Author: KEYT

Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – It’s three of a kind for San Marcos as they knocked off rival Dos Pueblos 13-5 to claim their third straight Channel League title in girls lacrosse.

Josephine Grossman scored a team-high four goals and Victoria Aldana added 3 goals as the Royals improve to 14-3 on the season and 7-0 in league with one regular season game left.

Carly Grant made five saves for the Royals.

Dos Pueblos senior star Linnea Clapinski scored all five of her team’s goals while Stella Lawler saved ten shots. The Chargers are CIF playoff-bound having locked up second place in league.

Boys Lacrosse:

Dos Pueblos 17, San Marcos 1: The Chargers clinch at least a share of the Channel League title with a 7-1 mark. The game saw some unlikely heroes step up, with Senior Everett Kuhm scoring his first 4 career goals, Senior Owen Anton scoring his first career goal, and freshman Lou Wendel scoring his first 2 career goals as well.

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Alissa Orozco

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (KEYT) – The Arroyo Grande Police Department is reaching out to the public in the hopes of identifying victims in a recent peeping incident.

On December 29th, 2025, a man was caught filming a woman at a Arroyo Grande Planet Fitness location. The woman was reportedly partially nude in a tanning booth.

The suspect had fled the scene prior to officer’s arrival, but with the help of witness statements and a review of surveillance footage, officers were able to identify a suspect. Search warrants determined the suspect had committed this crime numerous times over the course of the past year.

The department is now looking to identify anyone who may have been of victim. The suspect would enter tanning and red-light therapy rooms, and record female members without their consent or knowledge.

Investigators believe there to be approximately 47 victims spanning from January to December of 2025 – many of which have not been identified.

Any female members of Planet Fitness located at 1576 W. Branch St. in Arroyo Grande is encouraged to contact Officer Brandon Earnest at (805) 473-5110 EXT 7021 or via email at bearnest@arroyogrande.org.

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Alissa Orozco

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – In a statement released Thursday, Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch shared his disappointment following the sentencing of a Santa Barbara resident charged in a fatal vehicle crash last year.

On Tuesday, 29-year-old Katelyn Fultz of Santa Barbara was sentenced to five years of probation in Santa Barbara Superior Court, having previously pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

On the morning of May 1, 2025, three people – including Fultz – were transported to the hospital following a head-on collision on Highway 154. The crash left 24-year-old Carly Howard in a coma, and passenger Albert Ineira sustained injuries including a laceration requiring stitches and a fractured foot.

Howard later died from her injuries.

According to the District Attorney’s office, toxicology results showed Fultz had a blood alcohol content of 0.167%, stemming from a mixture of alcohol and cocaine – causing her to cross over double yellow lines and cause the fatal crash.

Fultz pleaded no contest to the all charges and enhancements filed against her earlier this year, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and driving without a license.

Despite recommendations from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office and the Probation Department, the Court reduced Fultz’s DUI to a misdemeanor and sentenced her to five years of probation with a six year suspended prison term and ordered Fultz to serve 270 days in county jail.

District Attorney John T. Savrnoch expressed his disappointment in a statement shared with your News Channel:

“This sentence is profoundly shocking and does not come close to reflecting the magnitude of the loss suffered by Carly Howard’s family. A young woman lost her life because of a series of reckless, illegal, and dangerous decisions by the defendant—driving under the influence of both alcohol and cocaine, at nearly twice the legal limit, without a valid license.”

“Our office sought a significant state prison sentence because that is what justice and public safety demand in a case like this. When someone chooses to drive in that condition and takes a life, there must be real consequences.”

“While nothing can undo the harm caused, this appallingly lenient sentence sends the wrong message about the seriousness of impaired driving. We at the District Attorney’s Office remain committed to aggressively prosecuting DUI cases and standing with victims and their families in the pursuit of accountability.”

Fultz will return to Department 11 on April 28, 2026, to formalize the terms of her probation.

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Alissa Orozco

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – In a bizarre scene, a tow truck helped to remove a vehicle stuck on the train tracks near the Santa Barbara Amtrak Station Thursday.

As seen on your News Channel sky cam, the vehicle halted trains at the tracks near the intersection of State and E. Yanonali Streets.

Shot of the tracks via News Channel Sky Cam

No word on injuries or how the vehicle got stuck.

Your News Channel will provide updates as it becomes available.

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The City of Santa Maria is getting set for what is projected to be a very busy period of growth over the next two decades.

At the recent 2026 Santa Maria Valley Housing Summit, a presentation delivered by Santa Maria Community Development Director, Chenin Dow, showed housing development is already extremely active and will continue to be for years to come.

Key numbers Dow relayed show there are currently 5,631 housing units that are currently in the development pipeline, the vast majority of those classified as either multi-family or accessory dwelling unit (ADU).

Dow added that looking ahead to the year 2045, Santa Maria is planning to add 16,140 housing units over that time period, along with a population growth of 58,265 more residents.

With very little open space left within the city limits that is zoned for housing, Santa Maria is preparing to facilitate future growth with the potential annexation of land on the east side of Highway 101.

The city is now looking at 985-acre annexation of land that is currently within unincorporated Santa Barbara County.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – There is always many enthusiastic and ongoing environmental projects taking place in our local area and the most outstanding efforts are winning the Explore Ecology 2026 Environmental Stewardship Awards.

It is honoring local students, clubs and educators for creating a sustainable Santa Barbara County.

The awards span the entire county and the winners were nominated by community members. This year there are 15 awardees recognized, including students and educators from schools across the county.

The focus areas are sustainability, waste reduction, environmental education, climate resilience, and organic gardening.

They include:

A student beekeeper who safely relocates a swarm

School-wide plastic reduction initiatives

Student-led environmental activism

Expansion of garden and farm-based education

Some of the projects winning this top honor include, an organizer of the Make Polluters Pay walkout at SB High School, mobilizing peers around climate action, a 5th grade teacher at Brandon Elementary who led a school-wide transition from plastic sporks to reusable utensils and students are working toward an ambitious goal of reducing campus waste and consumption by 30%.

(More photos, videos and details will be added here later today.)

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – We are learning more about Santa Maria’s newest city council member in district one.

Ricardo Batalla was sworn in a week ago, Tuesday, and has ’hit the ground running,’ as the saying goes.

Ricardo “Richard” Batalla is Santa Maria’s newest councilman, on the job now for just over a week.

He was appointed after Carlos Escobedo abruptly resigned two months ago.

Batalla was born in Santa Barbara, and moved to Santa Maria at the age of five.

“I grew up in district one on Williams Street,” says Batalla.

His stomping grounds were Oakley Elementary, El Camino Jr. High, and Pioneer Valley High School.

“I had the opportunity to go to the police academy,” says Batalla.

As a child, Batalla says he was a police explorer and his interests have always leaned in that direction.

Shortly after high school he became a father and attended Fresno State University.

“My mother is a big advocate of higher education. So that’s why I went straight to Fresno State,” Batalla continues.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Chicano Latin-American Studies.

“I was working at the post office at the age of 23, I was a finance supervisor at a very young age,” Batalla recalls. “I was there for about six years then I transferred to Santa Barbara’s post office. And then I left to follow my dream, which was to help the youth.”

Batalla is now the youth development director at the Santa Maria Valley YMCA.

His top priorities as he takes the district one city council seat are rising rent levels, public safety, and a budget deficit of $25 million.

“I was given the oath on Tuesday,” Batalla says. “Wednesday I was there and started going, getting information, pulling data, meeting with people to fully dig into the issues that caused this $25 million debt within the city. And also starting to get to know people. I am going to set up meet and greets, so people can get to know me.”

Batalla says he has the intention of campaigning for continuing service in this November’s election.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Three Santa Barbara High School baseball players and two Dons football players will continue their athletic journey at four-year colleges.

Offensive lineman Malachi Johnston signs with Cal Poly while strong safety Monty Lopez is already enrolled at Cal Lutheran University.

Outfielder Jetner Welch signs with Claremont McKenna College, shortstop Max Weddle is headed to Chaminade University in Hawai’i while catcher Derek Jaye is Whitman College-bound in Washington.

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Tracy Lehr

GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) The Dos Pueblos Jazz Band set the tone for the Goleta State of the City that included a expo showcasing city departments and services at the Goleta Community Center.

This year, Mayor Paula Perotte, who also happened to be celebrating her 45th wedding anniversary, shared the spotlight with the entire city council

Perotte said her husband has encouraged her work with the city.

She credits the council and residents for make Goleta shine.

“We’re strong, and why are we strong, I say that every year but this year I really have a lot to say about working as a council, working with a fabulous staff, but most of all working with our residents, they are engaged, they are informed and they are paying attention and that is what makes Goleta great, ” said Perotte.

The city showed a video of La Patera Elementary School students sharing their concerns that included homelessness, vaping, ICE and kindness.

They also shared the things they love about the city such as the beach.

Councilmembers followed them covering everything from new roundabouts and parking to safety, childcare, homelessness and housing.

City Manager Robert Nisbet showed a number of graphs that showed the growing tech investment in Goleta.

He said the Google Quantim AI Campus is expanding and venture capitol investment spending reached $119 million in 2025.

Nisbet wants to make sure it is good for residents.

The city of Goleta is called the Goodland for its good agricultural land and good people.

After a question and answer period city staff posed for a group photo.

One their way out, community members said they felt proud to call Goleta home.

Community Relations Manager Kelly Hoover called it the biggest day of the year and said the State of City would be posted online for everyone to see.

For more information visit https://www.cityofgoleta.org

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