Author: KEYT

Andrew Gillies

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A jet bridge that was out of service collapsed at the Santa Barbara Airport during maintenance Tuesday morning, resulting in minor injuries to two airport employees.

The two employees were transported to Cottage Hospital with minor injuries, and there were no other emergency impacts from the incident, according to the Santa Barbara City Fire Department. Airport Director Chris Hastert said the employees are expected to recover.

The collapse happened at Gate 2 while the bridge was undergoing maintenance. No passengers were on the jet bridge at the time, and flight schedules are not expected to be affected. A jet bridge, also known as a passenger boarding bridge, is the enclosed movable walkway that connects the terminal gate to the aircraft.

“This will obviously take a bridge out of service for a while, so it will be a little bit of a scramble for operations and the airlines to make it all work—and we will make it work,” Hastert said. “I’m just really very happy that our two employees are actually going to be okay, because it could have been much worse.”

The Santa Barbara Airport said the exact cause of the collapse is under internal investigation. No other bridges were slated for maintenance, but all of them have since been inspected with no problems detected.

“This is the first time something like this has happened at Santa Barbara Airport, and we are taking the steps to determine what the exact cause was,” Hastert added. “It appears to be an isolated incident, but the safety of our passengers and our staff remains our number one priority.”

Some passengers expressed surprise about the collapse. “It is not LAX, it is not a particularly busy place, doesn’t get used that much, so how can it collapse? It is odd,” said Greg Collier, who was picking up a passenger.

Others took a more measured view. “We have flown in and out of here many, many years and everything has been safe,” said Judy Gaede. “We figured they were doing maintenance work and something just went wrong, but it wasn’t what we were worried about at all.”

Passenger Sue Eisaguire also said her travel was unaffected. “I am glad I wasn’t there—everything was fine for our flight, so no problems today.”

Repairs are already underway at the airport, and while passengers may notice the work at Gate 2, delays are not expected.

The map below, courtesy of the Santa Barbara Airport, shows the location of Gate 2 in front of the passenger screening area on the second floor.

For more information about departures and arrivals from the Santa Barbara Airport, visit here or check with your airline.

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Caleb Nguyen

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Santa Maria Police arrested a 29-year-old Santa Maria man for vandalism and possession of a loaded firearm just after midnight Tuesday.

A community member noticed the 29-year-old near a commercial business area and he was later detained at a nearby car dealership, according to the SMPD.

SMPD officers later found tools used to take gas and a nearby car with damage similar to fuel theft instances.

SMPD officers later searched the 29-year-old and found an unserialized firearm. SMPD officers also arrested and booked the man into the Santa Barbara County Jail for multiple firearm and vandalism charges.

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Caleb Nguyen

GROVER BEACH, Calif. – Grover Beach Police officers arrested a 31-year-old San Luis Obispo man on multiple charges just before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A GBPD officer tried to stop a stolen vehicle at a traffic stop at Grand Ave. and 13th St. when the 31-year-old sped away and caused a police pursuit.

GBPD officers and Arroyo Grande Police attempted to find the San Luis Obispo man on foot, where they later located a loaded gun dropped by the 31-year-old.

GBPD officers also found the man at the Burger King on Oak Park and Grand after said foot pursuit.

The 31-year-old was later arrested and booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail on the following charges:

auto theft

firearm possession

possession of stolen property

fraud (felony)

theft (felony)

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Caleb Nguyen

BUELLTON, Calif. – Buellton’s fourth district released its early ballotting numbers for its empty District 4 city council seat Tuesday.

Out of 879 total votes through mail-in only, 397 of them were counted in Monday’s early voting period, accounting for over 45% of the tally.

Carla Mead received 246 of 397 votes for a 62.12% share of the vote, Dave King received 150 of 397 votes for 37.88% of the voting share, while one other ballot of the 397 was left blank.

Both candidates are looking to fill the District 4 seat left by David Silva’s election as mayor last November.

King served as Buellton’s mayor for two years after retiring as a CHP officer and is running against Mead as the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society’s board chairperson.

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Tracy Lehr

ISLA VISTA, Calif. – Isla Vista Community Services District Board President Spencer Brandt said visitors and students may notice Isla Vista looking better than usual this school year.

“It is an exciting time of the year for Isla Vista as we have community members moving in with city college starting up,” said Brandt.

Brandt said they are doing things differently this year.

“We have invested over $300,000 in beautification for the community and what that really comes down to is making sure that the trash on the street is cleaned up, when it comes to moving out, making sure we can take the items and use them if possible.”

They picked up 14,000 pounds of trash and collected more than 3,000 pounds of items that were either donated or stored.

Some of the items were leftover from the Give Sale in June and will be on sale at the upcoming Move In Sale.

“Right here at the Community Center on Sept. 15th and 16th it is an opportunity to purchase lightly used items that have been stored from when we collected donations during the move out period,” said Brandt, “it is a great cause to be able to purchase slightly used items that are contributing to reducing waste in our community and avoiding those things going to the landfill and also get that piece of furniture, that small appliance that you might otherwise get more expensive from a big box store.”

Some UCSB students, who locked in their living arrangements months ago, said they have noticed a difference.

Hans Kaiser noticed less trash.

Sami Hieta noticed repairs to the stairs down to the beach.

The money raised will help the IVCSD and IVRPD with community events.

For more information visit https://islavistacsd.ca.gov and https://ivparksorg

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Workers with In-Home Supportive Services, or I.H.S.S., attended the Santa Barbara county board of supervisors’ meeting in Santa Maria Tuesday morning.

They were advocating for fair wages for in-home caregivers.

In May of this year, governor Gavin Newsom proposed some deep budget cuts to Health and Human Services including the I.H.S.S. program, in order to address a projected deficit for California to the tune of $12 billion.

The majority of the governor’s proposed cuts in 2025 to I.H.S.S. were rejected, but some were approved.

Several members of I.H.S.S. flooded the Santa Barbara county board of supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday, urging the county to reject cuts in local budgeting.

“My heart goes out to the people that are doing this as a career because it’s very hard work,” says Courtney Cazenave, a 24-hour I.H.S.S. caregiver. “It’s difficult, but it’s so rewarding. And you have to have a heart of gold to be able to do this for people.”

Capping caregiver hours and eliminating services altogether for immigrants are examples of the rejected cuts.

But Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented immigrants is frozen, and new monthly premiums have been implemented for those with any questions regarding their immigration status.

“I’m advocating for them to receive an increase in their pay so they’re able to provide, you know, better assistance for me, but also have just a more comfortable life themselves,” says I.H.S.S. recipient Edward Lamberson.

According to I.H.S.S. members, in-home caregiving is not limited to trained professionals, and many everyday individuals have to make sacrifices to take care of a loved one at home.

“My mom and my brother are providers,” says Lamberson. “They’re always doing something for me. So they can’t really, like, extend into their own lives too much because I always just end up needing something.”

Members of the program seek higher wages for trained professional caregivers, as well as some income for anyone with loved ones at home who have special needs.

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – This year’s two Day of Hope ambassadors are urging the Central Coast community to help support local cancer patients during this week’s fundraiser.

The ambassadors for this year’s 12th annual Day of Hope are Denise Villarete of Orcutt, who is representing Mission Hope Cancer Center in Santa Maria center, and Anna Sosnowski of Arroyo Grande, who is representing the Mission Hope Cancer Center in Arroyo Grande.

Both women are nurses and are cancer patients who are still receiving treatment at the centers they are each representing.

For Villarete, she’s been battling ovarian cancer since being diagnosed with the disease in spring 2024.

“My case is a little bit different with my father being a BRCA2 mutation carrier with his cancer,” said Villarete, describing her father, who died of cancer. “I did know that, so in the back of my mind, I knew I had a 50/50 chance that I would also develop cancer at some point in my life. With that knowledge, knowing in the background, when you hear you have a mass and you’re not quite sure what it is that does go through your head a little bit, which does in a sense prepare you for that kind of news versus it being blindsided out of the blue.”

Soon after she was diagnosed, Villarete began what has turned into a very long period of treatment to battle the disease.”

“It started with having surgery,” said Villarete. “And then from there, after about a month of recovery, I did start chemotherapy here at Mission Hope. It was a four month chemotherapy session. One day every three weeks, for the four month duration. After that, while during that chemo session, I was also added, another medication, Avastin and those infusions would proceed for another year and a half.”

Over the past two years, Villarete has undergone a slew of surgeries and treatment and is nearing the finish line of medication.

“I’ve been cancer free for two years, and with the treatment that I’ve received here at Mission Hope that is what’s entitled me to be able to do that and say that,” said Villarete. “The cancer free diagnosis was just amazing and obviously something that we had worked hard to achieve.”

Sosnowski is battling breast cancer, which was diagnosed last August while she was nursing the youngest of her three children.

“They ended up having to do a biopsy,” said Sosnowski. “It ended up coming back positive for breast cancer and it also had traveled to my lymph nodes as well, so I was stage two at the time of diagnosis.”

Over the past year, Sosnowski has received most of her treatment at Mission Hope in Arroyo Grande, being backed she said through the support of her family, work and crew at the cancer center.

“I kind of went through the whole gamut of everything I did chemo, radiation, I did a double mastectomy,” said Sosnowski. “I still have two surgeries pending, but it was it was a journey, that’s for sure. It was a scary experience, but being supported by that staff was just hands down the best, the best thing that could have happened because I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

Now, about a year later, Sosnowski is moving forward with a positive outlook with her recovery.

“It’s nice to have the majority of it behind me,” said Sosnowski. “Obviously, chemo is rough and radiation and surgery. I still have one to two more surgeries to do. I have to do a reconstruction and they’re going to take my ovaries out just to prevent distant recurrence. After all the medication will be done because they’ll have me on medication for about ten years, so that’s still pending, but honestly, I’m feeling great.”

As the Day of Hope ambassadors, the two women are sharing their stories to inspire community members to take part in the Day of Hope, which raises funds to directly benefit patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center.

The Day of Hope was created in 2014 and specifically raises funds for patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center in Santa Maria and Arroyo Grande.

Over the past 11 years, the Day of Hope has collected more than $2 million through generous community donations.

On Wednesday, Aug 27, starting at 7 a.m., hundreds of volunteers will be located throughout the Santa Maria Valley and in South San Luis Obispo County at dozens street corners, intersections, parking lots, schools, churches and other highly visible locations.

Participating teams members will once again be selling special edition $1 Santa Maria Times newspapers.

Proceeds specifically helps the cancer center provide patients with a myriad of complimentary programs and services.

For more information about the car show or the upcoming Day of Hope, click here to visit the official webpage.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – As you stroll through downtown Santa Barbara, you might spot rows of empty storefront windows.

“It’s pretty empty … if an artist came and decorated it … brighten it up a little bit,” said student Joe Brama of UCSB.

But a new program it’s about to turn these vacant windows into works of art.

“We have a new vacant window beautification program in downtown Santa Barbara and we are doing a call for Art to showcase the talented artist in our area,” said executive director Robin Elander of the Downtown Santa Barbara Improvement Association.

Artists, photographers, and designers are invited to submit original pieces.

“We’re encouraging our local artist to submit scanned or digital copies of their work to be enlarged and put in local windows and vacant storefronts,” said executive director Sarah York Rubin of the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture.

Organizers of the program hope the blank windows will soon been filled with color and creativity.

“My hope is to have this be part by a long time effort to ultimately support and elevate the conditions for businesses downtown,” said Elander.

Selected artists will get $250 and their name credited on each display.

The project is part of a broader revitalization effort led by the Downtown Santa Barbara Improvement Association, aiming to make unused spaces more welcoming for residents and visitors alike.

More details and guidelines are available at www.downtownsb.org/discover/windows.

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John Palminteri

MONTECITO, Calif. – A 27-foot sailboat did not have a second chance it had hope for after crashing on Butterfly Beach Tuesday in Montecito.

It crashed Sunday with no one on board. The vessel broke loose from the anchorage on the eastern side of Stearns wharf off Santa Barbara’s waterfront.

The drifting vessel was intercepted by some people in the water who may have made a difference to keep it off the rocks where it could have been damaged on its arrival.

Then came a plan by the owner Luke Wallace who said he boat would be recovered at high tide around noon Tuesday and it looked to be undamaged.

That changed when the waves started moving it around and it is unclear exactly what happened but by morning, it was in pieces all over the beach in the ocean.

An investigation is underway to see how the destruction of the vessel could have been avoided.

Wallace said Monday on the beach, “it is looking pretty good. Minus the outboard that is missing. I think it is in pretty good shape.”

The next hours were catastrophic.

That left behind a debris field that was shocking to the first people to walk the beach.

Some immediately tried to keep the pieces from getting back  into the water.

Montecito resident Helene Folkart looked around after going back and forth several times and said, “I got a pile there.  A second one here, and then we started on a third one here .”  

A family from Germany was also on site and helping out. 

“It looked like it exploded,” said Harry Rabin with the non-profit environmental group Heal the Ocean.  “We’ll maybe try to figure out what happened but I am really shocked to see it came apart like that.”

Some of the debris was dangerous to touch.

Summer Wilson from Summerland said, “this is terrible. That is a gas tank that’s in the water.  I don’t understand why someone isn’t here to clean it up and we are doing it.”

Debris was carried by the currents down the coast more than 100 yards.

Wilson said, “there’s paint thinner, cans of paint thinners all kinds of toxic material and it is coming this way because all the trash is all the way down,” she said pointing east. “We walked down there, it’s coastal and there’s nails (in the wood.)”

Those who have seen this before and have been part of salvaging broken boats say the county’s plan to respond to these incidents is inadequate.  

“It’s definitely going to head to Miramar at this point probably and beyond and that is the worst  nightmare,” said Rabin.

“Everything we moved to the rocks is going to go to the ocean so someone needs to come down here and clean up all the piles that we made,” said Wilson.

Heal the Ocean is currently covering the costs and working with Marborg Industries on a full clean up on the beach.

Recently another sailboat also crashed there and was abandoned for more than a week before an emergency cleanup effort took place to crush it and remove the remains in a Marborg coordinated effort, again with funds by Heal the Ocean.

A more defined response policy by the county is being developed for these incidents with Santa Barbara County Supervisor Roy Lee.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Bishop Diego Cardinals soar into a new school year by sweeping Athlete of the Week honors at the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table luncheon at Harry’s.

The Female Athlete of the Week is senior volleyball player Sophie Otte and the Male Athlete of the Week is senior quarterback Tua Rojas.

Otte led the Cardinals to a rare win over Santa Barbara High School and the Cardinals finished off the week by taking second place in the Silver Division in their own Cardinal Classic tournament.

The Cardinals beat the Dons for the first time since 1975 as Otte had 16 kills, three blocks and three digs in a four-set victory.

Rojas threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score in the Cardinals wild 42-40 season-opening win at Lancaster.

He completed 15-of-21 passes for 258 yards.

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