Author: KEYT

John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Heavy equipment has been plowing sand into a wall of protection at the Santa Barbara waterfront since Wednesday afternoon.

The City of Santa Barbara is activated in many areas with crews focused on prevention and protection in areas prone to flooding. This includes the waterfront, downtown, Funk Zone and airport.

Last weekend, with intense rains over a long duration, many streets were overwhelmed including the heart of downtown. State Street looked like a creek. Mission Creek, however, was able to handle the flow without spilling its banks.

There were clogged drains that contributed to urban street flooding. Those have been cleared especially in problem locations like the lower Santa Barbara City College parking lot and lower Anacapa St. near the railroad tracks that, at times, can fill up with rain run off.

Saturday night several cars were swamped when drivers went into flooded areas and stalled out.

Passengers at the Santa Barbara Airport were arriving with only light coats and in some cases no hats.

One dog walker Serkan  Durna with a Husky said,  “I think he’s still enjoying, maybe even more, today because it’s a little colder. Yeah, I think Huskies, like the cold more, so it seems pretty happy today. “

In blustery conditions we did find two people fishing with little fish that may be a bigger catch by the end of the day.

Jorie Jorgensen said, “And it’s these little teeny hooks. It’s all in a row. And we’ll catch a couple of them at a time. And, after we catch them, we put them in a bucket right here. And we had about 14 today. “

From there, “we put them on a bigger line and we cast them back out there, and we use them as live bait to try to catch something bigger.”

On the hook in the past she says, “we’ve caught bat rays before, and we’ve also caught thorn back rays. Hopefully one of these days it’ll be halibut.”

Asher Littlejohn was using two fishing poles at once. “The rain generally makes it better for fishing. And it’s true not a lot of other people come out here. Since I’m the only one out here, I do have the best chance!”

Forecasters say the rain will be light to steady all day and into the overnight hours before clearing Friday morning.

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

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The annual News Channel 12 Turkey Drive is concluding on Thursday with donations being collected at three in-person drop-off locations.

The day will culminate the four-week long campaign to help raise funds for Good Samaritan Shelter and the SLO Food Bank.

The Turkey Drive has been an important outreach campaign for News Channel 12 for more than 20 years, and has helped provide a traditional holiday meal for thousands of families and individuals over the past two decades.

In-person donations will be accepted at at the News Channel 3-12 Santa Maria station, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market in Lompoc and SLO Food Bank warehouse in San Luis Obispo.

At the News Channel 3-12 station in Santa Maria – located at 1211 West McCoy Lane – drive through service for donations is taking place from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In addition, online donations are still being accepted through the official Turkey Drive webpage. Donors can choose which of the two non-profit organizations they would like direct their financial contribution towards.

Another way to contribute is through the purchase of a “Turkey Buck” at participating area markets, including California Fresh Market in San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach, and Grocery Outlet Bargain Market in Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo.

Turkey Bucks purchased in San Luis Obispo County will be directed to the SLO Food Bank, while those in Santa Barbara County will go to Good Samaritan Shelter.

For more information about the NewsChannel 12 Turkey Drive or to donate, click here.

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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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