Category: keyt-local-news

Caleb Nguyen

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – Andrew Luster, a rapist from the Ventura County area who has been imprisoned since 2003, was denied parole Tuesday, according to the VC Star.

Luster’s earliest release for his crimes of drugging and raping women at a Ventura County beach home in 2003 will be Oct. 31, 2026, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitions.

Luster, an heir to the Max Factor Fortune, hoped for an earlier release, but KCLU Radio reported that the board denied his request.

Luster’s original sentence in prison was scheduled for 50 years, detailed the VC Star.

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Jarrod Zinn

GROVER BEACH, Calif. – Grover Beach police made some arrests over the weekend connected to illegal street racing.

Police say they were surprised by the two incidents.

Speed contests are against the law, they’re highly dangerous, and they come with some hefty legal consequences.

Two separate incidents involving illegal street racing took place on Grand Avenue in Grover Beach last weekend, leading to a total of 3 arrests.

“One arrest from Saturday night. Two arrests on Sunday night,” says Nelida Aceves, Grover Beach police commander.

Both incidents occurred after 10 p.m.. One was westbound on Saturday night. One was eastbound on Sunday night. And it all took place on Grand Avenue between Courtland Street in Arroyo Grande and 13th Street in Grover Beach.

“It was surprising watching the videos where the participants in the contest weren’t even aware that the officers were in the area. So it clearly shows that they’re not aware of their surroundings,” says Commander Aceves.

The vehicles were impounded and the drivers were arrested.

“Speed contests are not only illegal, they are a danger to the participants and to the public. And your vehicle can be towed for up to 30 days,” says Commander Aceves.

The arrests were unusual for the area.

“We get complaints regarding speeding but typically not speed contests. And within the city of Grover Beach, we haven’t had speed contest arrests completed within the last year. So it’s surprising to have two incidents in one weekend,” says Commander Aceves.

The public is encouraged to keep their situational awareness about them at any time of the day or night, as calls of speed violations can come at any time, without warning.

Speed contests are not localized to Grover Beach by any means, and many residents of Santa Maria say they know these races happen because they can hear the engines and tire screeches in their neighborhoods.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Santa Barbara County Animal Services launched a new emergency livestock registry. 

In order to strengthen current wildfire protection efforts, the county launched the Animal Services first livestock registry on April 1st.

Lisa White owns two horses in Santa Barbara.

For their safety, she signed them up for the livestock registry.

“It will be super valuable because time and resources are finite. In the case of emergencies we have to move quickly,” said animal services director Sarah Aguilar of Santa Barbara County.

The county launched the Animal Services first livestock registry to better facilitate care for registered animals in the event of an emergency.

“It will also help us when we’re responding in these emergency situations whether they’re wildfires, floods, weather, events, and things like that,” said emergency preparedness program manager Matt Higgs of the Santa Barbara County Health Department.

Residents can use the livestock registry to provide the county with information about what kinds of animals and how many animals they own.

This information will help with rescue efforts during an emergency.

“We wanna know if people have goats pigs cattle Llamas donkey anything that’s going to need a larger vehicle for evacuations,” said Aguilar.

Public health hopes to see at least 500 properties on their registry in the next few months.

“It will help us in our Planning in our evaluation of things like evacuation routes,” said Higgs.

“And so having that information about where large animals are residing, and where they might be evacuating from in the case of a fire or flood, earthquake will be really useful for planning purposes,” said Aguilar.

The registry also allows users to list themselves as able to self-evacuate or in need of evacuation assistance.

Learn more about the new registry at: Animal Services first livestock registry.

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Dave Alley

NIPOMO, Calif. – San Luis Obispo County is set to begin work on updating the Nipomo Community Plan, which will help direct future planning for the South County town.

“The Community Plan update is an opportunity for the community to partner and join with the County Planning Department to update our plan,” said San Luis Obispo County Fourth District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding, who represents Nipomo. “It will update the vision for Nipomo, how we’re going to grow, how to address existing needs and future needs, and really make sure that the vision is reflective of what the community wants.”

On Saturday, May 3, the county will host the first in a series of four community workshops that will take place during what is expected to be about a year-long process to craft the plan.

“The more community involvement and the more community opinions that are rendered is a really, really good thing,” said longtime Nipomo resident Tom Geaslen. “It leads to a much stronger position and keeping Nipomo the place that we all know and love.”

Last updated more than 30 years ago in 1994, the Nipomo Community Plan is described by the county as a document that establishes a vision for the future that will guide land use and transportation over the next several years.

“One of the reasons I wanted to undertake this process was because I’ve heard from the community of Nipomo,” said Paulding. “Concerns related to housing development and growth, concerns related to traffic, traffic congestion, water. Obviously there are plenty of existing needs, and we know that with more development and growth, we’re going to have future needs, and so what this is to me, is an opportunity to take the plan that hasn’t been updated for 30 years, update that plan to not only, accommodate with reasonable assumptions and planning, the types of infrastructure facilities that we need to support that future growth, but also to develop a public financing plan for our facilities and infrastructure needs now. That was never done as a part of the1994 plan. There was no chapter on how to finance those existing needs, and so this is really an opportunity to validate what those needs are, what the community prioritizes, and then develop a plan to fund those improvements and move forward.”

The community workshop on Saturday is scheduled to take place at the Nipomo Library from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

According to the county, this workshop is an opportunity for community members to provide input on the needs and priorities of Nipomo, learn more about the Community Plan Update process and to share ideas and vision for Nipomo’s future.

“Face to face and good healthy discussion is what this needs,” said Geaslen. “Not everybody’s going to agree with you. I’ve spoken out and spoken for several issues over the last 25 years, but at least I had the opportunity. Some of them came to fruition, some didn’t, but without the community, you can’t sit back and say, wait a minute, why didn’t you do this? Why don’t you do that? So now’s the time to get involved. Like I say, put your heart where your mouth is.”

Other community workshops will take place over the next several months, with these tentative dates released by County Planning:

July 2025 – Funding the Journey: How to Make the Vision Real

October 2025 – Forging the Path: Finding the Best Route Forward

April 2026 – The Final Round Up Meeting: Reviewing the Draft Documents

Fall 2026 – Riding Into Action! Come out to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors public hearings

For more information about the Nipomo Community Plan Update, click here to visit the county’s official webpage about the plan.

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John Palminteri

GOLETA, Calif. – A flexible on-demand transit has been launched in Goleta and some selected nearby locations.

It is a curb-to-curb service providing trips between any two points in a specified zone for $3.00 ($1.50 for seniors and people with disabilities.) Children 14 and over can also ride. The system takes cash or “tap to pay”. For the start up period through the month of May, all rides are free.

The Metropolitan Transit District (MTD) says the riders can use a Transloc app or call MTD to schedule a pickup.

The starting area for the testing of this system is specific. The zone includes an area bounded by Patterson to the east, Cathedral Oaks to the north, Los Carneros to the west, and 101 to the South. The housing and business park areas on either side of Los Carneros south of the freeway are also included.

Additionally, specific points at the following locations are available for drop off or pickup: Goleta Amtrak Station, Santa Barbara Airport, UCSB Bus Loop, Elings Hall stop, Isla Vista Community Center and El Colegio & Embarcadero del Mar outbound stop.

The service runs Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Once the pick up is requested, for example on the app, you can see where the shuttle is, and find out when it will arrive at your location.

Tuesday morning an Isla Vista resident and UC Santa Barbara student at the Community Center, made a request and the Wave shuttle was on site in about ten minutes. The destination was Trader Joe’s for some groceries. That is over Highway 101 in the Calle Real Center. A long walk and not an easy bike ride if you have more than one bag of groceries. To get there with another ride share service would have been possibly three times the cost.

“I don’t have a car. My only other option is to walk or ride a bike.  I’m not walking so if I’m biking it is really inconvenient, it takes 30 minutes or something,” said Alicia Banegas.

If you take it….just be ready to go. The Metropolitan Transit District (MTD)   Planning and Marketing Manager Hillary Blackerby says, “and the system will let you know where the van is when it is on its way to you.   “

Banegas said, it works for her schedule because, “If you have the time to ride the bus for 30 minutes that’s one thing, but this is way quicker. “

After the shopping visit, the ride was requested again and the Wave was on site in less than a minute. It was still nearby.

The microtransit vehicle can take seven passengers at once or five if a wheelchair is on board.

Feedback on the new transit will be important as the program is rolled out in Goleta and before it goes into other areas. “We want more people to take it test it test, it stress it out see how it goes and we think it will be  benefit to the community,” said Blackerby.

Grant funding has made this service possible for one year. Then it will be available in Carpinteria as the second test location. No date for the service to expand to Santa Barbara has been discussed.

For more details go to: MTD

Information from the MTD site:

Who can ride this service?

This service is open to the general public, not just seniors and people with disabilities. Children 14 and over can ride The Wave unaccompanied.  It is up to parents to determine if their teen is ready to ride alone. All passengers under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult. ALL CHILDREN MUST be “properly secured…in an appropriate child passenger restraint system or safety belt meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards.”  Per California vehicle code 27360.5, if a child age 8 through 15 needs a booster to fit the seat belt correctly, they need one to ride The Wave. In compliance with California law, all passengers under age 8 must ride in an appropriate Child Restraint System (CRS), such as a safety seat or booster; and all passengers under age 2 must ride in an appropriate rear-facing safety seat. Caregivers must provide an appropriate safety seat and install it in the vehicle. Unfortunately, while drivers can provide information about LATCH attachment points, they cannot assist caregivers with installation.

Where does it serve?

The zone includes an area bounded by Patterson to the east, Cathedral Oaks to the north, Los Carneros to the west, and 101 to the South. The housing and business park areas on either side of Los Carneros south of the freeway are also included.

Additionally, specific points at the following locations are available for drop off or pickup: Goleta Amtrak Station, Santa Barbara Airport, UCSB Bus Loop, Elings Hall stop, Isla Vista Community Center and El Colegio & Embarcadero del Mar outbound stop.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Malachi Johnston outmuscled his competitors at the Santa Barbara County Championships in track and field.

The Santa Barbara High School junior won in the shot put with a 48-9 throw and he captured the discus with a 143-3 mark.

The San Marcos High School beach volleyball duo of Charlotte Hastings and Paige Hoadley came up clutch in a must-win match against Oaks Christian in a CIF-SS Division 1 first round match.

With the overall match tied at 2, Hastings and Hoadley won the decisive match in straight sets 21-16, 24-22.

They trailed in the second set 20-15 but fought off 5 set points to pull out the exciting victory as San Marcos prevailed 3-2 over the Lions.

San Marcos plays at powerhouse Redondo Union in a CIF-SS D1 quarterfinal on Tuesday.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Liv Plourde scored the go-ahead goal with :48 seconds to play as San Marcos edged Laguna Beach 11-10 in a first round CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoff game.

The Royals advance to play at St. Margaret’s on Thursday in a second round game.

Plourde is the all-time leading goal scorer for the Royals and she added six more to her total as they improved to 18-2 on the season.

Gigi Mills had a hat trick in the first quarter for the Royals as she scored her team’s first three goals and the Royals led 5-2 after one.

But the Breakers answered back with a strong second quarter and led 7-6 at halftime.

Plourde scored twice in the third quarter and the Royals led 9-8 heading into the final quarter.

Laguna Beach tied the game at 10 with 3:30 to play setting the stage for a dramatic win by Plourde and the Royals.

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