Author: KEYT

Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Food assistance demand is surging in Santa Barbara as SNAP benefits resume and government services reopen.

The Organic Soup Kitchen faces a growing crisis with a waitlist climbing fast in Santa Barbara.

SNAP benefits are back, but low-income seniors and those with chronic illnesses still battle food insecurity.

Through its Medically Tailored Meals Program, the agency partners with CenCal Health to deliver weekly nutrient-rich SoupMeals.

The Nutrition and Food Security Program serves other low-income residents — but both now have waitlists.

Volunteers and staff are working tirelessly, preparing health-focused meals weekly.

Eligible clients can switch providers to secure continuous meals through the Organic Soup Kitchen’s CenCal partnership.

The Organic Soup Kitchen team hopes community support will help them feed every neighbor in need.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Jarrod Zinn

GUADALUPE, Calif. (KEYT) – The long anticipated restoration project at Guadalupe’s Royal Theater broke ground Monday.

The theater has been unused for nearly four decades.

It’s been closed and unused since 1989 and in 2022, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Originally built and opened in 1940 by Japanese American Arthur Fukuda, the Royal Theater gained initial popularity with locals and soldiers from Camp Cooke—which is now Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Fukuda was forced to sell the theater before he was sent to an internment camp during World War II.

“It really allows us to understand that the history of our buildings that are existing are really important,” says Andrew Goodwin, the project’s architect and designer. “They’re not only the most sustainable way to design, but they’re also the most equitable when it comes to culture and identifying the culture that exists today and hopefully will exist till tomorrow and the future.”

The City of Guadalupe has owned the property since 2000 and multiple previous attempts at reopening or revitalizing have not quite gotten this far.

“This is actually a unreinforced masonry building, so there’s a lot of engineering that has to go into it to reinforce it and make it exist again,” says Goodwin. “But the inside of the building is actually the original brick walls. The existing stage is going to be preserved in some ways. When you go inside and you see the lobby and you see the art deco or 1940s architecture and design, you’ll really appreciate that we kept it instead of getting rid of the history.”

A capital campaign effort funded by the federal Economic Development Administration, the California Art Commission and the City of Guadalupe broke ground Monday afternoon.

“This is a project that has been long in the making,” says Monique Limon, Senate President Pro Tempore. “So many attempts to try to find the funding, so many community members and efforts to really make it get some momentum.”

PreCon Industries of Santa Maria will give the theater a “royal” makeover, courtesy of Andrew Goodwin Designs of San Luis Obispo.

Construction will go into high gear next month and is expected to be completed in March.

The theater is expected to open its doors in 2027.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With The Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Tracy Lehr

VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT) Ventura City Councilmember Alex Mangone notified neighbors about a Town Hall at Pierpont Elementary School this Wednesday Dec. 3, at 6 p.m.

City leaders want to discuss the recent water scare in the Pierpont neighborhood of Ventura.

Works continues along Monmouth Drive.

Some families changed their Thanksgiving plans before being notified the do not use water order turned out to be the result of false positive test for gas in drinking water.

The city gave out water for about 24 hour and then lifted the order the day before Thanksgiving.

Water crews spent the weekend installing new water service for Motel Six.

The motel is located behind the Sinclair gas station where a leak got into the sewer line and storm drain in September of 2024.

That caused a partial rode closure that remains.

Ventura’s Deputy Mayor Doug Halter called it frustrating to see how long it takes to clear up a plume of gas.

Residents have been calling the city about it.

Erik Eiser is concerned about his family .

“This is kind of an ongoing issue we are going on 15 months now of this,” said Eiser, ” you know these were some of our concerns when this first broke out that fact that the water lines run straight through this gas plume. “

He said they fell forgotten.

Some Pierpont neighbors said they heard people felt sick from odors.

They said they wondered why the gas station was able to stay open and monitor the water quality rather than repairing issue underground.

Click here to follow the original article.

Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) Bill Baker wouldn’t miss decorated the 100 foot pine on the corner of Carrillo and Chapala in Santa Barbara.

“We’ve been installing the lights on the tree of light here in Santa Barbara for almost 90 years. We have our [union] membership come out. It’s really something that we we love to do. Give back to the community.” said Baker.

Steve Lopez enjoys it, too.

“In the younger days, we had incandescent lighting,” said Lopez, ” It was just quite a show. All my kids came through doing it.”

It is a labor of live rain or shine.

“At one time it rained so much we couldn’t get it up. And then we finally decided it was too late in the season. Forget it. And people called in and were asking for it. And so we came out in the rain and put it up,” Lopez.

“The community really enjoys it. We get phone calls from from people in the community asking us when we’re going to do it and when are the lights going to be up,” said Baker.

The city of Santa Barbara helps with traffic control and Ralphs powers the lights.

There are 17 strands of about 100 lights.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – CIF champions Ventura and Arroyo Grande will square off in a CIF-Division 3-AA Regional Championship Bowl Game between two local teams.

The game will take place Friday, December 5th at 7:30pm at Doug Hitchen stadium in Arroyo Grande.

It will be a rematch of the 2000 CIF-Southern Section Northern Division title game won by Ventura 35-14.

In Division 1-A Pacifica of Oxnard will bring their 14-0 record to El Cajon to play Granite Hills (10-3) on Saturday at 7pm.

Both teams won section titles over the weekend.

In Division 6-A Grace of Simi Valley will host Morse(San Diego) on Saturday 6pm at Moorpark College.

Grace won the CIF-SS D12 championship in just their third season back to playing 11-person football from 8-person football.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mike Klan

CLOVIS, Calif. (KEYT). – The Dos Pueblos High School boys cross country team took home an eighth place finish in Division 2 of the CIF-State Meet to wrap up a highly successful season for the Chargers.

DP head coach David Jackson said, “The result marks a significant improvement in speed from last fall and solidifies the Chargers as one of California’s most rapidly ascending programs.”

Owen Abbott led the way for DP with a 30th overall finish in a time of 15:26.7.

The San Marcos girls cross country team placed in tenth place highlighted Elsie Tuttle and Sofi Hernandez who finished right next to each other in 62nd and 63rd place overall.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mike Klan

DOWNEY, Calif. (KEYT). – James Watson raced 44 yards for a touchdown just 18 seconds into the game and Ventura ran away with the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 title with a 63-28 thrashing at St. Pius-St. Matthias Academy.

The 63 points scored is a new Ventura County record for most in a CIF-SS final.

Watson had four of the eight rushing touchdowns by the Cougars who led 21-0 after the first quarter and 42-7 at halftime.

It’s the third CIF-SS title for the Cougars in program history and first in 25 years.

Ventura quarterback and UNLV-commit Derek Garcia added two rushing touchdowns and he also threw a 30-yard td pass to Jack Cunningham.

The Cougars defense was led by Oregon-bound senior Tristan Phillips who registered five and a half sacks by himself.

(Phillips shows off championship hardware. Courtesy photo).

Ventura is 12-2 and advance to the CIF-State playoffs.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mike Klan

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KEYT) – Runners-up a season ago, second-seeded Cal Poly took home the crown at The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship in decisive fashion. Interestingly, a No. 2 seed has won all three iterations of The Big West Championship.

The Mustangs were able to defeat regular-season champion UC Davis, 3-1, on Saturday at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid, winning by scores of 25-16, 25-21, 20-25, and 25-15.

Cal Poly improves its record to 25-7 and earns The Big West’s automatic berth into the field of the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Cal Poly will be making a 17th overall appearance into the national postseason, and a first since 2019 after capturing the crown. The Mustangs will learn their seed and destination during the selection show on Sunday, Nov. 30, slated to start at 3 p.m. on ESPN.

A defensive stalwart all season long, UC Davis held opponents to .149 hitting heading into the match. On Saturday, Cal Poly secured the victory with a strong offensive effort, recording a .252 hitting percentage while tallying 12 total blocks and six service aces to turn the tables.

The Mustangs secured the first set against UC Davis with a decisive 25-16 victory. Cal Poly’s Emma Fredrick and Charlotte Kelly each contributed key kills, while Emme Bullis facilitated the offense with multiple assists, leading to a dominant mid-set stretch. Cal Poly saw themselves with an eight-point advantage after an ace for Fredrick, followed by a big block for Bullis and Championship MVP Chloe Leluge to make it 21-13.

In the second set, the Mustangs gained the 2-0 lead in the match to continue the momentum. Cal Poly’s Ella Scott delivered a crucial service ace during a 4-0 run early in the frame and the score was 10-6 in favor of the Mustangs after a Leluge kill. The Mustangs continued to hold the advantage throughout but Allie Caldwell made the margin two points with a strike to make it 19-17. The Aggies were able to stave off two set points off of plays from Big West Player of the Year Jade Light, before a service error ended the frame at 25-21.

UC Davis rallied to take a point in the third, capitalizing on early momentum to build an 9-4 lead after a strike from Light off the pass from Libero of the Year Ximena Cordero Barr. The advantage was 14-9 after a service error for the Mustangs, but Cal Poly was able to knot the frame at 18 and 19 points before UC Davis secured the frame 25-20.

Cal Poly punched their ticket into the postseason with a decisive 25-15 fourth set victory with Leluge and Fredrick were pivotal, contributing key blocks and kills that pushed Cal Poly ahead and in control to close out the match.

Leluge led the team with 16 kills on .593 hitting and six total blocks. Leluge’s overall performance in the Championship earned her the title of Most Valuable Player, where she averaged 4.13 kills per set (33 kills in eight sets) while hitting a combined .561 and committing just one error.

Fredrick also made a notable impact with 12 kills and four blocks with libero Elif Hurriet adding 15 digs and seven assists. Senior setter Bullis recorded 34 assists and 15 digs for the double-double.

Light led the match with 19 kills for the Aggies with Breeze Czapinski powering down 10 kills with three block assists. Caldwell led the team at the net with six total denials and Big West Setter of the Year Mia Starr directed the floor with 39 assists and 14 digs. UC Davis stands and 21-7 with their first regular-season title and 20-win season in the books in their last year as a member of The Big West.

(Article courtesy of Big West)

Click here to follow the original article.

Tracy Lehr

MONTECITO, Calif. (KEYT) St. Vincent’s held its 15th annual Fashion Show & Luncheon on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

The event sponsored by Claudia Lash and Pat Lupo took place at the Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito .

It began with a socializing around a silent auction.

People bid on art, baskets and holiday items collected by Lash and friends and family all year.

Then guests enjoyed a lunch and fashion show featuring clothing designed Mary Beth Larkin of (In)Larkin and children’s fashion presented by Wildflower Women.

The money raised benefits St. Vincent’s Family Strengthening Program that empowers mothers with young children.

Trina Phillips said her aunt Claudia’s home was filled with baskets before the event.

“My aunt Claudia, she is an amazing women and the baskets just fill up her house and she works throughout the year to collect all these wonderful things for a wonderful cause and I am very blessed to be a part of it and to be able to donate some of these baskets as well,” said Phillips.

ST. Vincent’s President and CEO Rosa Parades introduced the guest speakers that included a participant in the Family Strengthening Program and a graduate turned Pier Support Specialist.

“I get to see firsthand what these mom’s go through when they come to us and when they graduate from the program 27 months they are so strong and they become mentors to others and they come back and give,” said Parades.

Drew Wakefield also known as Mr. Santa Barbara encouraged people to fill out their donation forms at each table.

They will help St. VIncent’s families graduate to permanent housing and employment.

It is never too late to give.

For a link to donate and learn more visit https://stvincents-sb-org

Click here to follow the original article.

Mike Klan

CARPINTERIA, Calif. (KEYT). – The terrific postseason run by the Cate Rams fell one victory shy of a championship.

The Rams were soundly beaten by the visiting Lancaster Baptist Eagles 56-18 in the CIF-Southern Section Division II final in 8-person football.

Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter the Rams Noah Casbarro intercepted a pass near his own goal line and raced 78 yards for a pick-six to cut the deficit to 7-6.

But the Eagles gave the Rams defense fits by running the counter. The misdirection runs helped Lancaster Baptist run build a 27-6 halftime lead. The Eagles gained almost 250 yards on the ground.

The Eagles kept their foot on the gas and celebrated the championship with a 10-3 overall record.

Quarterback Camden Mordh threw four touchdown passes for Lancaster Baptist.

Cate quarterback Alex Kroehl threw two second half touchdown passes, a 36-yarder to Oliver Charvel and a 1-yard toss to Chase Meyer.

The Rams were just 2-7 in the regular season but ripped off three playoff wins to finish 5-8 on the campaign.

Click here to follow the original article.