Author: KEYT

Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Santa Barbara Public Library is teaming up with the Grace Fisher Foundation and a youth makers market to celebrate disability awareness through art and storytelling on Saturday.

Attendees can enjoy a short film, an information session with Grace Fisher, hands-on craft activities, and holiday shopping — an all-in-one experience. The event is designed for all ages and encourages creativity, empathy, and understanding.

The collaboration highlights inclusion and youth leadership while making the arts accessible to the entire community, showing how partnerships can bring people together around important social causes.

The event will be held at the Michael Towbes Library Plaza on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

For more information, visit here.

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Alissa Orozco

FRAZIER PARK, Calif. (KEYT) – A local animal sanctuary is facing a hefty fine after being found in possession of multiple restricted animals earlier in this year.

On March 3rd, 2025, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) received multiple reports of restricted animals being housed at the site of Born to Be Free, Inc., an animal sanctuary operating in Frazier Park, without proper permits or authorization.

A consent inspection conducted days later on March 18th found Born to Be Free was indeed in illegal possession of 15 different restricted species including African lions, leopards, a leopard–tiger hybrid, a lion–tiger hybrid, warthogs, a serval, a fishing cat, a European brown bear, and a wolf–dog hybrid.

According to a press release from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, the sanctuary did not possess the correct permits to house any of the animals. Sanctuary owner, Rhea Gardner, had accepted the transfer of exotic animals from another organization prior to incorporating her business on March 3rd.

Gardner told investigators she did not apply for a permit of her own because she believed she could house the animals under a permit formally held by the property’s former owner.

Under California Law, a Restricted Species permit must be obtained before importing, possessing, or caring for any restricted species – ensuring keepers have the proper experience, facilities meet safety standards, and that exotic animals do not endanger public safety, native wildlife, or agricultural interests. Restricted Species Permits are non-transferable.

“California’s restricted species laws exist for a reason – these animals require specialized care, secure facilities, and experienced handlers,” said Nathaniel Arnold, CDFW Deputy Director and Chief of Law Enforcement. “Meeting permit requirements is essential to protect the public, safeguard native wildlife, and ensure these animals receive proper care.”

Ventura County Superior Court condemned the violations, imposing a permanent injunction, civil penalties, and reimbursement of investigative costs to CDFW.

Born to Be Free, Inc. is required to:

Comply with a permanent injunction prohibiting the possession of restricted species without a valid RSP.

Pay a civil penalty of $10,000.

Reimburse CDFW $40,000 for investigative costs and relocation of the animals.

Pay the $435 court filing fee

A total financial obligation of $50,435.

The Ventura County DA’s Office says all restricted animals were removed from the site on May 21st and 22nd, 2025, and relocated to multiple licensed sanctuaries across the country that hold the proper permits. Several of which are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) The City of Santa Barbara is preparing to update its massage ordinance.

Before changes are made, a longtime massage therapist is sharing her concerns.

Kathy Gruver is worried the effort to crack down on criminal activity will harm legitimate businesses.

“It is really unfair, I mean we are healers, we are helping people in the community. I’ve got cancer patients, I’ve got motorcycle accident [survivors] I have pregnant women, and to be put into a category of people doing really illicit and illegal things that is harmful to he community. I want to see those gone, too, but this is not the way to go about it,” said Gruver.

Gruver owns Healing Circle and has a doctorate in natural health with an emphasis on mind-body medicine.

The proposal calls for random inspections, raising the current $25 fee by hundreds of dollars, and doubling the 250-hour licensing requirement.

“They are targeting us who are doing healing work. It is offensive and it is demeaning to the industry to those us that are really working hard to help the community be better.”

The city hasn’t updated its ordinance since the mid 1970s and the police department sent a letter about the updates proposed to massage therapist professionals last month.

Gruver said there is a problem, but she is concerned about the way the city wants to address it.

“I’d love to see some new things adopted, but I read what they want to update and the first paragraph is just offensive to us, it is like I’m sure there are some nice people doing this, but they are talking about staph infections and trafficking, destroying the fabric of the community.”

Her business on upper State Street is booked until the New Year.

“You are looking at my office, I am not destroying the fabric of anything, we are really doing the best we can, we are just trying to run our businesses as legit as possible and it is hard when we are having regulations thrown at us that are going to undermine what we are doing.”

Even so, she knows the problem exists.

“In the city of Santa Barbara there’s tons, I can point to 5 within a 2 block radius of here, it is obvious where they are, they are listed on websites, I want to get rid of these places, it is not good for our business, not good for our community, the families in our community,” said Gruver,” I’d love to see them go away. I can help you, put me in the car and I will drive down the street and go that one, that one and that one. It is really hard to get rid of, It is going to take a lot of time, a lot of money, that is why they have upped our fees, because they expect us to pay for the inspections, there has got to be a different way for them to do that.”

She is worried clients will be traumatized by inspections.

“I can’t be in the middle of massage or someone who has had trauma and have the police banging on the door to be let in, It just can’t work that way,” said Gruver.

She believes the city will listen when they take up the issue again at an ordinance committee meeting on Dec. 16 at 1 p.m.

“There has to be some kind of compromise and they seem to be open to a compromise so we will see what happens,” said Gruver.

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – A new furniture store has at last filled the long-vacant building that was the former home of Costco in Santa Maria.

Furniture Land officially opened for business inside the highly-visible building that is located along South Bradley Road, right off of Highway 101.

“It’s big for us and a big finally we’re open,” said co-owner Wail Ibrahim. “It’s big for the community because everybody’s been patiently waiting for our doors to open up here. It took a lot of planning, took a lot of time, but with everybody’s help, we finally did it.”

The opening completed a long renovation process inside the building that began last year.

Furniture Land, which also owns four other sites, all located in the Central Valley – two in Bakersfield, one each in Fresno and Visalia, has completed transformed the 100,000 square foot building into a modern showroom that ownership said is unlike any other in the immediate area.

“We brought the biggest, furniture showroom and all of Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County,” said Ibrahim. “When somebody walks in the door, they’re going to see the best priced furniture in all of Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County. We offer appliances. We actually have a huge mattress section as well. With the amount of manufacturers that we have that we carry, and with all the appliances, all the top brand appliances, and all the top brand mattresses, our goal is to make this place a one-stop shop place for your home.”

Situated between Stowell Road and Betteravia Road, the shopping area where Furniture Land is located has suffered over the past several years since Costco left.

The old Costco building has been closed since 2017 when the businesses moved a few blocks south down Bradley Road.

Now that its occupied once again, Ibrahim believes Furniture Land, which features a 70,000 square foot showroom, will benefit all of the nearby businesses located in the busy commercial corridor that runs adjacent to the freeway.

“It brings new energy to the city and new energy to the to the plaza and new life to this empty parking lot here that was vacant for for many years,” said Ibrahim. “We’ll help to actually bring in extra traffic to the plaza. It’s going to help out our neighboring businesses and is something new, something that the city does not have already, which is a massive showroom for furniture, and just bringing in new energy and a new life to this empty parking lot here that was actually pretty dark for many years.” 

While the business is now open, Furniture Land will hold an official grand opening and ribbon cutting sometime in the near future.

“We’re very happy to be here in San Maria,” said Ibrahim. “We couldn’t have done it without the support from the city and the whole community. We just want to say thank you. Thank you, Santa Maria.”

Ibrahim added the new business will employ at least 25 people and likely will add more in the future.

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The City of Santa Maria is reaching out to the community in an effort to help improve its public transportation system.

This week, a pair of public meetings will be held where community members can offer their input on ways the city can enhance services provided by Santa Maria Regional Transit (SMRT).

“This is our annual unmet needs process,” said Gamaliel Anguiano, SMRT Transit Services Manager. “This is an opportunity for the public to meet with us personally and share their thoughts and opinions on how public transit is working or not working for them, how we can improve it to better their lives.”

Anguiano pointed out a number of changes implemented by SMRT, including several recently, have been a direct result of previous public meetings.

“The unmet needs process and the feedback we get from the public, it ranges – quite a spectrum,’ said Anguiano. “Everything from where we might need to place a new bus stop, to where we need to create new routes or increase service windows, or just a service in any way, shape or form. Unmet needs has led to the consolidation of the Guadalupe service, the launching of our route to San Luis Obispo. It has adjusted service to Tanglewood, our service windows, our operating hours, where we place bus stops. The tremendous amount of feedback that we’re receiving ultimately delivers a service services seen today.”

Both public meetings will be held this Thursday, Dec. 4 in Shepard Hall at the Santa Maria Public Library.

 The first meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., with the second meeting scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“We collect information and feedback from our riders and hear about their experience in ways that we can manage our system better for their benefit,” said Anguiano. “We want to hear more about those so that we can continue to improve our service moving forward.”

For anyone who will not be able to attend the meetings, but would still like to offer input, comments may be mailed to: City of Santa Maria, 110 South Pine Street, Room 221, Santa Maria, CA 93458.

Comments will also be received by email at: smrtcomments@cityofsantamaria.org.

Residents also may call (805) 925-0951 ext. 2170 for more information or to provide comment.

Comments will be accepted until Monday, Dec. 15.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT). – Dos Pueblos High School celebrated their recent CIF-Southern Section Division 2 boys cross country championship at Harry’s.

The team showed off their championship plaque at the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table weekly luncheon.

A proud Chargers head coach David Jackson said, “The boys are everything worth celebrating from their character to their academics, it’s been a fun thing to be a part of.”

Four Athlete of the Week Awards were handed out since there was no luncheon during the Thanksgiving break.

Bishop Diego High School girls basketball player Jaymi Coronado: She averaged 15 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists as the Cardinals went 4-1 as the host of the Bird Cage Classic.

San Marcos High School girls cross country Sofi Hernandez: She helped the Royals to a 10th place finish at CIF-State in Division 3. Hernandez was 62nd overall with a time of 18:42.

San Marcos High School boys basketball Aidan Conlan: The junior led the Royals to two wins including a victory over previously undefeated Oaks Christian. Conlan scored 14 and 16 points respectively.

Cate High School 8-person football Josh Butler: Butler returned from a recent shoulder injury and he had a 121 total yards with two touchdowns as the Rams won a semifinal playoff game.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Whether it’s perception or reality, the number of traffic-related collisions and injuries on Santa Barbara streets could be going up.

One of the more common crashes this year has been a city street rollover – that involves a car hitting another vehicle, in the back left or right side and then ending up on it’s side or roof.

In the last few weeks, there have been rollovers on State St. at Pueblo, La Cumbre near Foothill, Mission St. at the underpass and De la Guerra Street near De la Vina.

A survey called “Safe Streets for All” lists several locations with traffic collision information on each page along with street data.

The “Safe Streets” survey aims to identify and address high-collision areas and inform the city’s safety action plan. 

You are asked to fill out the:  City-Identified Priority Street Input Survey by December 12, 2025.

You don’t need to respond to every area,  but for the routes you travel you are asked in  English and Spanish for participation.

The questions are : “Do you support the city designing a concept plan for this street?”

and “What personal challenges have you had when driving, biking or walking along this street?”

The city will get quite a bit of information from the public from the survey but the  public will see at every intersection on every page they go through some data about the number of accidents at each location.

Here are the ten areas in the focused survey:

1.    Bath Street | Alamar Avenue to Mission Street2.   Canon Perdido Street | State Street to East Street3.   Calle Real | Hitchcock Way to Pueblo Street4.   Castillo Street | Mission to Micheltorena Streets5.   Chapala Street  |Alamar Avenue to Mission Street6.   De La Vina Street | Mission to Micheltorena Streets7.    Las Positas Road  | State Street to Calle Real8.   Nopal Street | Cota to Quinientos Streets9.   Olive Street | Micheltorena to Carrillo Streets 10.  State Street | Highway 154 to Mission Street

Even if your street isn’t listed, your input is still valuable.

Sam Korkis is the owner of the Illusion Smoke Shop on State Street near Mission St. “This corner I have seen like ten accidents, bicycle, car, one day motorcycle. I see them all.”

TRACK ONE

Katie-Grace Gibson is a downtown worker nearby, and says she sees it is not just a driver issue or a bicyclist issue. “I think it’s both. I think it is sharing the road.  Understanding that everybody is trying to get where they are trying to be.”

Another worker, Ellie Moore says, “as a driver in Santa Barbara  I think that the bikes aren’t really an issue  watch them watch out for them.”

An ongoing concern is about the speed of e-bike riders and how drivers are having a harder time judging the speed.

Moore says, “they go so fast and a lot of kids don’t know how to navigate, signal if you are going to turn and keep your distance.”

Korkis says he agrees with efforts to make the roads safer and has helped a victim in the past.

“I helped one guy, like a year ago.The ambulance take him to the hospital,” he said.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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