Author: KEYT

Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – They call it airlifting hope.

“It’s good to have you guys back on the payroll,” pilot Levi Maaia of Santa Barbara Aviators said over the radio during a flight over Santa Barbara.

On the other end, the controller’s simple reply — “Hey, thanks” — carried the weight of weeks without pay.

“At a busy airport like Santa Barbara … it’s obviously really important to keep traffic separated. The air traffic controllers primary role … is to keep planes from occupying the same airspace,” said Maaia.

Weeks after the shutdown, local air traffic controllers are still finding their footing—financially and emotionally.

“The air traffic controllers … they watch out for our safety as a pilot and … you know what … we need to watch out for them … when it’s their turn,” said pilot Craig Alexander of Santa Barbara Aviators.

Pilots from Santa Barbara Aviators joined forces with local restaurants, transforming community spirit into real support.

Inside Woodstock’s Pizza, the teamwork mirrors what happens in the skies—timing, trust, and teamwork.

“It’s being made with so much love you know these people do so much for us and our community so many people come in through Santa Barbara airport all the time and myself and our coworkers included and so being able to provide for them as what they provide us is definitely something we wanted to strive for,” said assistant general manager Preston Villwock of Woodstock’s Pizza.

Up in the air, every calm voice in the headset is a reminder: someone down there has your life in their hands.

“Air Traffic controllers also provide information to pilots … they can help pilots navigate around thunderstorms and rain, storms, and things that might cause some problems,” said Maaia.

“As a private pilot we rely on air traffic controls to keep us safe in the air … and they’re the ones watching out for us … making sure we don’t hit other planes and keeping air traffic running smoothly at our airport … so it means everything in the world that we keep our tower well staffed with trained personnel, that can keep us safe every day,” said pilot Louis Farah of Santa Barbara Aviators.

The Santa Barbara Aviators Club plans to keep helping air traffic controllers for as long as there is a need.

“Absolutely … with the government reopening they still don’t have a paycheck yet right? It’s gonna have to wait till the next pay period … so we’re absolutely gonna keep bringing them food and providing those lunches and showing them that we’re still here,” said pilot Taylor Jobe of Santa Barbara Aviators.

“Our hope is provide them some relief … whatever your role is at the airport … the pilots, the controllers … we take care of each other,” said Farah.

Even with the skies fully open again, gratitude continues to carry this story higher.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT). – Jaymi Coronado led all scorers with 18 points and Alyssa Chrestenson added 16 points as Bishop Diego overwhelmed Santa Barbara 62-18 on the first day of the Bird Cage Classic.

It was the season opener for both teams.

Host Bishop Diego will play Lompoc on Thursday at 7pm.

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Mike Klan

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KEYT). – Zoe Borter scored a game-high 22 points as UCSB rallied from an early 10 point deficit to win at San Jose State 75-60.

The Gauchos trailed 17-7 after the first quarter but outscored the Spartans by 25 points the rest of the way to improve to 4-1 on the season.

Maddie Naro added 18 points for the winning Gauchos.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT). – Bishop Diego High School outlasted Santiago/Garden Grove to win the CIF-Southern Section Division 8 championship in girls tennis.

The two teams were tied at 9 but the Cardinals claim the tiebreaker in games won 78-71.

Natalie Chan went 3-0 in singles play while Haley Hubbs went 2-1 for the Cardinals.

Bishop Diego’s doubles team of Avery Carter/Rafaela Fay went 2-1 as did Victoria Heredia/Sonia Marquez-Miranda.

The championship was at the Claremont Club in Southern California.

Bishop Diego is coached by Pete Kirkwood.

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Tracy Lehr

VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT) Early birds are flocking to the Ventura County Fairgrounds Swap Meet to do their holiday shopping.

It opens at 7 a.m. on Wednesdays and runs until 1 p.m.

Some of the vendors, including Bill Doggett, are regulars at the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sundays.

He specializes in coffee table books.

Vendors also sell albums, holiday decorations, antiques, artwork, vintage clothing, sports items and more.

Ted Muñoz, from the Rincon Pit Crew, sells surf inspired art and has a classic longboard on display.

Muñoz let customers know about the Rincon Invitational in March that promotes sharing waves and raises money for nonprofits and scholarships.

The Swap Meet is also includes a farmers market.

Shoppers on a budget call it a great way to save on unique gifts.

Swat Meet parking at the fairgrounds is free and admission is $2.

The Swat Meet takes a break the week of Thanksgiving, but it will return the first Wednesday in December.

For more information visit https://snauctions.com the Ventura County Fairgrounds Swap Meet on Facebook and social media.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – If you’ve come back to your car to find a parking ticket this year in Santa Barbara, you may not be alone. The numbers have shot up.

The Santa Barbara Police department says after some staff shortages in recent years, all positions are filled on the parking enforcement team.

This year tickets are already up six percent. This includes overtime, red and yellow (commercial) zone violations, expired registration, no front license plates and parking where it’s off limits during street sweeping days.

Just in the time frame from July through September the number was 13, 352 tickets.

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Tracy Lehr

ISLA VISTA, Calif. (KEYT) Despite protester chanting “UC UC you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side,” the University of California Board of Regents approved a plan to continue tuition hikes.

The vote and protests took place on Wednesday afternoon on the UCLA campus.

UCSB students preparing for their Fall quarter finals learned the vote was 13-3 with only one student eligible to vote on the board.

Most students said they were not surprised.

They said they have never heard of tuition going down.

But that doesn’t mean they like it.

E.J. Raad who serves as the Associated Students External Vice President of Local Affair said he would like to know if there are others ways to deals with Trump administration cuts, less state funding, and inflation.

“I understand that it is nice that it will be more stable rather than having this kind of boom or bust system when it goes up or down depending on the economy but I just have a big issue with this seeming habit of always going to raising tuition being the first move to combat the funding cuts.”

Raad doesn’t think it will hurt enrollment because the UC campuses are so popular.

Students are upset that the vote allocates a smaller percentage to financial aid.

Manny Mares said students are already worried about the cost of living, too.

“The tuition is being raised and the amount of resources aren’t progressing at all it is stagnant and it just makes it harder we are struggling specifically like middle class students it is going to hit  these students are struggling to eat they have to pay most of their tuition per quarter and it is horrible.”

A chemical engineering student said he felt lucky to be graduating soon and said he is already impacted by cuts.

A first you student Mary Geyer said she has noticed the cut to hours at he library.

Guyer said she is lucky to be on a full scholarship thanks to her father who is in the military.

The board of regents vote takes effect in the 2026 / 2027 academic year and continues a cohort model that started several years ago.

It can increase undergraduate tuition by up to 5 percent and locks the rate in for each enrolling class or cohort for up to six years.

Tuition that began in 1970 is up to $14,934 for in state students and $50,328 for non-residents.

And UCSB students said that does not include the cost of living in Isla Vista or on campus in a dorm.

Your News Channel will have more reaction to the changing tuition tonight on the news.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – One of the most popular waterfront attractions the Lil’ Toot offered free rides Wednesday.

It had been sidelined by the bad weather since last week and made the refreshing offer known via social media.

Every half hour it went out from the dock by the Maritime Museum and toured the harbor.

Along the way Captain Milo Wolf talked about some of the harbor highlights, fishing boats, history and in many directions, the marine life.

On the first ride of the day, with a full load, your NewsChannel was on board for a live report during the mid-day news broadcast.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Soaked and sidelined, many businesses are coming back after five days of rainy and windy weather.

For workers at the Santa Barbara waterfront, it was a time to pick up debris, clear walkways and open up areas that had barricades.

The maintenance staff pulled out all the holiday decorations and started putting them up now, while the sun was out.

They said, however, in a moment’s notice they would pivot. “At certain points of the day, we’re in the middle of an intense preparedness ‘Okay. Stop what you’re doing. All hands on deck. Get some brooms, shovels and hit the parking lots,'” said Waterfront Maintenance crew leader Nathan Badiggo. “And make sure everything’s flowing and roadways are opened up and stay opened up.”

They are also watching the weather forecasts very closely.

“100% prepping for tomorrow, we know we’re going to get a large downfall tomorrow. So we’re just trying to get as much as we can in the little time that we have available,” said Badiggo.

In the Harbor West Parking lot, “the first row of parking spots are closed off because of some tidal overflowing. It will likely be cleaned up after the next round of rain. That’s when crews will be out with their shovels and heavy equipment.

There is also a sand berm about to be built in front of the historic Yacht Club and its adjacent parking lot. Both have been impacted by bad storms in the past.

For tourist oriented businesses, like the Lil’ Toot harbor touring boat, getting off the docks and back in motion was so important, free rides were offered all day.

Captain Milo Wolf was on the microphone going by the bait barge calling out the birds taking a rest.

“Oh, there’s a big blue heron, a great egret, some cormorants, pelicans and some western  gulls, ” said Wolf.

He went out to a buoy to show off a sea lion or two hanging out there.

Along the way he told stories about historic boats in the harbor and some notes about the City of Santa Barbara, Stearns Wharf and the U.S. Coast Guard.

He said the yellow boat with a perky whistle is especially popular with kids. “It’s like a living cartoon boat. So, you know, kids expected to talk honestly. They really do! “

Like other nearby operators ranging from boats to kayaks, “we were anxious to get back to work.”

One passenger, Dani Sternhagen, said the free tour got her to make plans to come back. “We’ll probably come back here with family again, take the Lil’ Toot around this place. Especially our older grandparents and such. We go kayaking in the harbor. There’s a million things to do out there.” 

Wolf said, “Yeah. We’re going to be, ready for all the guests coming from here in town and people from all around the world. “

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Alissa Orozco

PORT HUENEME, Calif. (KEYT) – An Oxnard man was arrested in Port Hueneme Tuesday night after leading officers on vehicle pursuit and colliding with other vehicle, injuring himself and other passengers.

On November 18th at 8:25pm, Port Hueneme officers attempted to stop a gray Infiniti for a traffic violation on Bard Road at 5th Street. The vehicle did not stop and instead fled the scene, leading officers on a pursuit that began to enter into neighboring streets.

Officers decided to terminated to the chase while the driver drove off. The Port Hueneme Police Department details how just moments later the gray Infiniti was involved in a traffic collision at J Street and Redwood in the City of Oxnard.

At the scene, the suspect was recovered along with his female passenger. Both were left with non life- threatening injuries. Two adult passengers in the other vehicle were also injured, but also non life- threatening.

27-year-old Jose Rodriguez of Oxnard was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, evading a peace officer, and resisting/obstructing a peace officer. Further investigation found that Rodriguez was the subject of a criminal protective order to stay away from the passenger in his car. He faces additional charges for violation of that court order.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Mike Hamrick at mhamrick@cityofporthueneme.org or 805-986-6541.

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