As you’re about to find out, my Best of Bill column is loaded with bad news that Noozhawk reported on this past week.
So let’s start with good news: the sweet, sweet sound of “back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.”
I’ll never tire of hearing those words, although I’ve already raised my expectations for a “three-peat” in 2026.
As you know, I’ve been down on the Dodgers for the better part of the 2025 season, exasperated over a seeming lack of intensity and too many lost opportunities as defending world champions.
That continued right up until this time last week.
But then Games 6 and 7 happened, when every Dodger in every situation came through however they were needed — especially manager Dave Roberts.
The result was an epic victory in improbable fashion, or an improbable victory in epic fashion. Either way, I hope my Dodger delirium never subsides.
Compartmentalizing, it’s been a tough news week for Noozhawk, although it brought us an audience of 177,868 readers, according to our WordPress analytics.
What follows is my own take on the Top Five most-read stories over the last seven days, as tracked by our Google Analytics.
I must remind you that this is my opinion column. It is not a news story.
1. Motorist Killed in Foggy Morning Crash on Highway 101 in Santa Barbara
A 24-year-old Oxnard man was killed just after dawn Nov. 1 when his car overturned on Highway 101 in Santa Barbara, ejecting him into traffic where he was struck by multiple vehicles.
The Santa Barbara County sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau identified the dead man as Emanuel Aragon.
As our Josh Molina was first to report, the California Highway Patrol described foggy conditions when Aragon’s Acura TL sedan crashed and flipped over just beyond the northbound Castillo Street entrance ramp at 6:44 a.m.
Authorities say Aragon was ejected from the vehicle onto the center lane.
“It was a gruesome deal,” Santa Barbara fire Battalion Chief Brandon Paige said, noting several vehicles ran over Aragon lying on the highway before they could stop.
He was declared dead at the scene.
According to CHP Officer Jonathan Gutierrez, Aragon was driving north on the freeway when he lost control for unknown reasons, veered off the road’s right edge, hit a tree beyond the shoulder, and overturned.
Our Giana Magnoli reported that the investigation is ongoing, although Gutierrez said alcohol or drugs are suspected factors.
Two other vehicles collided during the incident, with occupants suffering minor injuries but refusing medical treatment.
The CHP closed northbound lanes for several hours, diverting traffic onto Castillo Street and causing massive congestion on surface streets throughout the morning.
Those vehicle traffic tie-ups sent an enormous amount of web traffic to Josh’s story — so much so that within 24 hours it had become Noozhawk’s most-read story of 2025. Since then, both Josh’s and Giana’s stories have continued to draw heavy readership.
Aragon’s funeral services are pending, and his family has started a GoFundMe account to help with expenses.
“Emanuel was loved deeply by those who knew him,” Aragon’s brother, Abel, wrote in a post on the account.
“He had a kind heart, a warm spirit, and brought light into our lives.”
As of Nov. 7, the account had raised more than $14,000. Click here to make an online donation.
2. Detectives Say License Plates Switched on Rental Car with Missing Girl Melodee Buzzard
In the deepening mystery surrounding the nearly month-long search for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, authorities say the mother of the missing girl switched license plates on a rental car during a road trip that took the pair as far as Nebraska.
As our Janene Scully reported, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s investigators now say Melodee was last seen Oct. 9 near the Colorado-Utah border.
According to sheriff’s officials, 40-year-old Ashlee Buzzard of Vandenberg Village left California with Melodee on Oct. 7 in a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu initially bearing California license plate 9MNG101.
Beginning Oct. 8, the sedan was observed with New York license plate HCG9677.
“The New York plate seen on the car does not belong to the vehicle or to Ashlee,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said.
“Investigators believe it was used as a false or switched plate to avoid detection.”
When the car was returned to the Lompoc rental agency, the original California plate was back on the vehicle.
Investigators don’t know when the license plate was installed or whether other plates were used during the trip.
Surveillance images released Nov. 3 show both mother and daughter wearing wigs when renting the car.
“Both Ashlee and Melodee appear to be wearing wigs, with Melodee’s appearing darker and straighter than her natural hair,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
Zick told Janene that investigators believe Buzzard “swapped wigs throughout the trip.”
“This change in appearance is believed to have been intentional to avoid recognition during travel,” she said.
Buzzard reportedly returned to the Lompoc Valley without her daughter and — bizarrely and suspiciously — has remained uncooperative since deputies first visited her Mars Avenue home on Oct. 14.
Detectives confirmed via video surveillance that Melodee was last seen Oct. 9 in the region around the Colorado-Utah border.
Authorities believe the pair traveled to Nebraska with a return route through Kansas.
Initially, they described it as a three-day round trip, which — although mathematically possible — would be a physically taxing journey. They’ve since determined it was at least four days.
Investigators are working with law enforcement in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Southern California and San Bernardino County, tracking stops in Green River and Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nevada; and Rancho Cucamonga.
“Investigators are working to fill gaps in the timeline for that date,” Zick said, urging anyone in those communities to check surveillance footage.
Melodee is described as approximately 4 feet 6 inches tall, 60 pounds, with brown curly hair and brown eyes. Her appearance may have changed since a verified photograph was taken in 2023.
Anyone with information should contact the sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 805.681.4150 or click here to leave an anonymous tip.
3. Santa Barbara Man Changes Plea and Admits Leaving Scene After Hitting, Killing Pedestrian
A 57-year-old Santa Barbara man has pleaded no contest to a felony charge of leaving the scene of a 2024 fatal collision that killed a pedestrian on Cliff Drive near Santa Barbara City College.
Five days after the wreck that killed 39-year-old Juan Lopez, Brock Alexander Hoffman surrendered to Santa Barbara police — after detectives identified him as the driver in the hit-and-run, which occurred around 11:30 p.m. June 29, 2024, near Loma Alta Drive.
Hoffman sucked it up and turned himself in on July 4, and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office filed charges two months later.
Although he previously pleaded not guilty, our Giana Magnoli reported that he changed his plea to no contest on Nov. 3.
Hoffman also admitted to a special allegation that the crime “involved great violence, great bodily harm, threat of great bodily harm, or other acts disclosing a high degree of cruelty, viciousness or callousness.”
His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16 before Superior Court Judge Stephen Foley. The maximum sentence is four years in state prison.
Lopez was the father of four children: sons Jason, 22; Juan, 21; and Adrian, 17; and daughter Trinity, 19.
In an interview with our Josh Molina a few days after his death, Trinity described her dad as “a good, caring person.”
“Every time he saw a homeless person, he gave them money because he thought it would be good karma,” she said. “He was a really good person.”
Although of course Lopez had no favorites among his children, his longtime partner, Christina Godinez, acknowledged that Trinity “was his princess.”
While police searched for the cowardly driver, Godinez and her family had done their own investigation, trying to piece together Lopez’s final moments.
“He was a good guy,” Godinez told Josh. “He was always laughing and smiling. He worked hard.”
At the time of his death, Lopez was the deli manager at the Vons market on the Mesa, and was in training to become the general manager.
His family has sued Hoffman and the City of Santa Barbara in a wrongful death case, alleging the city knew the area of the hit-and-run crash was dangerous. The next hearing is Jan. 26.
Hoffman and the city have denied all civil allegations.
4. Driver Seriously Injured in Multivehicle Collision in Goleta
A five-vehicle crash caused chaos at a busy Goleta intersection the afternoon of Nov. 3, and sent one driver to the hospital.
As our Tom Bolton reported, Santa Barbara County firefighters and emergency personnel responded just after 1 p.m. to the collision at Hollister Avenue and Los Carneros Road, in front of Deckers Brands headquarters.
Fire Capt. Scott Safechuck told Tom that a Mercedes-Benz sedan was traveling west on Hollister at a high rate of speed when it slammed into four other cars at the intersection.
The Mercedes driver suffered moderate injuries and was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. His identity and medical condition were not available.
A female occupant of another car suffered minor injuries but declined medical treatment.
The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the circumstances of the wreck.
5. With Railroad Bridge Set for Demolition, Santa Barbara Debates Underpass Fate
An unmarked Highway 101 exit ramp and a venerable but unusually low railroad trestle in Santa Barbara are on track to disappear, although at least one city councilwoman sounds like she wants someone — not her — to stand athwart history, and the ramp, and yell stop.
As our Josh Molina has been reporting, city and state transportation officials plan to close “exit 95,” which connects southbound Highway 101 to Los Patos Way near the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge.
The project — part of the Highway 101 widening project — also calls for demolishing the adjacent, 123-year-old Union Pacific railroad bridge and removing about 100 trees.
“The southbound exit has been problematic over the years as trucks often don’t make the clearance,” Mayor Randy Rowse said.
“It’s been a long time coming.”
Union Pacific, citing safety and maintenance issues, says removing the underpass will reduce hazards and prevent potential crashes.
The bridge’s low 12-foot, 3-inch clearance has made it dangerous for box trucks and RVs whose inattentive drivers find themselves abruptly wedged underneath. As I’ve mentioned before, the bridge was built in 1901, seven years before the Ford Model T was invented.
A new Cabrillo Boulevard railroad bridge and a redesigned Cabrillo exit ramp just beyond the closed Los Patos Way exit are planned as part of the freeway widening being coordinated by Caltrans and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. Project completion is expected by 2030.
City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon calls the current exit ramp “convenient” for the bird refuge, the small commercial area along Los Patos Way and the Santa Barbara Cemetery — although we’re talking about a difference of yards, not miles, for the new and improved Cabrillo Boulevard interchange.
But it’s the vintage railroad trestle that has captured her imagination.
“I would still like to see an option that preserves the historic Los Patos bridge,” she said.
Maybe Sneddon could propose that the city spruce it up with art, lighting and wide sidewalks to make it a destination for locals and tourists seeking a gritty, freeway noise experience. If the State Street undercrossing is any guide, $11 million ought to do it.
In the meantime, the Planning Commission on Nov. 6 approved a coastal development permit for the original project and certified its environmental impact report. Josh will have that story over the weekend.
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Good Reads
Here are six more stories you should read:
» High Surf, Coastal Flooding Possible Across Santa Barbara County Before Storm Next Week — Staff writer Pricila Flores is keeping an eye on the weather, and we may get some next week.
» BizHawk: Santa Barbara’s State Street Vacancies Hit 2-Year High — South County editor Josh Molina has more bad news for beleaguered State Street. Is anyone surprised?
» Goleta Splash Pad Faces Indefinite Delay Amid Equipment Failures — Pricila wades into a conundrum confronting the City of Goleta, which has discovered that water works are often money and maintenance pits, as pretty much any swimming pool owner can attest.
» County Planning Commission Approves Mixed-Used Project in Los Alamos — Staff writer Daniel Green reports on a complex proposal that will become the eastern gateway to Los Alamos.
» Goleta Church Project Revised, But Review Board Calls for More Work — Staff writer Rebecca Caraway has the latest on the new Anthem Chapel project proposed for property next to Christ Lutheran Church in Goleta.
» Judy Foreman: Museums of the Masters in South of France a Dream Tour for Art Lovers — 93108 Style columnist and culture vulture Judy Foreman makes a bucket-list visit to famed art museums in the South of France.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Shooting Suspect Arrested After Standoff with Police in Santa Barbara.
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What I’m Up To
Although I’m not looking for a free meal, I occasionally do have free time if you’re looking for a speaker for your club, group or organization and want to hear more about Noozhawk. Email me at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com.
Nov. 8 — @sadiethealaskanmalamute and I — along with Noozhawk sales and marketing director Sheridan Taphorn and assistants Jasmin Frausto and Justin Souza — will be straightening up at the Montecito Association’s 40th annual Beautification Day, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 8 at Montecito Union School. Come help us clean up.
Nov. 10 — I’m being grilled by fledgling journalists at The Forge, the student newspaper at Santa Barbara High School. Thanks to staff writer Kiki Oser for inviting me.
Dec. 11 — The Channel City Club has asked me to emcee its Christmas brunch at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. I’m honored to be recruited, all the more so because I’m following the giant footsteps of my close friend, the late Erin Graffy.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
The Eaton Fire narrative finally begins to unravel, too: Firefighters Urged Mass Altadena Evacuations But It Took 3 Hours for Command Center to Act.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
My Instagram feed this past week includes my former priest, the Rev. Aimée Eyer-Delevett, and my new owl, along with Día de los Muertos.
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Watch It
I have this on loop in my head.
