Although Major League Baseball’s clown of a commissioner, Rob Manfred, continues to destroy America’s pastime with gimmickry and gobbledygook, there’s nothing like Opening Day.
After the aberration of 2021, I expect nothing short of a second World Series championship in three years for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who still need to make up for fans’ wasted time over the last three decades.
Noozhawk wasted no time this past week with part of our team sprinting ahead on the development of a new e-Bulletin series that, if all goes according to plan, will make its debut in June. Our Hawks Club members will get a preview for their feedback in mid-May.
We’re putting the finishing touches on Jade Martinez-Pogue’s in-depth look at how Santa Barbara County provides essential care — or not — for vulnerable locals going through extreme mental health crises. The project, in partnership with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, will begin publishing by April 24.
And our web team, Hop Studios, has made important progress on our transition to the Newspack universe. I still don’t have a target date for that conversion of our website, but it looks like it will be by midyear.
I’m asking you to help us make our plans a reality with a financial commitment to Noozhawk as part of our spring membership campaign. These projects and improvements — and the essential breaking news you rely on 24/7 — depend on your support.
Will you do your part to support the independent journalism that is making a difference to you and for our community?
Your contribution, at any amount, is welcome. Thank you.
According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk drew an audience of 100,349 readers this past week. What follows is my take on your Top 5 most-read stories during that period.
And by “my take” I mean my opinion. This is an opinion column, mine. It is not a news story.
1. Deltopia-Related Calls Keep Emergency Personnel Busy in Isla Vista
The Isla Vista tradition of Deltopia has been a shell of its former self in recent years. Thank goodness.
Having taken their own measure of COVID-19, young revelers made the 2022 street party larger than it had been during the pandemic, but authorities still noted a sharp decline in arrests and citations.
Last weekend’s bacchanal was not without community impacts, as our Janene Scully reported.
Over the course of April 2, an avalanche of 9-1-1 medical calls buried Santa Barbara County firefighters, paramedics and other emergency personnel, leading to the declaration of a multicasualty incident.
Although most of the reports were about alcohol or drug overdoses, fire Capt. Daniel Bertucelli said three calls were major traumas with people falling from second-story decks, windows and even a roof.
No identities were disclosed but at least one of the victims, a young woman, reportedly was in critical condition and in a medically induced coma at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Raquel Zick said just four people were arrested over the weekend, on charges of possession of a controlled substance, making criminal threats, resisting an officer, theft, and being drunk in public.
She added that 34 citations were issued for things like open containers, minors in possession and fake IDs.
2. UCSB Receives Nearly 130,000 Applications for Fall 2022 Freshmen, Transfer Students
Nearly 130,000 hopeful freshmen and transfer students applied to UC Santa Barbara for fall 2022 admission, but only a few thousand will be joining the next class of Gauchos.
As our Giana Magnoli reported, the UCSB Office of Admissions logged a 5% increase in freshman applications from last year, with 110,991 received, but a 14% decline in transfer applications, with 17,598 in hand.
Decision notifications were sent out to freshman applicants late last month, but UCSB officials say the size and demographics of the incoming class won’t be known until May — after those applicants make their own decisions about whether to accept.
About 24,030 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled currently.
Giana noted that UCSB only has about 10,700 beds for students and just shy of 600 family housing units on and off campus. That shortfall is a real problem for students and a growing irritation in nearby communities, as Noozhawk has reported previously.
Admissions officials say 41% of California applicants are from low-income families while 35% are first-generation college students.
Among the transfer applications, 1,006 are Santa Barbara City College students.
3. Pedestrian Dies After Being Struck by Vehicle on Highway 101 in Santa Barbara
A Santa Barbara woman was struck by a car and killed as she ran across Highway 101 near downtown late on the night of April 4.
It was not known what the woman was doing on the freeway just before midnight, but California Highway Patrol Officer Jonathan Gutierrez told our Tom Bolton that she was attempting to cross the southbound lanes near Castillo Street.
The woman — identified by the sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau as 57-year-old Debra Reynoso — was hit by a Buick LeSabre driven by 31-year-old Isaac Joseph Vargas of Santa Barbara.
“The driver of the Buick stopped, called 9-1-1, and waited on scene for emergency personnel,” Gutierrez said.
Reynoso was declared dead at the scene.
Gutierrez said Vargas was not injured in the wreck, which shut down the southbound lanes for a couple of hours while authorities tried to piece together what happened.
The CHP is investigating the circumstances of the incident, but Gutierrez said Vargas was not suspected of driving while impaired.
Anyone with information about the collision is asked to contact the CHP at 805.967.1234.
4. BizHawk: Bob Stout’s Little Kitchen in Santa Barbara Closes After Six Years
The Wildcat Lounge has been a big part of downtown Santa Barbara nightlife for decades, but a six-year experiment next door has ended in closure for the Little Kitchen, a side-street lunch and dinner café.
Owned by longtime downtown business champion Bob Stout, the Little Kitchen opened in 2006 at 17 W. Ortega St. in the shadow of the hulking former Macy’s building across the street.
It’s also adjacent to Stout’s much more successful bar, at 15 W. Ortega St., but it never seemed to find a niche of its own. Struggling even before COVID-19 emerged, the crisis proved too big of a bite to digest.
“I am really sad about it,” he told Josh. “I’m putting on a happy face, but it’s bittersweet.”
Although the Little Kitchen is closed, Stout said a new restaurant is taking over the space.
He confided that Cindi Black, who originally launched The Blue Owl at 5 W. Canon Perdido, expects to open St. Bibiana later this month with a menu of “healthy, innovative pizzas,” beer and wine.
5. Wind, Heat Advisories Issued for Santa Barbara County
You’ll never hear me complaining about the heat — unless it’s accompanied by humidity — but even I must admit: It’s hot!
Our Lauren Luna started off the week with a pair of National Weather Service advisories for high heat and winds tormenting Santa Barbara County through April 9.
The weather service predicted high temperatures in the 80s and 90s most of the week, with April 7 being the hottest day.
Sure enough, as our Tom Bolton reported, Santa Barbara reached a record high temperature of 92 on April 7, one degree hotter than the previous high for the date set in 1989.
Santa Maria was toasty, too, but at 88 degrees was 10 degrees cooler than its previous April 7 record, also from that same 1989 heat wave.
The winds got an early start, with sundowner conditions and speeds of 25-35 mph hammering the South Coast through April 5.
Gusts as high as 65 mph were expected in the Montecito foothills, but the weather service told our Giana Magnoli that they actually “reached a quite impressive 82 mph” that night.
Patchy fog and daytime highs in the 60s are likely to return beginning April 10, and there’s even a slight chance of rain in the forecast for April 11.
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Good Reads
Here are four important stories that are worth your time, and our latest activities guide for your kids:
» County Education Office Awards Retroactive High School Diplomas to Six World War II Veterans — Our Serena Guentz reports on the righting of a decades-old wrong.
» Santa Barbara Talks Podcast: Noozhawk’s Tom Bolton Talks Breaking News Journalism, Career — Don’t miss our Josh Molina’s interview with Tom Bolton, Noozhawk’s executive editor and one of my business partners.
» Springtime Events Return After Pandemic Hiatus; Solstice Parade Changes Route — Who knew that the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Celebration would herald a return to normalcy? I’m not wild about the new parade route but our Lauren Luna has the details.
» Mark Patton: Title IX Celebrates Golden Anniversary with Santa Barbara Gold-Medal Hopefuls — Our Mark Patton marks L years of Title IX for women’s sports. I wonder if there will be an LI now that the NCAA is back to snubbing women athletes.
» ParentNooz Camp Guide — Check out Noozhawk’s 2022 ParentNooz Camp Guide for the latest youth activities opportunities.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? 2 Juvenile Suspects Arrested in Monday’s Fatal Shooting on Santa Barbara’s Eastside.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Finally, a spark of sanity: To Help Prevent Wildfires, California Now Asking Native American Tribes to Bring Back Once-Prohibited Cultural Controlled Burns.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
I did a lot of sky writing on my Instagram feed this past week.
• • •
Americans Held Hostage: Day 220
220 days. Not only is Afghanistan old news now, it might as well be prehistoric.
• • •
Watch It
Talk about manpower. HT to my friend and Best of Bill reader, Dave Bemis.
(Grandpa HERE video)
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— 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.
