Author: KEYT

Caleb Nguyen

OXNARD, Calif. – A 37-year-old drunk driver caused a multi-car crash after trying to U-turn from driving the wrong way on Highway 101 in Oxnard just past 9:00 a.m. Friday, according to the Ventura CHP.

The drunk driver realized she drove northbound in her Chevy when a semi-truck hit her during her attempted U-turn, according to the Ventura CHP. The 60-year-old male semi-truck driver was uninjured from the crash.

The Chevy stopped in the middle of the road when a Ford slowed down to avoid it. A Jeep then rear-ended the Ford, detailed the Ventura CHP.

The 38-year-old Ventura woman driving the Ford suffered minor injuries and the 33-year-old Oxnard woman driving the Jeep suffered moderate injuries, requiring transport to St. John’s Hospital.

Traffic was shut down on the northbound side of the 101 for about an hour and reopened at 10:15 a.m. following clean up, according to the Ventura CHP.

The drunk driver declined medical aid at the scene and was arrested on DUI suspicion. This investigation remains ongoing and those with information should contact the Ventura CHP.

Mike Klan

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Volleyball team (11-15, 2-7 Big West) hosted No. 3 Hawai’i (24-4, 7-2 Big West) on Friday night in the Thunderdome, the first of two matches in consecutive nights to close out the regular season. Despite Cole Schobel’s career-high 16 digs and the Gauchos (.267) out-hitting the Rainbow Warriors (.248), the visitors won in four sets—25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20.

HOW IT HAPPENEDHawai’i was without two of their starting pin hitters—Kristian Titriyski and Louis Sakanoko—but that did not stymie their offense early on. The first set flowed strongly back and forth, with Hawai’i having three 3-0 runs and Cole Schobel serving an ace in a 3-0 serving run to make the score 15-13 Rainbow Warriors into the media timeout. Shortly after, the Gauchos again rallied for three in a row, including back-to-back Owen Birg-Ethan Saint double blocks to take an 18-17 lead. Former Rainbow Warrior Jack Walmer entered the match and promptly served an ace, giving the Gauchos a 21-19 advantage. However, Hawai’i would win six of the next seven points to win the set 25-22. They hit .448 (16-3-29) in the set, their best of the match by far.

In set two, the Gauchos responded immediately, taking control from very beginning. George Bruening had four kills in the team’s first six points, and it was 10-4 Santa Barbara thanks in part to separate 4-0 and 3-0 runs. A bit later, Josh Aruya served an ace as part of another 4-0 run to increase the lead to 18-8. A Hawai’i service error made it 23-12, and it looked like the Gauchos would coast to victory. Not so fast, as the Rainbow Warriors rattled off five in a row as part of a 7-1 run before an Aruya kill ended the set with a respectable 25-19 scoreline.

Now tied at one set apiece, Hawai’i used that momentum from late in the second set to begin the third, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage thanks in part to two aces from setter Tread Rosenthal. UC Santa Barbara bounced back, though, to halve the deficit to 6-3. From there, the teams settled in, trading points until a Saint kill and block on consecutive points made it 15-13 Hawai’i. The Gauchos completed the comeback, getting to 17-17, before a huge Birg-Bruening block gave them their first lead at 22-21. Unfortunately for the hosts, similar to the first set, the Rainbow Warriors took the next four points to win the set 25-22.

In the fourth, the Gauchos used an early 4-0 run to take a 6-3 lead. The teams played the sideout game to 11-9 before Hawai’i completely flipped the score with a 7-0 run, Kainoa Wade’s serving causing problems for Santa Barbara. Now trailing 15-11, Bruening’s 17th kill of the night kept the deficit at 17-14 before a Rainbow Warrior ace capped a 3-0 run, making it 20-14. From there, the Gauchos could only get as close as four before succumbing 25-20, ending the match.

BY THE NUMBERSCole Schobel was stalwart defensively, his 16 digs smashing his previous career-high of 12 in the five-setter earlier this year at Cal Lutheran. The setter also had three block assists and an even 40 assists (10 per set).Freshman George Bruening led all players on the floor with 19 kills, also contributing three blocks and five digs. Fellow freshman pin Ethan Saint had a well-rounded night, earning 10 kills—his second career double-digit kill performance—with five total blocks and eight digs.The Gauchos’ middle blockers were solid. Josh Aruya hit .727 (8-0-11) with three blocks and an ace, and Owen Birg hit .500 (5-1-8) with a team-leading six block assists.Statistically, the teams were remarkable competitive. Both had 50 kills, the Rainbow Warriors doing so on 117 swings versus the Gauchos’ 116. Hawai’i had 10 blocks, 46 assists, and 35 digs compared to the Gauchos’ 11, 49, and 38, respectively. As mentioned, Santa Barbara actually had a higher hitting percentage on the night—.267 to .248—despite being on the losing side of the four-set match.

UP NEXTThe teams run it back for one last match of the regular season tomorrow (Saturday) night. Thus, the Gauchos will honor their seven seniors pre-match for Senior Night in the Thunderdome, scheduled for 7 p.m. Fans not attending can stream the match on ESPN+, listen live on ESPN Honolulu, and follow along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)

Mike Klan

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (25-12, 11-9 Big West) was on the big stage Friday night, and the Gauchos put on a show, taking down the Cal Poly (27-10, 15-2) Mustangs, 5-4 in front of a sellout crowd at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium and for a national TV audience, with the game being broadcast on ESPNU. The heart of Santa Barbara’s order provided the runs, with hitters three through six in the Gaucho lineup all recording RBIs. On the mound, AJ Krodel provided a show-stopping long relief outing, striking out seven Mustangs in 4 2/3 innings to earn the win.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS”Fantastic effort by AJ (Krodel),” Checketts said. He’s fully capable of doing that, he’s had some bright moments but we’ve been waiting for that, so that was a big moment for him; hopefully that’s a momentum changer for his season.”

“Nice job offensively to get on base, and a couple two-out knocks there to get us the extra cushion.”

HOW IT HAPPENEDGaucho starter Calvin Proskey got off to a smooth start with a groundout and strikeout to start the first, but an error quickly put bumps in his road, with the sophomore having to throw 20 extra pitches and giving up an unearned run on an RBI single by Jack Collins before getting out of the inning. But Proskey settled down with a more comfortable second, working around a one-out single and picking up a second strikeout.

To further smooth out Proskey’s day, the Santa Barbara offense gave their starter a run in the bottom of the second, which Mendez and Kosciusko led off with back-to-back doubles to tie the game at one. After Proskey worked around a two-out walk in the top of the third, the Gauchos picked up more runs in the bottom half, doing so without the benefit of a hit. Nolan Farley led off with a walk, Xavier Esquer was hit by a pitch, and Kosciusko picked up an RBI after a dropped fly ball in left allowed Farley to score. A two-out walk to Nate Vargas loaded the bases, and another one to Jack Holman forced home Santa Barbara’s third run, giving them their first multi-score lead of the weekend at 3-1.

Proskey handled his business in the top of the fourth, stranding another two-out walk, but a double and a home run by Alejandro Garza in the top of the fifth tied the game and, after two more singles, ended the starter’s day. Krodel came in in a less-than pleasant spot, with two runners on and just one out. He struck out the first Mustang he faced, but then a wild pitch moved those two runners to second and third, ratcheting the leverage up a notch. Krodel induced a grounder to third, and Esquer made the throw to first in time to end the inning. In his first full inning of work in the top of the sixth, Krodel punched out a pair of hitters then got another groundout to strand a lead-off single.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Gauchos regained their lead with a big, two-out rally. Esquer was hit by a pitch for the second time on the night to get it started, with LeTrey McCollum smacking a single through the right side to put runners on the corners and force a pitching change. Cal Poly brought in the same pitcher who had given up a game-tying triple to Vargas on Thursday, and the Gauchos produced similar results. Kosciusko drove in his second go-ahead run of the night with a single into center field, then Mendez made it 5-3 by punching a line drive between the shortstop and shifted second baseman, both of whom were on the left side of the infield.

Krodel delivered a crucial shut-down inning in the top of the seventh, fanning two more Mustangs, then he went three up, three down again in the top of the eighth, finishing that inning by snagging a hard-hit bouncer right back at him and tossing to first.

The game was Krodel’s to finish, and he struck out the first batter he faced in the top of the ninth before a pinch-hit single, stolen base and another single put a blemish on the righty’s ledger. Still, with the tying run on first but two outs on the board, head coach Andrew Checketts stuck with Krodel. The sophomore delivered, inducing a pop-up that Holman fielded easily on the infield grass to end the game.

BY THE NUMBERSFriday’s win was Krodel’s second of the season, and he did it in remarkably similar fashion to his first. Krodel pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief on opening day, striking out eight and allowing just one run to earn the win against Campbell. On Friday, he pitched 4 2/3 innings, striking out seven while allowing just the one run.The Gauchos handed Cal Poly just its second Big West loss of the season on Friday. The Mustangs had won 12 straight road games. Santa Barbara is the first team to beat the Mustangs in a nine-inning conference game this season, as Hawai’i took 10 innings to do it last Friday.It was standing room only at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for Friday’s marquee matchup, with an official attendance of 1,121 making Friday the Gauchos’ first sellout of the season. The last time Santa Barbara exceeded Caesar’s standard capacity of 1,000 was also against Cal Poly, back on May 25, 2019, with a crowd of 1,417. The Gauchos saw 1,537 fans in attendance at the 2024 regular-season finale, though that game featured additional seating in the outfield in preparation for the NCAA Santa Barbara Regional, where the Gauchos twice set their record attendance of 2,110.There were also eyes from all over the country on the Gauchos on Friday, as the game was broadcast nationally on ESPNU. Santa Barbara has now won five of their last six nationally televised games over the last three seasons, including all four of their regular-season primetime games.Speaking of streaks, McCollum continued his run of getting on base, extending it to 33 games with a walk and a base hit on Friday night. He scored the game-winning run on Mendez’s RBI single in the sixth.

UP NEXTThe Gauchos’ win sets up a rubber game between them and the Mustangs on Saturday, April 19, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. Jackson Flora is set to take the ball for Santa Barbara.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)

Andie Lopez Bornet

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Many Christians within the Central Coast and around the world attend a church service on Good Friday to pray and reflect on the day Jesus Christ was crucified.

“Friday night we come face to face with such a incredible selfless gift of love and then Sunday morning we celebrate that love like crazy,” said Tommy Schneider,  Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara Senior Pastor.

Churchgoers on Good Friday focus on forgiveness, as well as hope for humanity and the sacrifice that was made on the cross.

“Without that sacrifice for sin then there’s no hope for any of us,” said Rob Laskin, long time Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara church attendee. “And then we look from Friday to easter to when he rose and that gives us the hope of new life.”

The week leading up to Easter is known as holy week which includes Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. For Pastor Schneider, every morning the week leading up to Easter, he prays at Courthouse Sunken Gardens in Santa Barbara along with his brothers in Christ.

Friday night people were gathered at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara for a special service instead of their normal midweek service.

Pastor Schneider shares how it feels seeing the church sanctuary full of people worshiping.

“I don’t think there’s anything better than seeing the family of God come into a place where they can truly be still and press in and remember something that is so transformative for the soul.”

If you didn’t make it to the Good Friday service, don’t worry you can still make it to the Easter Sunday service this Sunday, April 20 at 10 a.m. at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens.

Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Cities up and down the coast are preparing for fun and festive Easter activities this weekend.

The city of Santa Maria is hoping people come out to its “Egg-Splore Our Parks!” event.

The Santa Maria Recreation & Parks Department has organized a community wide egg hunt contest.

“The prizes are small. They’re non cash prizes with some of our kind of event swag as well as some special specialty gift cards, too. So for an extra surprise bonus,” says Jeanette Blanco, with Santa Maria Recreation and Parks.

At six local parks, there is a two-dimensional egg sign where people can take fun photos for non-cash prizes.

“We’re excited to bring this event back. Every year, a lot of families come out and enjoy the day. It’s a chance to picnic and and kind of just do their own Easter egg hunt and post those pictures on social media,” says Blanco.

There is also a hidden golden egg at one of the six parks, which contains a special, undisclosed bonus prize.

“We definitely encourage families to get creative with their photos. The sillier the better. We love that. We just want families to get out there and have fun,” says Blanco.

The event runs between now and Sunday evening.

The contest closes Sunday evening and winners will be announced on April 23rd.

For submission details be sure to click here for the “Egg-Splore Our Parks” web page.

John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Moving out without much of a plan is not in the playbook for business owners who dread the letter that says they are not getting a lease renewal. But it is happening.

The latest is the Game Seeker on State Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

Owner Ingrid Estrella put out a notice on Instagram with the message saying she is not getting a lease renewal. The store has been there 20 years. She took over from her job as an employee when the previous owner sold it. That was in February of 2020 right before the Covid crisis.

“I think we thought we had more time. And then it kind of just came sooner than we expected,” she said. “We are not giving up. I don’t believe that this is the end. You know, when we took over this business, the vision was greater than this building. “

She is asking the customers if they know of a new site and has the word out to commercial realtors.

The store has face other economic challenges including the COVID pandemic, but has survived as a locally owned business that is stocked with the latest games evolving into the main stream, while stocking the classics.

Often the store sees extra business during the holidays and when family get-togethers take place.

It even has a game out front for passersby to play.

In the online message, Estrella said she is closing down in a couple of weeks and everything is 30 percent off to reduce the load.

One customer picking up a game, Julian Ricasata said, “for people my age, it’s kind of something that’s not technological that you can connect together with. And I think something physical helps you mentally, challenge yourself.”

There was also a game outside of the store on a table being played by passersby.

In the big picture, tariffs may be yet another concern on operational costs. “There’s a possibility we won’t have product or access to product because it’s so expensive, but we don’t know,” said Estrella. “And so we’re at this crux of, you know, what’s our next move? No pun intended, but what is it? 

For now the personal service is still the edge the local store has over the internet purchases. Estrella said,  “because we know our product. We know what it is.”

Nearby the owner of Pascucci, Laura Knight has also been told her lease is not being renewed. She will leave in mid-May, but has a new spot in the 1200 block of State Street.

In the meantime, drinks are discounted with meals to keep the flow of customers coming through.

On Milpas St. the longtime fresh fruits and vegetable store, Tri-County Produce was closing at the end of the month. An employee Jaimie Desales and his son are going to purchase it. That was announced late Friday afternoon.

The site will have a future as a housing and market mixed used project based on plans submitted to the city.

In the 900 block, Cookie Plug is closing after it was not able to work out a lease with the city. It had been subleasing from Metropolitan Theatres which had run the Fiesta 5 theatres until selling it off to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival as the new Film Center.

Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The future of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and the workforce was the featured topic during a first-of-its-kind summit being held Friday at Allan Hancock College.

The six-hour gathering brought dozens of people from on and outside the campus including faculty, staff, students, industry partners, and community members to learn about what AI is.

“We are looking to bridge the gap between faculty knowing how to embrace AI in their coursework and curriculum, how to work with students as they understand how to work with AI, and know what the parameters are,” said Nancy Jo Ward, Allan Hancock College Media Arts Faculty, who help organize the event. “We are offering workshops and are getting information from our Chancellor’s office. AI is a constantly moving subject and there’s a lot of fear and anxiety around AI. We have our celebrants and we have our people that are naysayers, and we’re providing an opportunity for discourse.”

Hancock College said the first-ever event is part of the school’s commitment to innovation and preparing students and the community for success in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

“It’s here,” said Ward. “It’s not going away, so the more we can be at the forefront of that to support knowledge around, I think that it positions Hancock in the best place. We want to support our faculty who have anxiety. We want to support them to celebrate the use of AI as a tool for efficiency. We want them to be able to support students and their understanding of the limitations and possibly the risks of AI. It’s a conversation that’s not going away.”

More than 200 people attended the summit that included keynote presentations, breakout sessions and panel discussions with experts from both education and industry.

Over the course of the day, attendees had the opportunity to learn about AI trends, its practical applications, ethical considerations, and how AI is shaping the future of learning and employment.

Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Kids are making efforts to save the environment at Vieja Valley Elementary School in Santa Barbara.

The students established the Clean and Green Club to reduce plastic use at their school. 

They researched ideas for how to do that and came up with the idea of switching to reusable sporks. 

This student-led initiative has allowed them to raise money to buy reusable sporks for the school’s food service program.

“We have planted this garden. We got a grant for a dishwasher and we got metal sporks in the cafeteria,” said Dylan McLernon of Vieja Valley Elementary School.

“I’m excited because of global warming and climate change everyone makes a difference,” said student Alaina Galbraith of Vieja Valley Elementary School.

The school administration believes this is a testament that students can have a voice and lead improvements at their schools and in the world.