Not that I’m keeping track, but we’re a month away from spring training and the start of an exciting new era of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball.

At least that’s the expectation of Dodger Nation.

Of course, some of you already are in the middle of college application season. To help with that, Noozhawk is introducing a new column by Goleta resident Holly McCord Duncan, founder of Smart College Admission and a former college admission official.

Her first column, “What You Should Know About Choosing and Applying to College,” will help families navigate the academic, social and economics aspects of the admissions process.

Noozhawk was helping 147,142 readers navigate the news in Santa Barbara County this past week, according to our WordPress analytics.

What follows is my own take on the Top Five stories you were reading during that period. Just to be clear, this is my opinion column and not a news story.

1. Bill Macfadyen: Joe’s Café Family Grapples with Double Loss of Popular Employees

I’ve heard from an astounding number of readers about Alfredo Arroyo and Kim Avakian, two employees of Joe’s Café in Santa Barbara who both died on Christmas Day. Thank you for sharing your stories with me.

Arroyo, a 62-year-old bartender, died Dec. 25 of complications from a massive heart attack he suffered in November.

Avakian, a 66-year-old server, died unexpectedly on the same day.

A GoFundMe account established to help Arroyo’s family with medical and funeral expenses has raised more than $132,600. Click here to make an online donation.

A GoFundMe account established to assist Avakian’s family with funeral expenses had raised more than $5,500. Click here to make an online donation.

2. Public Gets First Glimpse into Massive Housing Project Planned for La Cumbre Plaza

Santa Barbara’s La Cumbre Plaza would look a whole lot different if a father-son duo is able to build a 642-unit apartment complex they’re planning for the site of the current Macy’s department store.

As our Josh Molina reported, Matthew and Jim Taylor are proposing to demolish the Macy’s building when its lease expires in 2028 and replace it with a prodigious project of housing, restaurants, shopping and a parking garage at the corner of State Street and Hope Avenue.

The concept would help the City of Santa Barbara address its housing shortage with a focus on providing options for low- and middle-income renters.

More than 90% of the units would be market-rate with the remaining 10% — 54 units — available at below-market rates.

“There is a whole lot more to affordability than just subsidized housing,” Matthew Taylor said.

“People in Santa Barbara need housing opportunities that bridge the gap between that and purchasing a $2 million-plus home.”

The 76-foot-tall project — currently dubbed “The Neighborhood at State & Hope” — is set for preliminary review next month by the Architectural Board of Review, followed by the Planning Commission in April.

A formal application to the city is expected this summer.

3. BizHawk: Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone Loses Metropulos Fine Foods Market

Santa Barbara’s Metropulos Fine Foods Merchant, a Funk Zone mainstay before there was much of a Funk Zone, has closed its doors after 20 years at the corner of East Yanonali and Santa Barbara streets.

As our Josh Molina reported, owners Ann and Craig Addis announced their painful decision “to retire from the food business, and to close Metropulos.”

The couple said they had been trying to sell the business and/or the restaurant, but hadn’t even gotten a bite.

Another — not insignificant — factor is that the corner market is part of the adjacent condominium complex and the Addises say the homeowners association has been demanding that the building be tented for termites.

Given the challenges of such an operational disruption, they decided they were too old for this.

“If you thought opening a food business was hard, you should try closing one,” the Addises, both in their 60s, said in a statement.

Metropulos held a liquidation sale of its foods, wines, cheeses and packaging.

Thanks for the memories. And the Metro Firehouse sandwiches.

4. Man Critically Injured in Head-On Collision on Cathedral Oaks Road in Goleta

Two drivers were injured in a head-on collision on Cathedral Oaks Road in Goleta the morning of Jan. 13, with one of them rushed to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with critical injuries.

As our Josh Molina reported, a Jeep Cherokee and a Dodge pickup truck slammed into each other around 10:45 a.m. in the 6300 block of Cathedral Oaks Road between Glen Annie and Los Carneros roads.

Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Scott Safechuck said the Jeep driver was taken to the hospital by an American Medical Response ambulance but the pickup driver declined treatment for minor injuries.

No identities or other details were available.

Authorities are investigating the circumstances of the wreck.

5. Son Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Parents, Formerly of Orcutt

A former Orcutt man, accused of gunning down his parents in their South Texas home last year, is headed to prison for the rest of his life after accepting a plea deal in the double-murder case.

As our Janene Scully reported, 29-year-old Derrick Sherwood fatally shot his mom and dad on Jan. 28, 2023, inside their house in Pleasanton, Texas, south of San Antonio.

Michael Sherwood, 60, and his wife, Rene, 56, moved to Texas in 2018 from Orcutt, where they had raised their family of three sons, two of their own and a third from Michael Sherwood’s first marriage.

Derrick Sherwood had been mired in methamphetamine addiction for years, and his parents had put him in rehab multiple times.

He accumulated more than a dozen arrests in Santa Barbara County from 2012 to 2019, with Superior Court records detailing a criminal history of misdemeanors, drug-related charges, and a 2019 arrest for methamphetamine influence and prowling in Orcutt.

“The defendant would repeatedly refuse treatment and go right back to using drugs once released,” Texas District Attorney Audrey Lewis said in a statement following the plea deal.

“Because of his choices, Michael and Rene Sherwood were the only two people who remained in the defendant’s life and continued trying to help him before he murdered them.”

After finally manning up and changing his plea to guilty of capital murder of multiple persons, Sherwood was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A GoFundMe account established to help the Sherwoods’ other sons, Justin and Logan, has raised more than $22,000 as of Jan. 19. Click here to make an online donation.

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Good Reads

Here are six more stories I recommend:

» Sex Trafficking Survivors Find Hope and Refuge in Santa Ynez Mountains — My friends, Sally and Chuck Cook, are helping make a big difference in the lives of young women — girls, actually — who have been rescued from some of the most vile harm one human can inflict on another. South County editor Josh Molina has the story on Olive Crest Hope Refuge.

» Motorcyclist Struck by Multiple Vehicles, Dies After Crash on Highway 1 Near Orcutt — Editor in chief Tom Bolton reports on a dreadful wreck that killed a 57-year-old Lompoc man.

» Goleta Council Approves Repaving Project that Includes Parts of Cathedral Oaks Road — To many Goleta residents’ surprise, the City Council has authorized the repaving of a section of Cathedral Oaks Road that has all the characteristics of an 1800s wagon trail. Staff writer Serena Guentz spreads the good news.

» Rain and Thunderstorms Expected in Santa Barbara County This Weekend — It’s winter, and staff writer Rebecca Caraway has the weekend weather report. Spoiler alert: It’s gonna be a wet one.

» Vandenberg Space Force Base Looks at Upgrades Amid Increase in Rocket Launches — North County editor Janene Scully has the latest on the beehive of activity at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Which reminds me: The next SpaceX rocket launch could go as soon as the night of Jan. 19.

» Mark Patton: A Thunderdome By Any Other Name Wouldn’t Sound as Sweet — My ears remember well when gung-ho Gaucho basketball fans were creating the legend of the Thunderdome at UC Santa Barbara back in 1987. Thanks to sports columnist Mark Patton for taking us all on a delightful trip back in time.

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Last Year on Noozhawk

What was our most-read story this time last year? Intrigue Swirls Over Possible Sale of Paseo Nuevo Mall in Santa Barbara.

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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week

The remote Headwaters Forest Reserve near Humboldt Bay is spookier than you thought: Eerie Remnants of Ghost Town Lurk Within Humboldt County Forest.

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Best of Bill’s Instagram

My Instagram feed was full of family this past week, not all of it mine.

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Watch It

Think you can keep step with the national champion University of Minnesota Dance Team’s synchronization? Dream on.