Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –
CIF-SS Division 2 First Round:
Vista Murrieta 15, Dos Pueblos 6
Aliso Niguel 14, Santa Barbara 7
CIF-SS Division 3 First Round:
Cate 5, Simi Valley 4: Rams play Agoura in second round on Friday
Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – San Marcos girls beach volleyball had just three losses and two of them are to the top-ranked team in CIF-Southern Section Mira Costa.
The visiting Mustangs ended the Royals season with a 5-0 win in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals.
San Marcos finishes 24-3 on the year.
Despite the sweep many of the matches were competitive especially between the #1 teams.
The Royals duo of Cora Loomer/Evyn Miller pushed the Stanford-bound pairs of Ruby Cochrane/Olga Nikolaeva in a 3-set thriller.
Loomer, a UCLA-commit and San Jose State signee Miller had a couple of match points in the second set but were denied the win as they lost 21-19, 22-24, 17-19.
Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –
CIF-SS Division 1 First Round: Santa Margarita 3, San Marcos 0: Matteo Burdick led the Royals with 12 kills but the visiting Eagles sweep (25-19, 25-21, 25-20).
(Despite a size difference, Burdick still delivered double-digit kills and 3 aces for the Royals. Entenza Design).
The Royals end their sensational regular season at 24-3. San Marcos loses just one senior Koji Hefner who finished with 5 kills.
CIF-SS Division 2 First Round: Camarillo 3, Canyon/Anaheim 0: Camarillo at Yorba Linda in quarterfinals on May 5.
CIF-SS Division 3 First Round: Santa Barbara 3, Diamond Rancho 1: Jasper Bell and Kristian Dybdahl each had 13 kills to lead the Dons into the second round where they will play at Servite on Friday. Maddox Denver stuffed the stat sheet for Santa Barbara with 31 assists, 8 digs and 6 kills.
CIF-SS Division 5 First Round: Dos Pueblos 3, Aquinas 2: The Chargers will play at Hemet in the second round.
CIF-SS Division 5 First Round: Bishop Diego 3, Rio Hondo Prep 0: John Michael Flint and Damien Krautmann each had 21 kills to lead the Cardinals to their first playoff victory since 2022.
(The visiting Kares were overpowered by Krautmann and company. Entenza Design).
Bishop Diego will remain home in the second round on Friday against La Quinta/Westminster.
CIF-SS Division 5 First Round: Ventura 3, Vista Del Lago: 0: Ventura at Flintridge Prep on Friday.
CIF-SS Division 6 First Round: Capo Valley Christian 3, Carpinteria 1
CIF-SS Division 7 First Round: Foothill Tech 3, Anaheim 0: Foothill Tech hosts Bell Gardens on Friday.
CIF-SS Division 7 First Round: Godinez 3, Providence (SB) 2
CIF-SS Division 8 First Round: Laguna Blanca 3, Lynwood 0: Owls hosts West Valley on Thursday
Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Eleven student-athletes were recognized by San Marcos High School in a ceremony at the gym. Each person announced the four-year college in which they will continue their academic and athletic journey.
Brynn Behrens Sailing TulaneCarly Grant Lacrosse Whitworth UniversityCharlotte Hastings Volleyball Seattle Pacific UniversityKoji Hefner Basketball Claremont McKennaGianna Hernandez Stunt Cheer WestmontSofi Hernandez Track WestmontMonique Jimenez Stunt Cheer WestmontJeannie Johnson Beach Volleyball The Master’sJack Kramer Water Polo ChapmanLogan Patterson Deakyne Track Cal Poly HumboldtSamara Shalhoub Track Point Loma
Last fall the Royals had twelve student-athletes sign so San Marcos has a total of 23 commit to four-year colleges during the 2025-’26 school year.
Dave Alley
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Maria Fairpark leadership is announcing a series of sweeping changes that are intended to transform the city’s biggest event center into a more modern, functional and successful facility.
“Our board has a vision to move us forward,” said Todd Ventura, Santa Maria Fairpark Interim CEO. “We call it Vision 2030, where we want to enhance every aspect of our property.”
According to Ventura, over the next several years, the 34-acre state-owned property will undergo a dramatic renovation that remake and refurbish the aging facility basically from top to bottom.
“It starts with rebuilding our infrastructure,” said Ventura. “It starts with enhancing the beauty of the campus. It’s going to have a very different feel from a guest experience perspective. We want a complete refresh and it’s about changing the entire esthetic and feeling of what we’re doing here at the Fairpark.”
The first significant move in the property-wide renovation is currently taking place in the livestock section where workers are demolishing an old second-story agriculture office that hasn’t been usable for many years.
“The Fairpark was largely built in the 50’s and 60’s and a lot of our buildings date back to then,” said Ventura. “Some of them are older and they need to change and so there’s some older buildings that, are part of barns that we’re taking out to enhance safety, as well as esthetics. We’re bringing in some new buildings, a new livestock office, and new program areas that we started developing last year.
Already, the Fairpark has initiated a complete rebranding, with a new set of updated logos and a revamped website.
“We realized they were just done a few years ago, but we didn’t really feel like that reflected where we want to go and what we want to be,” said Ventura. “We’ve changed our Fairpark logo. We’ve changed our Santa Barbara County Fair logo and we’ve changed the Strawberry Festival logo. They’re all a little more whimsical and a little more fun, so that that look is very different.”
In addition to the physical changes coming throughout the Fairpark property, the Board is also announcing its two biggest annual events will also experience several changes within their appearance.
In fact, the community was able to experience several new changes this past weekend at the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival, which ran from Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26.
“The programing was very different,” said Ventura. “The layout was very different. In 20 hours this year, we put through about 32,000 people in the facility. That’s an unheard of number. As far as I know, that’s the highest record total we’ve ever had for Strawberry Festival and we did it in 20 hours of open time, so it was amazing.”
Ventura added last year’s Strawberry Festival drew just 8,000 people during its three-day run, so this year’s event quadrupled the attendance in 2025.
Now looking ahead, he said many of the changes that were in place during the Strawberry Festival will also be part of the programming for the upcoming Santa Barbara County Fair, which will experience a number of other enhancements, including a longer run.
For more than 20 years, the fair has been held for the public over a five-day stretch, opening on a Wednesday and ending on Sunday.
This year, the fair will take part over two weekends, starting on Friday, July 3 and running to Sunday, July 5.
The fair will then be closed to the public on Monday, July 6 and Tuesday, July 7, and will re-open again from Wednesday, July 8 through Sunday, July 12.
“We have a very close relationship now with the city management, the Mayor, and Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors,” said Ventura. “We’re working very collaboratively and very closely. We’re trying to plan some big events here. We’re not quite ready to make the announcement yet, but we’re planning some big events here on on the 4th of July weekend.”
In addition to a longer fair with special events this year, Ventura added the event itself be something fairgoers have not experienced here before.
“The midway will look very different,” said Ventura. “The vendor booths will look very different. The layout of the fair is going to look very different than it has in the past. We’re going to use different parts of the property that we’ve ever programed before. We’re going to add some programing, particularly in livestock and we’re going to do some things differently. We have some new sponsors that are going to program areas that in the past have never been programed before.”
The Fairpark Board of Directors is hoping all of the changes will not only boost attendance at the two marquee annual events, but also drive additional ones to the property.
“Our goal is to make it a real community center,” said Board President Kevin Merrill. “We want these buildings full all the time and it’s a great place for to do it. Whether you’re going to have a wedding or a car show or anything like that, we want this to be the first place people think of to come and put those events on, and we want them to be proud of it when they come here, and it really showcases the best of Santa Maria. That’s what we’re all about right now.”
This coming weekend, the Fairpark will host the first ever Santa Maria Comic Con. Later in September, an expanded and upgraded Santa Maria BBQ Festival will take place here, moving from Pioneer Park on the southern edge of the city.
“I think I think when we start to have a larger place for our community, activities can come together,” said Fairpark Board Member Kevin Walthers, who is also the President/Superintendent for Allan Hancock College. “That’s huge. We try to do that at the college. We try to be a hub, but even in a space our size, it’s limited to how much you can get into it, and to look around the Fairpark and see the potential of this place for all kinds of events in the future, I think it’s really exciting.”
To help finance the many planned changes Ventura said there will be a robust increase in local sponsorship and donations, as well as an aggressive pursuit in acquiring millions of dollars in additional funding sources.
“We are not funded by the state,” said Ventura. “We have to find funding in other creative and unique areas. I have been applying for a number of grants and we’re reaching out for different kinds of monies in different areas so we can really change things.”
While Ventura is currently serving at the CEO, the search for a permanent replacement is still ongoing.
While there remains no timeline for that position to be filled, the Board is optimistic the Santa Maria Fairpark has a very bright future.
“It’s exciting to see things that we always had planned starting to come to fruition,” said Merrill. “You can see some changes and it’s all for the best. We have to thank our board, our interim CEO and the folks at the State are on board with us and our community partners. It’s all in an effort to work together to make Santa Maria the best it can be.”
For more information about the Santa Maria Fairpark, click here to visit its new and improved official website.
Tracy Lehr
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Local foil surfers had a close encounter with a shark on Saturday about a mile off the coast near Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara over the weekend.
Tavis Boise and Ron Takeda started at Campus Point and about half way into a 20 minute “foil run” to Carpinteria they saw a fin and splashing.
Tavis Boise had a camera attached to his paddle and managed that captured him alerting his friend Ron Takeda.
They both managed to keep their cool enough to stay on their rather narrow foil surfboards.
“The first thirty seconds was definitely alarming when someone says ‘is that a dolphin?’ It is never a dolphin it has got to be something else so I knew as soon has he said ‘is that a dolphin?’ it was go time and the tail started splashing the shark started chasing Ron,” said Boise, “and it was really hard to kind of focus because I was trying to stay on foil you have to balance on these things keep your speed up.
He joked that he was trying to “film the shark trying to eat my friend while trying to survive.”
“I’m really bad at multitasking.”
Ron Takeda is the more serious of the two.
“I knew I couldn’t think so much, I knew I couldn’t even look back at it, I knew it was happening I was totally aware it was happening, but I knew from experience I needed to focus on staying on foil, I knew that was my best bet to get out of the situation the way I wanted to stay on foil,” said Takeda. “And so I just blocked everything out I knew Tavis had a better look at it than I did so when I did yell at him I wanted it to be a dolphin I knew it wasn’t.”
Boise posted on social media that after a three-year media hiatus he had an exciting moment to share.
His video that was also shared by Kai Lenny is going viral.
They have had media requests to tell their story from as far away as Australia where surfing is popular.
While some people though the video was AI, shark experts they know think it may have been a mako or great white.
After several minutes the shark seemed to follow.
Once they felt safe hey kept going all the way to Carpinteria where they had a car waiting.
People hearing about what happened might wonder if when or whether they are going back in the water, well they already did.
They went another another long foil fun on Sunday and Monday after the incident and they will go again when the conditions are good.
Sometimes a downwind foil run last for hours.
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Alissa Orozco
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – According to a court filing today, singer D4vd drove to Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County to rid evidence linking him to the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
On Monday, David Anthony Burke – known by his stage name D4vd – was charged with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Prosecutors on Wednesday say Burke began a sexual relationship with Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18.
The court filing claims that on the night of April 23, 2025, Burke sent a ride share car to pick Hernandez from her home in Lake Elsinore to bring her to his Hollywood Hills home. Two messages were exchanged between the two before Hernandez’s phone went completely silent.
That same night, around 11:30pm, prosecutors say Burke drove his Tesla north on Highway 101 to San Marcos Pass Road, SR-154, near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County. Burke later returned to this same area on May 8th and May 31st. It was here that a Caltrans worker found Hernandez’s passport in January.
Prosectors claimed Burke killed the young girl to keep their relationship a secret.
The body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found decomposing in the truck of a Tesla in Hollywood back in September 2025. An autopsy report found that Hernandez had been stabbed twice in the torso.
Burke reportedly ordered two chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool to his home under the fake name, Victoria Mendez. Blood stains in Burke’s garage matched the victim’s DNA.
More evidence included Burke’s cellphone records showing photographs, purchases, and text messages all alluding to the two’s sexual relationship.
Burke could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty. Prosecutors will have the opportunity to present more evidence at preliminary evidentiary hearing on May 26.
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John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Some last minute donations can make it a financial home run for Elings Park in Santa Barbara.
It would go for improvements to the three ball fields that are in dire need of repairs.
The park is a non-profit, which makes this offer so helpful.
Right now organizers say they are close, about $60,000 away from the goal.
If the deadline is reached by May 1st, the plan would actually be $1.2 million.
The funding would go for new and level ballfields with improvements to the dugouts and lighting.
Some of the fields have very obvious wear and tear beyond the normal sports impacts.
The park is built on a former city dump. That is showing signs of irregular settling and a factor in this fundraising drive.
One field has a drop down from center field to left field. Others go from grass to dirt.
Outfielders do not have a warning track when chasing fly balls.
The fields are used often by leagues of adults either on their own or sponsored by their companies. All are trying to get donations from their friends and family, their bosses or from area businesses.
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Alissa Orozco
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (KEYT) – A San Luis Obispo County teen has filed a lawsuit against a Arroyo Grande Planet Fitness claiming the gym location failed to prevent the secret recording of herself and nearly 50 other female members.
Just earlier this month, Arroyo Grande released an advisory to the public regarding a man secretly recording partially or completely nude women inside the Planet Fitness. The suspect was caught and arrested in December 2025, and evidence found determined the man had committed this crime numerous times over the course of the past year.
Today, a lawsuit was filed by attorneys of Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP and Binder Law Group, PLC on behalf of an eighteen-year-old from San Luis Obispo county claiming to be a victim of the recent peeping incident. The lawsuit claims that on December 29, 2025, the teen was using a standing tanning booth at the gym when a male member pushed his cell phone through a crack in the door and took video of her without her knowledge.
Investigators believe there to be approximately 47 victims spanning from January to December of 2025 – many of which have still not been identified. The lawsuit claims the suspect gathered over 50 videos of victims, all in different states of undress.
“Fitness facilities like Planet Fitness have a legal and ethical obligation to protect their members from illegal, non-consensual videotaping and photography of their intimate body parts. Here, Planet Fitness failed in that duty, allowing a perpetrator to secretly record nearly 50 undressed women over a period of less than 12 months — at a single location,” said Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP attorney Randy Renick.
Attorneys claim employees from the Arroyo Grande location were present during the unconcensual recordings on multiple incidents, witnessing the crime and yet failing to intervene despite the gym’s explicit policy against recording in tanning rooms.
“I feel betrayed by Planet Fitness and its indifference towards its female members. I am horrified that so many women had to be harmed before this person was stopped,” said the victim.
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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Jarrod Zinn
LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) – Ashlee Buzzard, the mother of Melodee Buzzard, appeared in court this morning for a hearing on her attorney’s motion to compel forensic evidence.
Public defender Erica Sutherland says she argued the District Attorney is obligated under law to disclose more forensic evidence such as police reports and witness statements, which she says she has yet to receive.
Sutherland says the DA seemed unfamiliar with the law she cited but that Judge Stephen Dunkle knew about it.
Still, Sutherland says Judge Dunkle wants to know which evidence items remain outstanding, and continued the case to May 7th for his ruling.
Buzzard agreed to waive time through July for scheduling of the preliminary trial hearing.
A hearing on Sutherland’s motion to quash and traverse a search warrant is confirmed for May 6th at 1:30pm before Judge Hippach in Santa Maria.
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