in our community so we can keep you informed and engaged.
While most of Noozhawk’s revenue comes from advertising and sponsorships, we believe that reader contributions are a vital source of support — financially and fundamentally. We believe that if we ask our readers to contribute what you think we’re worth, we can build a sustainable business model for local news.
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today! Yes, I’ll set up a monthly donation today!
Your loyalty membership helps us continue to provide you with unmatched local news and in-depth reporting on the issues that you care about.
Please note that personal contributions to Noozhawk are not deductible as charitable donations.
Thank you for your support.
— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
