Category: keyt-local-news

Alissa Orozco

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Maria’s annual BBQ festival will return to the Central Coast this upcoming weekend, celebrating the region’s iconic Santa Maria-style tri-tip, phenomenal bands, and will bring back the fan-favorite beer festival and carnival.

Organizers say this festival is where “the smoke meets the sound,” incorporating elements for everyone in the community. Jaime Flores and Andre Nunoz from the BBQ Festival gave your Morning News a special preview on TV Hill of everything this weekend has in store.

“We definitely have something for everybody this weekend. We’re taking an event that was traditionally on 1 day, 4 hours, to a 3-day event, adding a music element to it all weekend long, a carnival aspect, bringing back the Santa Maria Beer Festival for the community, and of course the barbecue competition which has been held for the last seven years in Santa Maria,” said Flores.

Admission and parking is free for the family-friendly event, and free shuttles will be available all-day Saturday to ensure everyone can join in on the fun.

While there’s so much to look forward to during the 3-day event, the festival wouldn’t be complete without a good ol’ BBQ competition. Locals are invited enter in their take on the Santa Maria-style BBQ, to see who comes in on TOP.

The 8th annual Santa Maria BBQ Festival returns to Pioneer Park this weekend, September 18th-20th. For more information, visit www.smbbqfestival.com/

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Jarrod Zinn

LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) – The Lompoc City Council reached a 2-2 tie on a proposal to formally censure councilman Steve Bridge after he chose not to cast a vote.

Due to the deadlock, Bridge will be maintaining his position on the council.

Bridge is currently the defendant in 25 criminal charges pending in Santa Barbara County Superior Court regarding an alleged multi-million dollar utility rebate fraud.

“You’re out Mosby!” locals shouted as they left at the end of Tuesday night’s meeting. “You won’t be mayor next time! You’re out!” They were admonishing the mayor’s “no” vote.

Before the vote, the city’s legal advisor stated that the council lacks the legal authority to force Bridge out of office or revoke his voting privileges in the absence of a formal felony conviction.

“There is no staff recommendation on this item,” said Jeff Malawy, Lompoc City Attorney. “It is purely a decision by the City Council whether to censure one of your own members.”

Local residents packed the meeting room Tuesday night to call for consequences against the District 1 official.

“Yeah, sure. Innocent until proven guilty,” said Aaron Crocker, who lives in Lompoc. “I believe the quote is, ‘I ginned something up,’ right? So, sure, we have not been convicted in some court of law, but the man himself made the comment. That’s a quote from him.”

The criminal charges filed against Bridge consist of 20 felonies and five misdemeanors, which include misappropriation of public funds, forgery and grand theft. 

“What exactly is censure? It’s not a criminal conviction,” said Lompoc resident Shawna Stillwell. “It’s not a removal from office. It’s not the council deciding the outcome of a criminal case. It’s a governing body making a statement about whether the conduct of one of its members is consistent with the standards expected for public office.”

Defense attorney Michael J. Scott obtained delays lasting until September to submit a penal code 995 motion for dismissal seeking to drop all charges.

“I’m not asking the council to decide any legal matter,” said Yasmin Dawson, who lives in Lompoc. “I’m asking you to recognize a responsibility that comes with public office.”

The tie vote occurred after a heated discussion among municipal officials while Bridge’s legal proceedings remain in the pretrial stage.

“I believe this is really going to charge us as residents to demand something different,” says Tiffanny Grandberry, who lives in Lompoc. “And so we won’t stay complacent anymore to have the same type of character in leadership.”

Defense counsel is scheduled to submit the penal code 995 motion for dismissal this month as the court proceedings move toward a final trial date.

Councilman Bridge is under legal advisement not to publicly comment until the conclusion of the trial.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –

Girls Volleyball: Santa Barbara 3, San Marcos 1: The Dons moved to 2-0 in the Channel League and 10-6 overall with a 4-set win over the defending back-to-back league champion Royals.

Dons senior Blake Saunders led the way with 16 kills while fellow senior Lola Heckman added 10 kills.

(Lola Heckman had a .600 hitting percentage. Entenza Design).

The Royals have an entirely new varsity team this year and have won just two of 16 matches this year but they battled the Dons the entire match winning the second set 25-21 to even the match.

Dos Pueblos 3, Rio Mesa 1: Charlize Welch led the Chargers with 12 kills and 6 aces, followed by Faith Harrison with 6 kills.

Bishop Diego 3, Foothill Tech 1: Cardinals won behind a big effort by Karina Urzua who tallied 30 kills, 25 digs and 5 aces. Natalie Chan added 18 kills and 20 digs for the Cards who lead the Tri-Valley League at 5-1.

Laguna Blanca 3, Malibu 1: Greta Alldredge registered 14 kills for Laguna Blanca who host Bishop Diego on Thursday.

Flag Football: Dos Pueblos 31, Oxnard 20: Chargers win their 10th straight game as they move to 13-2 on the season. Kinda Ahmad-Reda, Brooklyn Hedricks and Jane Gibson caught touchdown passes from Ruby Streatfeild who also added two rushing touchdowns. Makyla Watt had 7 sacks for DP who now get ready for rival San Marcos on Thursday. Ryanna Harris had two touchdowns for the 9-5 Yellowjackets.

Girls Tennis: Dos Pueblos 13, San Marcos 5: Atria Husein and Zella Cassidy each went 2-1 in singles play for the Chargers. Tage Jaeger went 3-0 for the Royals.

Santa Barbara 10, Ventura 8:Keren Monroy went 3-0 for the Dons in singles action.

Laguna Blanca 11, Malibu 7

Girls Golf: Dos Pueblos 223, Ventura 272: Celeste Alcarez was medalist honors and had two birdies as she fired a 36.

(Dos Pueblos is 5-0 on the year as they win Channel League opener. Courtesy photo from DP).

Santa Barbara 295, Rio Mesa 301

San Marcos 251, Buena 307

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The League of Women Voters of North Santa Barbara County visited local high schools to helped 16-18 year-olds prepare to become voters.

Members of the nonpartisan, non-profit organization encouraged about 100 teens to register or preregister to vote.

League Co-President Tracy Beard said they visited 10 high school including those in Lompoc area high schools, as well as Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, and Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria High.

“By using QR codes, new voter QR stickers students were able to access California’s online voter registration system directly form their phones,” said League Co-President Lisa Thornhill,” Making the process simple and accessible helped young people take an important first step toward lifelong civic participation.”

Beard shared photos.

“National Voter Registration Day gives us an important opportunity to meet young people where they are- in their classrooms- and help them understand their voices matter,” said Beard.

For more information visit https://RegisterToVote.ca.gov

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Tracy Lehr

SOLVANG, Calif. (KEYT) – With the 89th Danish Days festival just days away, Solvang city workers went on strike.

“They imposed a contract on us yesterday and we went on strike today, it is their timing, said Public Works Supervisor Johnathon Flynn. 

Workers represented by Teamsters Local 986 rejected the city’s offer on Monday night.

“We presented the city with a fair officer looking to get ratified the city rejected that offer  they imposed a lower offer on the bargaining unit members essentially setting them on strike,” said Teamster Local 896 Business Representative Jeff Lee,” We want to send a clear message all we are asking for is a fair contrast in contrast to what the city spent for the non bargaining unit members. We are just looking for something that explains the worth of these members and what they do everyday to support the business in the city.”

Danish Days is a run by hundreds of volunteers and business leaders won’t let the strike put a damper the annual 3-day celebration that funds scholarships.

“It goes way back to all our families that have been doing this since the early 50s it has been a great tradition to be a part of and all out families, of course some of them have passed on but everyone of their family members including grandchildren have been here and are now helping to maintain, it is a great thing,” said Ingeborg’s Danish Chocolate’s owner Kim Jensen.

Ingeborg’s, famously featured in Lifetime’s “A Very Charming Christmas Town” will be selling delicious Danish chocolates.

Jensen’s daughters will be helping out.

For many it is like a family reunion with a day and night events including a parade, dancing, food and more.

“The traditions stay alive with each year having a danish fesival and part of that danish festival is keeping out architectural traditions alive but keeping  food alive and keeping the little things alive like a skoll toast with Aquavit” said Danish Days Foundation Treasurer Tracy Bear.

David Cecchini of Cecco Ristorane plans to serve large turkey legs with a portion of the proceeds going to the Solvang Friendship House where his dad lives.

Solvang’s Public Works Supervisor said his team is usually working during the community event that runs Friday through Sunday.

“We set up every cone, every parking sign, every barricade, when people are out,” said Flynn,” it will give us some time to hopefully enjoy it. “

Solvang Mayor David Brown chose not to comment during negotiations.

For more information about Danish Day visit https://solvangdanishdays.org

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Mike Klan

GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) – Four athletes, two coaches and one individual special achievement honoree highlight the 2026 induction class for the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame.

The ceremony took place inside Hatch Hall at Direct Relief and Noozhawk Sports Editor Diego Sandoval was the Master of Ceremonies.

Javier Acosta, special achievement: Santa Barbara High School heads groundskeeper for decades as well as other youth sports fields.

Artie Holland, baseball and football: Two sport star at San Marcos High School in the late 1970’s. Played baseball at SBCC and Fresno State.

Ben Howland, basketball coach: Played basketball at Dos Pueblos High School, SBCC and Weber State but made his mark as a head coach. He was a longtime assistant at UCSB before becoming a star head coach at Pittsburgh and then UCLA. He led the Bruins to three straight Final Four appearances (2006-2008).

Shantay Legans: basketball player: The 1999 Dos Pueblos High School graduate was a 2-time Santa Barbara County Player of the Year. He went on to play at Cal and Fresno State before playing professionally overseas. He is entering his fifth season as the head coach of the University of Portland.

Jordyn Lilly: basketball player: The 2015 CIF-SS Division 5A Player of the Year led Bishop Diego High School to a Southern Section title that same season.

Danelle Little Muhr: water polo coach: She guided Dos Pueblos High School to three consecutive CIF-SS championships in girls water polo (2008-2010). She won CIF-SS Coach of the Year in all three of those title years. Before coaching she played water polo at DP and UCSB.

Jenna Phreaner, water polo player: First Team All-CIF goalie for San Marcos High School girls water polo in 2013. She went on to star in the cage at UC Irvine and was named the 2018 Big West Tournament MVP in 2018.

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Caleb Nguyen

VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Ventura Police Department arrested three teenagers after they made threatening videos against Buena High School students.

VPD officers received videos depicting the “Cat in the Hat” character threatening students and schools Monday night.

These videos appeared to be part of a nationwide trend and VPD officers began investigating sources, connecting the videos to Buena High School.

VPD detectives and Buena resource officers then identified three Buena students as suspects in the creation and distribution of the videos.

VPD officers then arrested two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old for making criminal threats and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Two of the three teens also received charges for destroying evidence, according to the VPD.

There is no current threat to the school or community, though the investigation remains ongoing. Those with more information are asked to contact the VPD.

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Initial construction has started on the long-planned low-income housing development that will be located at the site of the former Santa Maria drive-in theater.

Located on Santa Maria Way where Hi-Way Drive-In operated for more than four decades, the project is called Skylight Homes and is being developed by People’s Self-Help Housing.

Once completed, Skylight Homes will include for-purchase 49-home single-family subdivision with 16 homes set aside for farmworker households.

“These are single family homes,” said Ken Trigueiro, People’s Self-Help Housing CEO/President. “They’re going to be really nice fit right into the neighborhood. This is great that we can produce 49 homes for homeownership. It’s more and more common to do rental housing these days because it’s a little more affordable, but we’re happy to be able to do homeownership. The demand is super high for both forms, though. For example, we have over 6,000 households on our waitlist in Santa Barbara County for about 1,000 units or so.”

Recently, constructions crews have been on the close to nine-acre site, pulling up concrete and asphalt, as well as audio cables.

“We are excited,” said Emily Baranek, People’s Self-Help Housing Senior Construction Manager. “We recently pulled permits for site work and are beginning site exploration and demo. Our grading contractor is starting to pull up some of the old infrastructure that was associated with the drive in movie theater project in preparation for site work in anticipation of 49 new homes.”

The work marks the first step in a construction process that is expected to take between 14 to 18 months before the first residents are able to move in.

“It’s a big project for the organization,” said Baranek. “It’s a big project for the city, and it’s a big, big project for affordable housing in general. 49 new single family detached for sale homes for affordable, middle income buyers is really exciting.”

For more information about Skylight Homes and how to submit an application for potential purchase, click here to visit the project webpage on the People’s Self-Help Housing official website.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – An unusual ocean water wave is moving across the Pacific and eventually it will impact our Central Coast on top of the El Nino issues already surfacing.

Elevated water levels from a Kelvin wave have been detected off the coast of Mexico. By mid-October the water could move up the Southern California coast and raise levels by several inches in some area.

Combine that with any storm system or high tide cycle and there could be damaging impacts to coastal bluffs, harbors and homes near the ocean’s edge.

Climatologists say satellite images have already shown changes in Puerto Vallarta Mexico and water temperatures from the changes have been measured into the mid-80 degree range.

As the bulging under surface wave moves closer more accurate possible impacts will be calculated.

Experts say this is not a tsunami type wave.

It is also unclear what impacts the Channel Islands and Point Conception will have on the wave effects as it comes through.

Bren School of Environmental Science & Management Assistant Professor Samantha Stevenson says, “when all those things that are going to happen anyway are happening on top of a sea level that will be six to 12 inches higher than it was going to be originally there’s going to be more energy in the ocean for that to happen. That’s what we are worried about, there will be  amplification of  damaging events

Isla Vista Resident Morgan Hoppe was in and out of the coastal waves near her student housing and says, “it will be  cool that since we are living on the ocean we get to  experience it first hand, how our oceans are changing .” She has taken an environmental studies class and will be looking up more on the Kelvin wave.

It’s early on in the El Nino impact phase and that means, several wave impacts could take place.

“You’re in a situation where it goes where it goes. I expect that we will see a few more before this El Nino is done,” said Stevenson.

She is closely watching the reports of the wave’s location and water temperatures.

Various reports say it may last a few days or it could take several days for the ocean to return to normal.

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Santa Barbara Coutny Board Of Supervisors voted on Phase One of its oil and gas prohibition today.

The vote came at the end of a lengthy hearing.

The hearing room at the Joseph Centeno Government Building was filled with oil workers, property owners, attorneys, and a coalition of environmentalists including a new youth organizing group.

“I am 16 and I’ve been doing environmental advocacy for two years, and that’s put me in a lot of interesting boardrooms,” says Ethan Maday, president of 805Action. “It seems like there’s always a big old clash between the environment and then economy and jobs and whatever it is. I don’t think those arguments need to be separate.”

Over fifty requests for public comment were accommodated during the morning session.

“Our group has done a lot of research to better understand what the impacts of a phaseout will be,” says Paasha Mahdavi, UCSB Political Science Associate Professor. “We’ve analyzed the economic impacts, the health impacts, as well as other social impacts of phasing out oil versus continuing to produce business as usual.”

Coalition members advocated for environmental and public health, urging supervisors to approve the phase-out.

“Consistent with the state’s overarching actions to transition off fossil fuels and towards a renewable energy future,” says Tara Rengifo, a senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Center.

Oil workers and property owners advocated for industries that depend on oil production, as well as mineral rights and land ownership.

“We all look forward to a clean energy future in California,” says Kevin Ivey, a mineral rights royalty owner. “We need California-produced, clean-energy, labor compliant, labor friendly energy to get there, and Santa Barbara County has a part to play in that in its oil production industry.”

Some supervisors sided with the environmentalists while others argued for the petroleum industry.

“The transition away from nonrenewable energies is really exciting, we really get to rewrite like the energy regime and the impacts that it has on our community members, on our public health,” says Haley Ehlers, spokesperson for Climate First Replacing Oil And Gas (CFROG).

Supervisor Lavagnino addressed the dichotomy of viewpoints, attributing it to significant economic and ecological differences between north and south county.

“16 years I’ve been trying to bring North and South County together,” said Lavagnino from the dais. “And why does it not work? Because of this issue. This is what is the dividing issue in this county.”

The board voted 3 to 2 approving amendments for Phase 1 of oil and gas prohibition, which will start by not allowing permits for the construction of any new wells.

“Unfortunately, three out of five supervisors today bought the good people of Santa Barbara County what’s ultimately going to be a very expensive lawsuit,” says Ivey.

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