Author: KEYT

John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – With the start of many school year schedules moving back to the middle of August from other dates closer to September 1, summer vacations are wrapping up fast.

Cities list those on the Central Coast that rely heavily on tourism will be seeing a change as they have in recent years.

In Santa Barbara County some of the north county schools, including in Lompoc, have welcomed back their students.

Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria school districts will start on different but closer schedules in the next week.

The dynamics of the economy then change in many cities. Not as many people are off doing vacation-type activities. Some are going into full school mode, after school sports, and a more structured daily schedules for drop offs and pick ups.

That may also change the vacation planning to a future date, including the holidays or early January if schools extend the Christmas break to three weeks instead of two. That applies to Spring break planning in 2027 already.

For employers who hire students, some will no longer be able to work their scheduled shifts because of school commitments.

Some locations including bars and restaurants in Santa Barbara have started posting hiring notices to back fill for those who are leaving for school out of the area, or workers who want to carry less hours and concentrate on academics.

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

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Dave Alley

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – The County of San Luis Obispo is looking for public input on how to spend an estimated $3 million in federal funding that will help shape future investments in housing and community development.

The County is inviting community members, businesses, nonprofit organizations and community partners to offer their input in the 2027 Community Development Needs Assessment.

The Community Development Needs Assessment is a brief online survey the County said will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

According to the County, feedback will help guide how federal funding will be invested in localprojects and programs that strengthen neighborhoods, expand housing opportunities and improve quality of life throughout San Luis Obispo County.

The County added the Community Development Needs Assessment is a key component in its 2025–2029 U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Consolidated Plan, which establishes priorities for investing federal resources in community development.

Public input gathered will help these San Luis Obispo County prioritize goals established in the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan:

Housing Facilities, including affordable rental housing, single family housing, and senior housing Public Services, including health care, mental health, and homeless services Public Facilities, including health care and mental health facilities, and childcare centers Housing Services, including homelessness prevention, rental assistance, and emergency shelters Public Infrastructure, including high-speed internet, water/sewer improvements, and sidewalk improvements

“The people who live and work in our communities know better than anyone what our neighborhoods need most,” said Marge Castle, Program Manager. “Whether your priorities are affordable housing, services for older adults, homelessness, accessibility or neighborhood improvements, your input will help shape future investments across San Luis Obispo County.”

Those would like to take part in the 2027 Community Development Needs Assessment can access the survey at slocounty.gov/CommunityDevelopment

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Andie Lopez Bornet

MONTECITO, Calif. – The Rosewood Miramar Best in Show took place Thursday afternoon for it’s 5th year and as always, it didn’t disappoint.

“2026 Rosewood Miramar Best in Show and that is number 16, Chance!,” announced by host, actress and comedian, Jane Lynch.

Chance and his owners, Brady and Addy Rogers took home the title of 2026 Best in Show.

“I feel happy because I’ve always wanted to win,” said Brady Rogers, Winner of Best in Show. “I’m going to celebrate by ordering a lot of room service to the hotel.”

The family just so happened to be visiting from Austin, Texas and decided to compete in the event.

The year New York Times Best Selling Photographer Gray Malin accompanied Jane Lynch as a host, with Lynch entering her third year as host for the event on the Great Lawn at the Rosewood Miramar.

“I love this event, I would come to it even if I weren’t hosting it,” said Jane Lynch, Actress, Comedian and Host. “I think they do such a wonderful thing for the dogs here at the organization.”

Santa Barbara Humane CEO Kerri Burns served as a judge representing the non-profit.

“This is going to be so difficult as a judge this year because I mean, how can you say no? Right? They’re just so cute,” said CEO of Santa Barbara Humane, Kerri Burns.

It was a full event with spectators smiling ear to ear and even the 2025 winner of Best in Show attended the event to cheer on this years winners.

“It was so much fun and we really didn’t expect it to the point that when they said ‘and the winner was Tucker’ I said ‘Was there another Tucker?’” said Kathy Wilson, 2025 Best in Show winner. “We decided it wouldn’t be fair to compete this year since he was last years winner.” 

Other categories in the event included Best Trick, Spectators Choice and Best Look.

“We worked very hard at this Best Look all year long, Lori chose the theme,” said Frank Moldovan, Winner of Best Look 2026.

It was another successful year for the event with over 40 dogs competing in the show and a portion of the proceeds goes back to the Santa Barbara Humane..

“Every contestant, everyone that comes here will learn about Santa Barbara Humane and it gives back to Santa Barbara Humane with all the entrances today,” said Burns. “Those proceeds as a local non-profit, those proceeds go to help with adoptions, we got pet-food pantry and so much more.”

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Beth Farnsworth

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The latest step to develop a small townhouse community directly across from the Santa Barbara Cemetery was approved following Thursday’s public hearing.

The Santa Barbara Planning Commission moved forward with staff’s recommendation to adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) for this project, according to Julia Pujo, Project Planner, Environmental Analyst.

Courtesy: City of Santa Barbara

The development is known by its address: 1 Hot Springs Road, which is a little confusing because the land actually sits off Channel Drive.

The 2.4 acre triangular parcel looks more like a buffer zone than a housing site. The land is hemmed in by Highway 101 to the north, the Santa Barbara Cemetery to the south and, to the west, the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge.

City officials have expressed excitement about the project.

Proposed plans include 22 units within seven individual two and three-story buildings along with 50 parking spaces.

Noozhawk reports, a former cemetery superintendent lived in a house that once stood at the site; remnants of a cement staircase still exist.

The tip of the triangular parcel is embedded with a historic fountain overlooking the roundabout, across from The Post Montecito. Plans include restoring the structure and bringing it back to working order for the public to use.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – After years of searching, the Providence School in Santa Barbara has found a site for its middle and upper level classrooms where 7th through 12th graders are taught.

It is currently operating out of a leased location with portable buildings on Canon Perdido Street. It will now be a few blocks away on the 600 block of Ortega St.

Previously the location was used by Girls Inc.

“In October of  2021 a small group of us walked on this campus for the first  time and we began dreaming what this place could become,” said Interim Head of School  Caroline Corazza at an assembly.

It is viewed as a good fit for the school and the neighborhood. Corazza said,  “we just had a vision very quickly that this campus this downtown campus was a great opportunity to continue our mission downtown and finally have a permanent home.”

Parents and board members who have been committed to a permanent campus project were enthusiastic about the future and their faith in the school’s Christian learning values.

Matt LaBrie is on the Providence School Board. He said, “we would send our kids to this school even if it was a cardboard box it doesn’t matter where it is.”

With shovels and hard hats there were two groups of groundbreaking teams including students

Abel Ortega said he will be still going to the school when the new campus opens in two to three years. In looking at the drawings he said, “it was really nice way nicer than the Canon Perdido one. Like the gates are really nice and the main entrance it was just really beautiful.”

Nearby is Ortega Park and Santa Barbara Junior High.

Corazza said,”we saw families playing in the park, we saw the junior high across the way,  there is Jiu Jitsu studio, there’s all these family focused, student-serving amenities  right here and we were already a block and a half away for about 14 years.”

Designing a campus for the future here also includes remembering the values that has made it a blessed school since 1958.

“We want students to look each other in the eye and debate topics to engage on literature,history and we think the world needs more of that,” said Corazza.

Fundraising continues with with about $12-million dollars left to to meet the goal of $24-million.

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Jarrod Zinn

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – A major collaboration is underway to salvage an historic oak tree in San Luis Obispo.

This effort started quickly after a city council decision last month.

The city council voted in July to allow SLO Repertory Theatre to remove a native oak tree and build a new theater.

In the wake of that decision, Matt Ritter — professor and director of Cal Poly’s Plant Conservatory — gathered a team of expert volunteers to begin work on transplanting the tree.

“Lots of community interest, absolutely,” says Bob Hill, City of SLO’s Sustainability And Natural Resources Official. “We’re excited today that we may have an opportunity to achieve a lot of different city goals, to have a thriving downtown cultural arts district.”

Ritter says other trees of comparable size and age have been successfully transplanted before.

“I wanted to try it because I think that we had the possibility of doing it,” says Ritter. “And the other option is the tree just is guaranteed to be cut down and killed and die. So we might as well make an attempt.”

The team began work this week, giving the tree thousands of gallons of water to help fortify it.

“It was so dry when we initially got to it,” Ritter says. “We had to—we put 2000 gallons of water on it. And then we set up an irrigation system, a drip thing, and let that go overnight, put a lot of water on it.”

Thursday morning, the group began digging a trench and pruning the tree’s root system.

“What we don’t want to see is just severing massive roots,” says Ritter. “And we didn’t see that today. So I’m encouraged by what we saw.”

While there’s no full guarantee the tree will survive the transplant, the expert arborists volunteering their time here say there are several favorable signs and conditions at this early stage of the effort.

“What we didn’t know til today is, is how big are the roots outside of there,” says Ritter. “And it has been a totally successful event because we severed maybe 5 or 6 roots that were this big, and everything else was smaller than that.”

If the tree survives, the team will be transplanting it to a spot just a few blocks away at mission plaza.

“We’re hopeful and we’re optimistic,” says Hill. “And folks that know a lot more about trees than I do are telling me that this can be possible and it can work.”

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The first day of class began in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) Thursday morning with a brand new personal device policy in effect.

Known as “”Off and Away All Day Except at Lunch,” the new rule will require students at Santa Maria, Righetti, Pioneer Valley and Delta high schools to power down and store away all electronic devices for most of the school day.

Once on campus, students will no longer be allowed to use cell phones, smartwatches, and other personal electronic devices, including AI-enabled personal devices.

The revised policy restricts any usage of devices during class time and passing periods.

“Our ‘Off and Away’ policy is that students will have their devices off and away for the entire day, with the exception of lunchtime,” said Ted Lyon, SMJUHSD Teaching and Learning Director. “This is a way for us to really provide an opportunity for students to engage more in classroom instruction, and also to support their mental health and well-being in regards to what we’ve seen with excessive cell phone use.”

Jeff Carroll, who replaced Lyon as Righetti principal starting this school year is hopeful the new policy will make a positive impact with the quality of the entire school experience.

“The goal is to make sure that our kids are more engaged,” said Carroll. “We want them engaged in not only the learning process, but also just being engaged with the the students around them. We create an environment where kids are are part of our campus. What all the data shows is that the more students spend time spending on their cell phones, the less engaged than they are in life, and we want to give them the opportunity to be engaged.”

In addition to both school and district administration, some students are also supportive of the new restrictions.

“I think that it’s definitely challenging for some students, but I think it’s also a good thing to put in place because it helps us come together and be more in real life than not in our phones,” said Righetti senior Cami Latham. “Walking down the halls you see a lot of people just stuck in their phone not really socializing, and now, you’re going to need to make time for social interactions with people and not having your phone on you all the time.”

While students adjust to the new rules, Thursday and Friday will essentially be a learning period and students will only be warned if they use devices during restricted times.

However, Carroll indicated the rules will begin to be enforced starting on Monday and those who are in violations will face punishment.

“Starting on Monday, unfortunately there’s going to be some consequences if they have their personal devices out,” said Carroll. “Hopefully, we don’t have to enforce it very often, but we know that it’s going to be something that comes up, and it’s going to be tough on kids, but we know that it’s going to be what’s best for kids, and that’s what’s most important.”

The “Off and Away All Day Except at Lunch” is now in effect at all SMJUHSD campuses, including Santa Maria High School, Righetti High School, Pioneer Valley High School, Delta High School and the Mark Richardson Career Technical (CTE) and Agriculture Farm.

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Schools in Santa Maria welcomed students to campus for the first day back from summer break today.

The crossing guards are out, school buses are running, and early-morning pedestrian traffic will once gain be part of daily life.

School officials join the California Highway Patrol in reminding drivers that now is the time to take those extra steps to enhance safety.

Streets surrounding campuses tend to clog between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning and from 2:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon, as many Santa Maria families walk their kids to and from school.

There are a number of families who do walk to school,” says Samantha Scroggon, public information officer for Santa Maria-Bonita School District. “There are a number of students who walk to school by themselves. And so we hope that the whole community will kind of come together and keep an eye out on our kids. Let’s just all be parents and grandparents and really look out for the for the kids in our community and make sure that they get there to school safely.”

Officials remind drivers to leave the house a little earlier, take it slow, and keep your peripheral awareness engaged.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) — A fundraiser happening Thursday at California Pizza Kitchen in downtown Santa Barbara will help support local homelessness prevention efforts.

The California Pizza Kitchen at Paseo Nuevo will donate 20 percent of participating sales to Everything Under the Sun Son, a Santa Barbara program focused on helping people remain safely housed.

The fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and applies to participating purchases made during the event.

Money raised will support Everything Under the Sun Son’s homelessness prevention work, which helps people facing housing instability before they lose their homes.

The program works to address immediate needs that can put someone’s housing at risk and connect people to resources designed to keep them safely housed.

The fundraiser gives people another way to support those efforts while dining at the downtown restaurant.

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