Month: June 2025

Melinda Burns

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The team of four county Sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant that busted dozens of illegal pot operations and confiscated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of marijuana, beginning in 2018, has been broken up.

The move was made official on Tuesday at a county Board of Supervisors hearing on the budget for the coming fiscal year.

Cannabis tax revenues have dropped from a high of $15.7 million in 2020-21 to $5.4 million in 2024-25.

A glut on the market, much of it illegal pot, continues to depress prices; and the board was looking for ways to save money.

The $2 million cost of the enforcement team, including a $19,185 monthly lease for office and warehouse space in Santa Maria, has been the largest single line item in the county’s year-to-year cannabis budget. And during the early years of legal cannabis, there were plenty of illegal “grows” to raid.

In its first nine months of operation, back in 2018-19, the cannabis enforcement team confiscated marijuana plants valued at $106 million and dried marijuana valued at $15 million, records show. As the years went by, the team continued to seize substantial amounts of illegal cannabis, though at a slower rate.

“Progress has been achieved in this field,” Sheriff Bill Brown told the board on Tuesday. “Our county has significantly reduced the black market presence and discouraged illegal operators … This is not the time to let our guard down.”

In recent years, though, the enforcement work had largely shifted to the time-consuming investigation of illegal sales of pot; and the supervisors decided they had other priorities.

Earlier this month, the board cut one deputy from the cannabis team, leaving $1.5 million in the budget for it. On Tuesday, the board shifted two of the team’s remaining deputies to the Sheriff’s narcotics enforcement team — one for the North County and one for the South Coast, as specialists in cannabis.

The board also cut the sergeant’s position from the cannabis team.

The supervisors then decided that the position of the last remaining cannabis team deputy would become that of a “felony warrant” detective.

He or she will track down people who have been charged with felonies but who have failed to show up in court and are now in hiding, with warrants out for their arrest.

Supervisor Steve Lavagnino of Santa Maria had brought up this longstanding problem at the June 4 budget hearing.

Brown told the board that his department was holding nearly 10,000 “unserved warrants”, including warrants for about 2,000 felonies and 8,000 misdemeanors, some for crimes that were committed decades ago. About 1,300 people have multiple warrants for their arrest, Brown said.

The designated “warrant detective”, he said, would create a “most wanted” list and, in coordination with other departments, begin to focus on bringing those people to justice who pose the greatest risk to public safety.

The cost, designated as a one-time expense, will be $302,000 for this fiscal year, ending June 30, 2026.

In a testy exchange on Tuesday, Board Chair Laura Capps questioned Brown about the expensive Santa Maria lease for the cannabis enforcement team, which she noted has cost the county $1.2 million since 2019.

“That is news to me,” said Capps, who had asked the Sheriff for more information on the lease in advance of the hearing. “It’s an alarming eye-popping number that shows me I’m not sure we’re using these funds efficiently.”

In preparation for Tuesday’s hearing, Brown proposed moving the team after six months out of the Santa Maria warehouse and into a smaller space, for half the rent.

Capps said, “I’m all for enforcement, but I don’t know what could justify a lease of $20,000 a month, and now you’re willing to shift it away because the scrutiny has occurred.”

Brown said, “That is absolutely not the case.” He explained that in addition to the cannabis enforcement team, the narcotics team was housed at the Santa Maria building because an existing Sheriff’s office in the South County was “falling apart” and was “almost uninhabitable.” And Lavagnino pointed out that the Santa Maria building had been used to store confiscated marijuana from past raids.

Brown said he was proposing to downsize the Santa Maria lease because the South County building (the former food bank on Hollister Road) is being refurbished and will be available for use during this fiscal year.

“There’s nothing surreptitious about this,” Brown said.

For now, the Santa Maria lease remains in the cannabis budget for the narcotics team, for $239,000.

With some of the funding freed up from cannabis enforcement, the board funded a half-time Sheriff’s deputy position for cannabis business licensing, if needed; and it restored $70,000 out of $90,000 that had been previously cut from the budget for tax audits of cannabis growers.

Finally, the board allocated $240,000 in cannabis revenues to the Immigrant Legal Defense Center, a non-profit group with offices in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.

The funds will pay for two therapists to work with family members who are suffering from the consequences of deportations.

There are presently 65 people on a wait list for mental health services at the center, including children.

Melinda Burns is an investigative journalist with 40 years of experience covering immigration, water, science and the environment. As a community service, she offers her reports to multiple publications in Santa Barbara County, at the same time, for free.

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Andie Lopez Bornet

VENTURA, Calif. – High fire season is now underway in California.

“That increased fire risk across the interior areas first for June and then spreading toward the coast as we head into July and August,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist, Robbie Munroe.

A La Niña means drier, warmer weather – particularly here on the central and southern coast.

“We’re starting to see that season shift towards drier vegetation and starting to see some smaller fires out there. That’s a signal we’re in fire season and things will likely get worse from here.”

The National Weather Service says the main impact of La Niña on fire weather is that La Niña years are statistically less rainy, which may have contributed to the fuels still being very dry in January during the Santa Ana winds.

2025 began with a series of damaging wildfires — including the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles.

So far this year, more than 57,000 acres have burned from San Diego to Ventura county.

The Kenneth fire in Ventura county burned more than 1,000 acres in January and was fueled by extreme Santa Ana winds.

“And we’re most concerned when they overlap with the really dry conditions, which is usually in the September through November time frame,” said Munroe. “But as we saw this past winter it can last into December or January.”

“Fire spreads based on a couple of basic principles, the fuels, the weather and the topography,” said Ventura County Public Information Officer, Andrew Dowd.

“We prepare for all types of weather conditions – we are prepared to respond to emergencies 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. When we know that there are sundowner wind events, red flag conditions, Santa Ana wind conditions, our agency will, depending on those conditions and severity, will consider up staffing,” said Dowd.

Santa Ana winds blow from the inland deserts toward the coast — they’re hot, dry, and strong — and can rapidly escalate wildfires.

These winds are most common in Fall and Winter, but they can strike at any time.

In Santa Barbara, sundowner winds create similar conditions – blowing from the northwest, down the mountains, toward the coast and are known for rapid fire spread.

Local fire agencies urge residents to prepare for wildfires early by creating a go-bad and clearing vegetation near homes.

You can get wind alerts in advance by downloading our First Alert Weather app.

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Tracy Lehr

OXNARD, Calif. – Local farm owners have urged President Trump to pause ICE raids in their fields following a recent operation near Point Mugu, but workers and elected leaders worry the reprieve won’t last long.

This week, ICE agents targeted workers in an industrial area and held a U.S. citizen overnight.

The incident occurred after Juan Ramirez Diaz began recording video of his father’s arrest. His father is not a U.S. citizen.

Oxnard Mayor Luis McArthur said he spoke with Ramirez Diaz’s wife on Wednesday and learned the family was safe, but they remain concerned for the children’s grandfather, who is still in custody and has not been in contact.

“You know, what it’s doing is creating a lot of trauma in our community,” McArthur said. “I spoke out against the operations of ICE. I spent over 35 years with the Oxnard Police Department, and what we’re seeing—the tactics and methods ICE is using—I think they’re unjust, unwarranted, very harmful, and creating a lot of chaos.”

Before winning his mayoral race, McArthur served as Oxnard’s police chief.

He has defended local law enforcement from criticism by social justice groups accusing officers of being complicit in the raids. He said the police department he once led is not collaborating with the sweeps and is not legally allowed to under California Senate Bill 54.

However, video shared on social media Wednesday showed an unmarked car parking directly in front of the police station.

McArthur said that when a watch commander recently asked ICE agents to leave, they responded that it was a public lot.

Like McArthur, Ventura’s Mayor Pro Tem Doug Halter has been vocal on social media about the recent enforcement actions. He said he’s not convinced ICE will leave farms alone and warned that the raids are already hurting local businesses.

“Some of our more vital streets, like Ventura Avenue, are usually bustling with activity,” Halter said. “It’s pretty quiet now.”

He also said some students and parents skipped graduations out of fear.

“The reality is this—we know the immigrants in our community are deeply intertwined with all of us. Whether people realize it or not, many of them have been here for 20, 30, even 40 years. They’ve been a huge part of our community,” Halter said.

“The threat hanging over everyone’s head is real and life-changing. I just hope it’s not life-ending, because it’s that severe.”

Ventura County’s $2.4 billion agricultural economy relies heavily on strawberries and other top crops.

McArthur said he has advised farmers to put up fences and continue paying their workers—even if they’re afraid to show up—so their operations can survive.

He emphasized that farms have rights, too.

Ventura County Republican Party Treasurer Deborah Baber also weighed in on the situation, including the detention of the U.S. citizen.

“Their concern is misplaced when we’re talking about upwards of 20 million illegal aliens in this country—and that is the official term,” Baber said. “To point out that one person was picked up incorrectly is not even a drop in the bucket, not even a mist.”

“My response is: yes, there are some really fine and decent people who will get hurt. But the whole point of the Trump administration’s approach to ICE and deportation activity is to protect as many people as possible. That’s why they try to carry this out in public places where individuals who are here illegally can be detained safely.”

Baber reiterated her views during the Oxnard City Council meeting this week, despite vocal opposition.

She said she loves all people, but does not want undocumented immigrants taking jobs that she believes others could and would do.

“Their first crime was coming here illegally,” she said.

Meanwhile, businesses are feeling the impact.

Gas stations and market stands that serve undocumented workers have seen fewer customers in recent days, as fear of raids keeps people at home.

Unmarked ICE vehicles have also been spotted at local hotels.

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Tracy Lehr

CAMARILLO, Calif. – CSU Channel Islands faculty members and students have been busy caring for tidewater gobis.

They rescued 700 of them from the Topanga Lagoon following the devastating Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

For the past 5 months they have been held in two aquariums.

That gave the lagoon time to heal from toxic runoff and phos check used to fight the fire.

A CSUCI Environmental Science student and representatives from several wildlife agencies, who used nets to rescue the endangered 2-inch long fish, returned to the lagoon to return them to the wild.

They said the tidewater gobis are critical to the food web.

CSUCI Environmental Science and Resource Management faculty member Dr. Brenton Spies, and CSUCI Environmental Science student Sophia Hoolihan, who graduated in May, are credited with leading the rescue, care and return.

Spies specializes in studying the tidewater gobis.

“Today is the day to release them back to their home to send them home and start doing their gobi thing. so very exciting a huge team effort an now we let them do their thing,” said Spies.

CSUCI students and faculty will continue to monitor their progress in the lagoon.

For more information visit https://www.csuci.edu

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Jarrod Zinn

LOMPOC, Calif. – U.S. Space Force Col. Nick Hague, the first active-duty Guardian to travel to space, shared his experience aboard the International Space Station during a visit to Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday.

Hague launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Sept. 28, 2024, as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The flight marked an historic milestone, making him the first active-duty Space Force Guardian to fly to space and one of the first humans to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

He returned to Earth on March 18, 2025, following a mission that spanned more than 171 days and was extended due to adjustments in the Crew-10 timeline. Hague and his fellow Crew-9 astronauts landed off the coast of Florida aboard the Dragon spacecraft.

“Over the two and a half decades that we’ve been sending crews to the station have built a database of experience doing long duration missions,” says Col. Hague. “And so we’re collecting that data and trying to understand how it affects the body.”

While in orbit, Hague participated in more than 150 scientific investigations designed to advance human spaceflight and improve life on Earth.

“There’s a lot of stuff in space, and you can see it,” says Col. Hague. “That’s why I’m here at Vandenberg. They track it, but then if something’s going to come close to the station, then they’re calling Houston Mission control and they’re letting us know.”

His research on board the station focused on critical issues such as blood clotting in microgravity, vision changes in astronauts, and plant growth in space.

“Being in space challenges your senses on so many different levels,” says Col. Hague. “The way you understand yourself as your body goes through all its adaptations to microgravity, the way your mind processes, the things around you and their behavior, because they start doing things that you’re not familiar with.”

On Jan. 16, 2025, he conducted a six-hour spacewalk alongside an Expedition 72 crewmate to replace a station component and service an external research instrument, helping ensure the continued functionality of key systems used for Earth and space observation.

He also completed the Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler virtually—running 10 miles on the station’s treadmill in about 90 minutes, the same time it takes the ISS to complete one orbit around Earth.

Col. Hague, who has now logged more than 350 days in space across multiple missions, called this a pivotal time for young people to pursue careers in the space industry. He emphasized the rapid growth of new technologies and the vital importance of teamwork—a lesson he said was among the most surprising and rewarding aspects of spaceflight.

“We’re developing new suits, we’re developing new lunar rovers, new lunar landers, the Rockets that are going to get us there,” says Col. Hague. “You’ve got all of these new opportunities, and it takes a huge team.”

For more information about SpaceX, you can visit their website here.

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