Noozhawk’s year-end fundraising campaign is off to a strong start as we strive to get our newsroom the funding we need to excel in the year ahead.
We have exciting plans in store, and to accomplish them, we need your help.
Here’s why your support matters:
In-depth reporting: Your contributions directly support our newsroom operations, empowering us to explore stories with more time and resources than otherwise possible. You can rely on us to report local news that resonates in Santa Barbara County and is vital to our community.
Community connection: Our local team doesn’t just report news; we live it alongside you. We’re dedicated to truthful, impactful journalism that strengthens our community bonds.
Elevating local stories: Through your support, we spotlight the essential issues and stories happening throughout our community, from housing and development to business and sports. If it’s local, we want you to know about it.
Public service: Noozhawk has always been completely free for everyone to access — it’s part of our philosophy. Your contributions help ensure we live in a community where everyone can be part of the conversation.
In addition to crucial coverage of ongoing Santa Barbara County issues like housing, government, K-12 education and breaking news, here’s what we have in store for next year:
Investing in our news team: We’ll be expanding our news staff, giving us more power to cover even more of Santa Barbara County. Your support is crucial in making this possible. With your help, we can ensure even more varied and in-depth reporting you can trust.
Expanding coverage: We’ll be broadening our reporting coverage, bringing more comprehensive news from the North County alongside our ongoing in-depth reporting about the South Coast.
Strengthening educational and community ties: We have big plans to collaborate with educational and community organizations throughout the county — including more North County representation — ensuring richer coverage for families and community members.
If you’ve been thinking about supporting Noozhawk, this is absolutely the best time to do it. By contributing today, your support will go a long way toward helping us meet our 2024 goals.
Will you do your part to keep us going strong into next year?
Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a big difference. Thank you in advance for your support.
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Noozhawk had an audience of 124,655 readers this past week, according to our WordPress analytics.
What follows is my own take on the Top Five stories you were reading over the last seven days. And by “my own take,” I mean my opinion.
This is my opinion column, not a news story.
1. Monarch Butterflies Return to Goleta’s Ellwood Main Grove in Droves
After several weeks of truly awful news dominating these Best of Bill columns, can there be anything more positive than thousands of monarch butterflies descending on Goleta’s Ellwood Mesa?
The butterflies are here for their annual overwintering season, which lasts from October to February, and the Ellwood Main Butterfly Grove is the largest wintering site in Southern California.
As our Serena Guentz reported, the latest count — on Nov. 14 — tallied 10,920 monarch butterflies, with the population expected to peak in early December.
Drought conditions, falling trees and habitat loss have contributed to declining numbers in recent years, prompting habitat rehabilitation projects that are to begin next summer.
Butterfly grove admission is free although donations are welcome for Goleta’s Monarch Butterfly Docent Program. For more information, contact docent coordinator Leonel Mendoza-Diaz at lmendoza-diaz@cityofgoleta.org.
Free parking is available at the Ellwood Mesa Open Space and Sperling Preserve parking lot at 7729 Hollister Ave., across the street from Ellwood School.
If you go, follow a trail with butterfly markers to the grove, about a half-mile from the parking area.
Monarchs can best be observed during morning clusters and afternoon flights.
2. 2 People Hurt in Crash on Southbound Highway 101 in Santa Barbara
A Nov. 29 early morning collision on Highway 101 in Santa Barbara left two people injured, one of them seriously.
As our Tom Bolton reported, a Honda sedan and a Dodge pickup truck collided around 7:45 a.m. on the southbound side of the freeway at the first Milpas Street exit ramp.
The car flipped over on its roof in the middle of the freeway, and Santa Barbara fire Battalion Chief Robert Mercado told Tom that the woman driver was found in the roadway with serious injuries.
The truck veered off the freeway and down the right embankment, ending up on its side between two palm trees. The male driver had only minor injuries, Mercado said.
Both drivers were transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating the circumstances of the wreck, which closed the freeway for a time.
3. Bill Macfadyen: Oregon Woman’s Road Trip Ends in Split-Second Tragedy
The headline on my Best of Bill column was about the tragic death of Candace Ware, a 66-year-old Brookings, Oregon, woman just passing through Santa Barbara County.
Based on my analysis of our analytics, however, it appears that the bulk of the readership was about the Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club catastrophe and the still-missing Orcutt huskies.
4. Sailboat Reported Drifting Near Santa Barbara
A distressing discovery unfolded off Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara on Nov. 26 when the Harbor Patrol found a body near a drifting sailboat.
As our Rebecca Caraway reported, a TowBoatUS Assist Ventura vessel came across the sailboat while responding to an unrelated call at 1:30 a.m. The boat’s lights were on and its sails were up, but there was no one aboard.
The tow boat crew notified the U.S. Coast Guard of a potential person overboard, and a Harbor Patrol boat eventually located a man’s body after a 2½-hour search of the area.
Harbor Patrol Lt. Nathan Alldredge told Rebecca that the dead man was found several miles from the boat, but identification he had on him was a match.
The man’s identity has not been disclosed, but his boat — the Escapade out of Los Angeles — was towed to the harbor.
The Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau is investigating the circumstances of the incident.
5. Erin Graffy: A Child’s Estate’s Transformation to a Zoo a Community Tale of Tails
Talk of the Town columnist Erin Graffy’s now-five-part series on the Child Estate’s transformation has itself become the talk of the town.
Over the last couple of months, she’s been sharing her meticulously researched history of the waterfront property as it evolved from one of Santa Barbara’s poshest estates to a hobo village to a frat house to the beloved Santa Barbara Zoo.
Erin’s last two installments have chronicled — and memorialized — just how extensive a community service project the zoo journey was, thanks in large part to the vision and drive of the long-defunct Santa Barbara Jaycees, led by a who’s who of local legends.
The reader response has been extraordinary, and her fans have been clamoring for more. I don’t yet know where she’s going next, but we’ve been talking about her encore.
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Good Reads
Don’t miss these six stories before you go:
» Virginia Alvarez Stepping Down from Santa Barbara Unified School Board — Staff writer Josh Molina provides some background on the surprise resignation of Santa Barbara Unified School District board member Virginia Alvarez.
» Santa Barbara-Area High School Bands Strut Their Stuff in Showcase Performance — Contributing writer Sidney Chiang horns in on a local marching band competition featuring performances from Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Santa Barbara high schools.
» Billionaire Charles Munger, Major Benefactor to UC Santa Barbara, Dies at 99 — The late billionaire investor Charlie Munger was well-known in global business circles, but locals had a different view of him. Executive editor Tom Bolton captures some of it in his obituary.
» Woman Convicted of 1st-Degree Murder in Shooting, Dismemberment Case — North County editor Janene Scully wraps up the trial of the woman charged as the lead suspect in the gruesome 2018 murder and dismemberment of a 53-year-old Santa Maria man.
» Santa Barbara County Events Keeping Spirits Bright for Holiday Season — Staff writer Rebecca Caraway has some ideas to get you into the holiday spirit.
» Santa Barbara High Headlines All-Channel League Football Honors for Local Teams — Santa Barbara High’s terrific football season didn’t go quite as far as planned, but a number of Dons — and other local players — are earning post-season honors. Sports editor Diego Sandoval has been keeping score.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Lompoc Family Suffers Serious Burn Injuries in ‘Horrific’ Accident While Camping.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
What happens when a little censorship among friends turns into a lot of censorship? U.S. and U.K. Military Contractors Created Sweeping Plan for Global Censorship in 2018, New Documents Show.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Resplendent skies and artful clouds are hallmarks of this time of year, as you can see from my Instagram feed this week. But the California state champion @sbhsdons #crosscountryteam earns a richly deserved shout-out, too.
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Watch It
Here’s proof that Michael Jackson’s dance talent preceded him. HT to Best of Bill reader Mikayla Dawson for the “Billie Jean” inspiration.
