Month: September 2026

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Farmworkers and students in the Santa Maria Valley took different approaches to deal with the heat today.

Safety factors into those strategies to varying degrees.

Multiple schools moved lunch hours and P.E. classes indoors as a precaution.

“We’re always making sure that our kids health and safety and also our staff’s health and safety is our number one priority,” says Heather Paige, Principal At Fesler Junior High School.

School officials say heat advisories are rare for Santa Maria.

“This would be a normal thing on a rainy day,” says Paige. “But since we haven’t experienced that yet, they’re experiencing it today with the heat advisory.”

Meanwhile, farmworkers make up one of the highest risk populations for heat related dangers.

“We’ve had testimonies of folks passing out, heat exhaustion, dehydration, heat stroke in some very, very grave cases,” says Eric Ramirez, policy advocate for CAUSE of Santa Maria.

They must take extra steps to protect themselves while working in the sun.

“Oftentimes the biggest priority for a lot of growers is making sure that their crop gets off of the plant,” says Ramirez.

For farm workers, California state law mandates the provision of refrigerated water, an extra five minute break every two hours, and areas of shade for those breaks.

“It’s a pretty tough situation,” says Ramirez. “There’s different priorities on different ends. And oftentimes workers’ safety and workers’ health isn’t the top priority for folks.”

Agricultural workers are in the fields daily rain or shine to meet the demands of the county and beyond.

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CARPINTERIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Carpinteria Arts Center is celebrating 25 years of bringing art and arts education to the community.

Thousands have visited the nonprofit over the years to take classes, attend events, display artwork and explore their creativity.

Last year alone, about 30,000 visitors came through the center. It also hosted more than 100 free events and provided hundreds of hours of arts education.

“It’s an incredible place to come and learn about art and display your art,” said David Powdrell, advisory chair for the Carpinteria Arts Center.

About 150 volunteers now help keep the center running.

Volunteer Kathleen Waltrip is helping highlight the center’s history through a special anniversary mural made up of pieces representing volunteers, donors and past events.

Local teenage artists are also contributing to the celebration.

They created a dayglow mural that transforms under black light, offering visitors a new way to experience the artwork.

“Every year we give the teenage artists in our town a chance to see the world through their eyes,” said Carpinteria Arts Center Director Kristina Calkins.

Calkins considers the center an important gathering place for the community.

“We don’t have a community center in Carpinteria, so we have risen to become the community center. This is the gathering spot,” she said.

The 25th anniversary celebration runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Carpinteria Arts Center.

Waltrip hopes the milestone also brings attention to the importance of supporting local arts and future generations of artists.

For a center built around creativity, the anniversary itself is now becoming part of its history.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – If you were planning to take the Amtrak train in Southern California this weekend, you will have to change your plans.

Train service will be disrupted by rail work. Union Pacific says there will be no train service until Monday.

Amtrak says the multiple Pacific Surfliner trains that operate between San Diego and San Luis Obispo will be impacted.

For the rest of this week there’s also a disruption in the San Clemente area due to weather impacts on the rails.

Another service closure is expected in mid October as well.

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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. — Extreme heat could send more people to local beaches looking for relief, but lifeguard season has ended for the summer.

Regular beach lifeguard service ended on Labor Day, leaving some stretches of coastline without lifeguards on duty as temperatures climb.

An aquatics supervisor is reminding beachgoers to take extra precautions before entering the water, especially when no lifeguard is present.

Visitors are encouraged to stay hydrated, limit prolonged exposure to the sun and pay close attention to ocean conditions.

Families should also keep children within close reach near the water and avoid swimming alone.

The safety reminder comes as high temperatures are expected to draw more people toward the coast.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Normally a place of relief from the interior heat impacts, the Central Coast communities – including Ventura, Santa Barbara and Goleta – are feeling the same impacts as some of the interior areas during the current heat wave.

Tropical weather patterns have been a contributing factor to a week of unusual weather ranging from battering surf to temperatures exceeding 95 degrees on the coast and around 110 in Solvang.

Life does not stop for weather however, and not everyone can escape to air conditioning or movie theaters. Especially farm workers, outside construction crews and those working on projects directly connected to asphalt and concrete with little or now shade.

Seniors who are not used to and are not familiar with their health concerns may have a reaction to this type of heat.

Those who are unhoused and without resources are also expected to be the focus of outreach medical groups.

Outside of Joe’s Cafe, a couple of customers said they could have gone inside with the air conditioning on but “it felt great inside got to admit but this is something different had to experience it and  14 glasses of ice tea later ,  it is good!”

His friend, Tom Schmidt said, “it is getting warmer as the day gets on and I thought lets sit outside but it is probably five degrees hotter than when we started out an hour and a half ago.” Both only ate half their meals and took the rest to go.

At the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens, couples were still getting married although shaded area were preferred. Jake Tilton said the nervousness of a wedding was one thing but with the heat wave, put it all together you have to deal with it. “It was rough. I had paper towels in my pocket, the officiant,  she had a towel for me just wipe it (sweat) down as it comes down.”

His bride, Darina Tilton said, “I didn’t try to look too much at the weather.” In about 15 minutes the ceremony was over. “It was pretty fast.  I could feel myself sweating and it was like nooooooo!”

They were the shade of the archway before regrouping for a reception at Arnoldi’s Cafe.

Southern California has a heat dome. The ocean water temperature is over 70 degrees. The region is baking.

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NIPOMO, Calif. (KEYT) – A new nature preserve planned near Nipomo will be the topic of discussion during a community meeting scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10 2026.

Set to take place at the Dana Adobe Cultural Center, the forum will focus on the Dana-Carrillo Nature Preserve that is currently being developed.

Once open, the Dana-Carrillo Nature Preserve will provide public access to 388 acres of pristine, untouched oak woodlands in the hillsides just east of Nipomo.

“The new park, the nature preserve, will show exactly what this was like when the first Europeans came to California,” said Jim Corridan, Dana Adobe Board President. “The land is almost exactly as it was then. There’s huge oak trees and manzanita. The backside is very different from the front. The back side is really a coastal oaks forest in places. There are most of the animals that were in this area at the beginning and still roam that property back there, so you’re going to go back in time, which is kind of what the Dana Adobe is all about. You’ll go back in time on the environmental side and see what the settlers first saw when they came to this region.”

The property is being given to the Dana Adobe and Cultural Center by local developer Nick Tompkins, as oak tree mitigation plan to help offset the environmental impact that will be created by the Dana Reserve project.

In addition to the Dana Adobe, which will own and manage the land, The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County will also help care for the property.

“The Dana-Carrillo Nature Preserve will be owned and managed by the Dana Adobe and the Land Conservancy will hold a conservation easement on the property that will permanently protect it from future development and maintain, especially the oak woodlands on the property and in general, the natural landscape and open space there,” said Kyle Walsh, The Land Conservancy of SLO County Conservation Director. “Our role is maintaining basically how the property looks and feels today, maintaining the habitat, not directly managing it on a day to day basis like the Dana Adobe will be, and making sure that that place stays much the same in the future.”

Dana Adobe is planning to create an accessible trail that will provide visitors with spectacular panoramic views of South San Luis Obispo County and Northern Santa Barbara County.

Unlike the nearby Pismo Preserve, which is owned by The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County and offers open access to the public, the Dana-Carrillo Nature Preserve will be more restrictive.

“The primary goal is to protect the place for its natural beauty, the oak woodlands, the creatures that call it home,” said Walsh. “Public access will be limited compared to Pismo Preserve, in part because it’s a special property, and we want to protect the open space and the natural landscape there.”

Once open, visitors will not be able to travel to the property by themselves, but instead will need to access the preserve through a schedule guided tour.

“There will be controlled access so that the public can contact us and we’ll establish a schedule of hiking trails and times to go hiking up there, potentially equestrian trails and maybe even like a side by side ride up to the top,” said Corridan. “There’s just over a 1,000 foot incline, and when you get up there, you have spectacular views.”

Ownership of the property to Dana Adobe is expected to be finalized within the next 30-to-45 days and the first public visitors to the property could be welcomed to the preserve as earlier as late this year.

Thursday’s community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10 starting at 5:30 p.m.

“We’re going to ask for input from the public and we’ll kind of lay out our vision, talk with our partners who will be in the room and able to answer questions and kind of explain this whole concept to the public,” said Corridan. “That’s part of the master plan that we’re working on and developing is how will the trail systems be laid out, so we want to share that with the public, and we look forward to people coming out.”

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