Thanks to manmade vaccines, COVID-19 may finally be on the run.
But the bewildering public health ordeal of the last 18 months has also provided an opportunity to get acquainted — or reacquainted in many cases — with holistic health, a system of preventative care treating body, mind and spirit, rather than a specific illness or condition.
At the direction of Noozhawk business development vice president Kim Clark and her staff, we recently added a Holistic Health & Wellness Guide to our collection of special sections and content.
The guide features a growing number of practitioners and practices to help you on your journey to physical, mental and emotional well-being. Click here to check it out, and then let me know what you think.
And if you’ve got a business you wish to include in the guide, it’s not too late. Click here to contact Kim and her team.
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What follows is my weekly Best of Bill column, a compilation of — and my own take on — our Top 5 most-read stories of the past seven days. Please understand that this is my opinion column, not a news story.
1. Billionaire MacKenzie Scott Donates $20 Million to Santa Barbara City College
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, one of the world’s richest women, continues to make good on her pledge to give away most of her wealth. On June 15, the Seattle billionaire announced donations of $20 million to Santa Barbara City College and $15 million to CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo.
As our Giana Magnoli reported, Scott’s unrestricted donations — the largest one-time gifts ever for each college — were part of a round of $2.7 billion in charitable donations made to 286 organizations across the country.
“Higher education is a proven pathway to opportunity, so we looked for two- and four-year institutions successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved,” said Scott, who divorced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — the world’s richest man — in 2019.
SBCC officials said the college would use the funding “to advance its mission in bold new ways.”
“I would like to thank MacKenzie Scott for the trust that has been placed in us,” SBCC Superintendent/President Utpal Goswami said.
“This visionary gift could not have come at a better time, as we are embarking on the creation of our new Educational Master Plan. These funds will empower us to implement transformational initiatives that will shape our community college of the future and provide the margin of excellence that we seek.”
Similarly, CSUCI officials said their gift “will be used to help the university’s largely low-income, minority student population become successful college graduates by supporting a variety of campus programs aimed at increasing student retention and graduation rates and advancing equity and inclusion.”
“It could not have come at a more critical time in our history,” CSUCI Interim President Richard Yao said.
2. Public Safety Power Shutoffs Possible for Santa Barbara County’s South Coast
This week’s sweltering heat wave, expected gusty wind conditions, a National Weather Service red-flag warning and the threat of dreaded public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) amounted to — all things considered — not much more than a reminder that you can never be too prepared for an emergency in Santa Barbara County.
As our Tom Bolton and Brooke Holland had reported, the weather service issued an excessive heat watch for the South Coast along with its forecast of dangerously hot temperatures. A red-flag warning was added due to strong winds and low relative humidity, key drivers of extreme wildfire behavior.
Although temperatures reached into the 90s on much of the South Coast and topped 100 in the Santa Ynez Valley and backcountry on June 15, it wasn’t just the heat.
There was also humidity, and it was a lot higher than expected, as anyone outside for any length of time could attest. That, plus relatively mild winds, helped ease the risk of wildfire.
By June 16, all alerts, watches and warnings had lapsed, and we were left to just sweat out the rest of the week, which includes a forecast of sunny skies and daytime highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s.
What’s more, Southern California Edison did not pull the trigger on any public safety power shutoffs on the South Coast as weather conditions did not strain its system.
As Tom had reported June 13, Edison officials said more than 5,100 customers were under consideration for the intentional blackouts in mostly foothill areas from Montecito to the Gaviota coast.
Click here for Noozhawk’s Emergency Preparedness section for tips and recommendations on how to be ready for the next disaster.
Click here for free Noozhawk breaking news text alerts to your cell phone.
3. District Attorney Warns of Website Scam Associated with Goleta Restaurant
Because the COVID-19 crisis hasn’t inflicted enough pain, suffering and inconvenience on the community, criminals have taken to scamming locals just trying to order Mexican food online.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue first reported, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office issued a warning about a fake website for La Tapatia #3 in Old Town Goleta.
According to Deputy District Attorney Christopher Dalbey, the bogus landing page, latapatia3ca.club, has no connection to La Tapatia — but it was taking payment and credit card information without forwarding the orders to the restaurant at 5764 Hollister Ave.
Anyone with information about scams involving phony websites is asked to contact District Attorney’s Office investigator Greg Hons as 805.568.2390.
Meanwhile, if you want to place an order from La Tapatia #3, just call the restaurant directly at 805.967.6688.
4. Crews Battle Wildfire Near Lake Casitas During Red Flag Warning for Southern Santa Barbara County
A fast-moving wildfire that ignited June 14 near Lake Casitas, about 15 miles east of Carpinteria, grew to 188 acres before firefighters got the upper hand.
Against a backdrop of extreme fire conditions building in the area, the blaze was reported about 3:45 p.m., burning on brush-covered hillsides north of Casitas Pass Road/Highway 150 and Santa Ana Road north of the reservoir.
Towering smoke from the fire was visible from Santa Barbara County.
Area fire agencies, including Carpinteria-Summerland firefighters, quickly responded to the blaze, as did air tankers and water-dropping helicopters.
Within a few hours, our Giana Magnoli reported, crews had halted the fire’s forward progress, and road closures and evacuations of the sparsely populated area were lifted.
The Casitas Fire was 100% contained by the next morning, according to Andrew Madsen, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, which had taken command of the blaze.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. There were no reports of injuries or damaged structures.
5. What the End of the State Tier System Means for Santa Barbara County Businesses and Mask Mandates
Just as foretold by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California was allowed to “reopen” on June 15, the date his SCIENCE whispered to him that the coronavirus would be sufficiently beaten into submission. Most notably by three separate vaccines that were developed and brought to market at warp speed last year, but there’s no need to give that credit where it’s due.
Of course, with Newsom, what you see is not always what he says, so “reopen” is an elastic term.
The state officially abandoned Newsom’s color-coded “reopening” scheme that no one could understand and he steadfastly refused to explain. But that doesn’t mean we’re now free to go about our business.
Not only has Newsom declined to relinquish the emergency powers he has driven great distances to enjoy, and no doubt will employ again as his recall election nears, there are still mandates galore and just as much confusion as before.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue reported, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department director Van Do-Reynoso told the Board of Supervisors that counties will now be deferring to Sacramento for public health directions and wisdom.
Capacity limits and physical distancing requirements have been lifted for most — but not all — business sectors, but masks are still a hot mess of uncertainty. I’ll leave it to Jade to explain the who and the where of those dictates, which sometimes depend on your vaccination status … and sometimes don’t.
And then there’s Cal/OSHA, which — in spite of Newsom’s astonishing prognosticatory precision — apparently was in no rush to weigh in.
Typical of the bureaucracy that is strangling California business, it was just too much work to have new job site rules actually ready by June 15. Instead, its board waited two additional days to come to the conclusion that employers need not require fully vaccinated employees to wear masks in the workplace and maintain physical distance.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Evacuations Ordered as Firefighters Battle Wind-Driven Vegetation Fire West of Buellton.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
“Strategic stability”: Russia Conducts ‘Unprecedented’ Naval Exercise in Central Pacific off Hawai‘i.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
My friend, David Smith, helped a #mallard mom get her row of ducklings through the busiest part of Montecito to the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge. Click here for my June 15 story, “Montecito Man Takes a Quack at Shepherding Mama Duck and Her Brood to Safety,” or get the shorthand version in my Instagram feed.
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Watch It
I don’t follow America’s Got Talent, but I’m really glad I listened to Noozhawk reader Abby Drake and watched this clip she sent me. And here’s more about the artist, Jane Marczweski, who performs as “Nightbirde.” Get your tissues ready for both the video and her blog post. It’s OK.
(America’s Got Talent 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.
