Either we made it to the fourth quarter or we’ve only got three more months to go in perhaps the most tumultuous year we’ve ever known.
Can things get any wierder?
Yes. Yes, they can.
Throughout the chaos of 2020, Noozhawk has been a steady and stable source of news and information for Santa Barbara County, and I’m enormously proud of our team for the work they’ve been producing all year.
Not only have our professional journalists tackled the coronavirus crisis with a tenacity and thoroughness that has been unmatched locally, they’ve taken on quite a lot of extra work.
Among the additional projects we’ve been juggling are our Housing & Development Report, a soon-to-be-published exploration of district elections, our Private & Independent School Guide, an exciting new feature for our wildfire coverage, and an expected migration next month to the new Newspack web platform along with a design refresh.
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According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 101,715 readers this past week.
What follows is my take on the Top 5 stories you were reading, as tracked by those analytics. And by “my take,” I mean my opinion. This is not a news story.
1. Searchers Locate Small Aircraft That Crashed into Ocean Off Goleta
A small plane crashed in the ocean shortly after departure from the Santa Barbara Airport early on Sept. 27. Searchers located the aircraft several hours later, but the body of the pilot — the lone occupant — was not recovered until Oct. 1.
As our Tom Bolton was first to report, authorities say the single-engine Cessna 182 took off just after 7 a.m. en route to Truckee Tahoe Airport. A witness reported seeing the plane go down.
According to flight-tracking data, the plane had reached an altitude of about 1,600 feet before plunging into the water about 2½ miles off UC Santa Barbara’s Campus Point.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick identified the pilot as 61-year-old Debra Nicholson of Tahoe City.
A search operation involving county firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol located an oil sheen and debris from the plane in water that is between 180 and 250 feet deep.
Due to the depth and equipment required for recovery, Zick said, assistance was requested from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau dive team, which arrived Sept. 28.
The Coast Guard suspended its search and rescue operations that same day and turned the responsibility over to the Sheriff’s Department.
The plane’s mangled fuselage was hauled up from the ocean floor in late afternoon Oct. 1, and Nicholson’s body was recovered by divers at the same time. Zick said the sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau will conduct an autopsy in an attempt to determine her cause of death.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
The Tahoe Daily Tribune reported that Nicholson, the mother of two sons, was a 30-year estate attorney in the Lake Tahoe area and an active community volunteer. She graduated from Stanford University with an economics degree and then the University of Virginia School of Law.
A veteran pilot who reportedly was “instrument rated,” she had just been appointed to serve on the Truckee Tahoe Airport Community Advisory Team.
2. Police Investigating Stabbing at Bar in Downtown Santa Barbara
A late-night bar stabbing caused a stir in downtown Santa Barbara on Sept. 24. One man ended up in the hospital while two suspects fled the scene.
Santa Barbara police spokesman Anthony Wagner told our Tom Bolton that the victim was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital from a bar in the 500 block of State Street.
His identity was not disclosed and there was no word on the extent of his wounds.
Wagner said two suspects were seen running down Haley Street after the altercation. Despite the presence of multiple witnesses, officers apparently have not identified them.
3. BizHawk: New Owners Reimagining the Future of Santa Barbara’s Paradise Café
Santa Barbara’s iconic Paradise Café, which was sold late last year, has closed its doors for good and is undergoing a major makeover for an expected unveiling later this fall.
Jannis Swerman, a spokeswoman for the new owner, Acme Hospitality of Santa Barbara, told our Josh Molina that “history is in the remaking” for the corner restaurant and bar at 702 Anacapa St. downtown.
Acme owner and managing partner Sherry Villanueva said the company had struggled to find a niche for the Paradise since taking over from 37-year owner Randy Rowse on Jan. 1. Of course, the coronavirus crisis certainly didn’t help.
“This made us reflect on whether it’s possible to freeze an institution in time, and we determined that it’s not,” she said. “COVID-19 … gave us an opportunity to pause and reimagine the restaurant’s future.”
Villaneuva said the new concept will retain the Paradise’s familiar old-school vibe while celebrating its long history. If anyone can pull it off, it’s her — and her company, which operates seven vibrant Funk Zone establishments, including The Lark, Lucky Penny, Loquita, Helena Avenue Bakery, Pearl Social, Santa Barbara Wine Collective and Notary Public Wines.
There are two things locals want to know:
» What will happen to the now-legendary — and Santa Barbara subversive — neon sign?
» Will an authentic Paradise Burger find its way back onto the menu?
4. Bill Macfadyen: Santa Paula Mother of Three a Tragic Drowning Victim at Lake Cachuma
Last week’s Best of Bill column was pretty much all bad news, yet here it is in this week’s Top 5. Told ya.
5. Santa Barbara County Advances to Less Restrictive Red Tier for COVID-19 Reopening
Two weeks after Santa Barbara County public health officials exhorted locals to get themselves tested for COVID-19 at a higher rate than the state average, the mathematical ploy paid off. The county has been moved into the red tier on California’s reopening continuum.
The county had been languishing in the purple tier, the most restrictive category — evidently because not enough people were getting tested so the local case rate looked worse than it really is. Or something like that.
Red definitely is an improvement, however, even if many of the rules are just as inconsistent and nonsensical.
“This is the first time that during this rating period that we see a unanimous decrease in all of our trends in all of our areas,” county Public Health director Van Do-Reynoso told the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 29.
“Our goal is to ensure that our community gets to a safe and healthy place to resume activities as part of our new way of living.”
Amen to that.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue reported, the red-tier status permits restaurants, places of worship and movie theaters to resume limited indoor operations, generally 25 percent of their building’s capacity, or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
Gyms and fitness centers also are allowed to move back inside, but only to 10 percent of the capacity of their spaces.
Retail stores and shopping centers can open at 50 percent capacity.
Nail salons and personal care services can open inside, but bars, breweries and distilleries are still confined to the great outdoors.
Equally important, the move sets the stage for schools to potentially reopen to in-classroom instruction.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Jeff Moehlis: No More Monkee Business for Michael Nesmith and First National Band.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
This is why the national news media have so little credibility: USA Today Actually Fact-Checked a Satire Piece about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death Being “Overturned”.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Random thoughts in my Instagram feed this past week, but those Shrimp Tacos Del Mar from @losarroyosrestaurant, tho …
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Watch It
This has been on my to-do list.
(Holderness Family Vlogs video)
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Twitter: @noozhawk and Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.