Category: keyt-local-news

Alissa Orozco

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Portions of Highway 101 will be closed for a short time next week near the Gaviota Tunnel and State Route 1.

Alternating lane closures will happen along the highway for a rock scaling and rock clearing operation. Road crews will dislodge loose rocks from the slopes and clear any debris adjacent to the lanes.

A northbound lane closure will happen north of the Gaviota Tunnel on Tuesday, February 10th. A southbound lane closure will happen south of the State Route 1 junction on Wednesday, February 11th from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm.

Caltrans say delays should not exceed more than 15 minutes, and electronic message boards will be activated.

Travelers can find more information here.

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Jarrod Zinn

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Two teens from San Luis Obispo county were arrested in Scottsdale Arizona, accused of a home invasion in a plot to steal millions in cryptocurrency.

Investigators say these teens were recruited for this shocking crime online.

One of the teens lives in SLO and attended San Luis Obispo High School, the other lives in Morro Bay.

The teens told Arizona authorities after their arrest that the two had only just met.

Ari Parker lives in Scottsdale Arizona. 

At first, he didn’t think much of a blue car in the background of his ring camera footage from Saturday. 

“I had no idea they were connected to the crime that happened here,” says the Arizona resident.

Just down the street, SLO county teens Jackson Sullivan and Skylar Lapeille, disguised as delivery drivers, allegedly forced their way into a home.

Investigators say they violently restrained two adults, and demanded 66 million dollars in cryptocurrency.

A third resident managed to call police.

“The police work was really impressive,” says Parker. “They were pounding the pavement doing old school gumshoe police detective work, knocking on doors, letting neighbors know what was happening.”

The teens fled and, after a pursuit, hit a dead end and were arrested. 

Once in custody, the teens told Arizona authorities they had only just met each other.

“Many of them [neighbors] have lived here for 15, 20 years, and they mentioned that this is the first time they could remember something like this happening,” says Parker.

Unidentified characters known as “Red” and “8” allegedly sent Sullivan and Lapeille  messages on the app “Signal,” telling them to go to Arizona with funds to purchase supplies so they could pose as delivery drivers.

“It’s certainly eye opening, and it’s also incredible the way that different pieces of evidence will be pieced together,” says Parker.

Officials at San Luis Obispo High School have confirmed that Jackson Sullivan was a student.

From what we can gather online, he played sports and wrote articles for the student newspaper.

The teens are being held in Arizona and will be charged as adults on multiple felony charges including kidnapping, burglary, criminal impersonation, and felony flight.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.  (KEYT) – A morning bus ride from their classrooms brought hundreds of kids to the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara for “Mike’s Field Trip to the Movies.”

It is an educational outreach program for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival that takes place in two parts . Trip one is today, trip two is next Thursday.

The children saw the movie “Zootopia 2” and then heard a talk from the filmmakers.

Between the two dates it will bring in about 3-4,000 students.

Some of them are from school districts that do not usually have these types of field trips or educational programs. The children are coming from throughout Santa Barbara County.

Many children have never been to a movie theatre, or have never been inside of an iconic movie landmark like the Arlington Theatre, which has been in Santa Barbara since 1931.

The program is part of their classroom instruction to learn about movies and the arts prior to coming to the event.

The program is named after the late filmmaker Mike DeGruy, who passed away in 2012 while on an assignment for a James Cameron film. 

One of the producers was Yvett Merino, a UC Santa Barbara graduate and an Academy Award winner.

 She talked about the four year timeline to finish the film. “We try things and  they don’t always work and sometimes we fail  and we start over again. It helps us get to where we need to be.” 

Another message to the kids was  about collaboration.

Byron Howard, the film director said, “it is amazing that we all get together, there are about 800 people that work with us on these films. Some of the best stories that we find in these films comes from real issues in our world and movies help to talk about them”

They also explained the far reaching range of these films. Merino said, “we translate this into 47 different languages.”

The trip is designed to expose students to careers in the film industry and spark creativity, with some attendees expressing interest in writing, sound, animation and editing.

“As the school started to depart, the students and teachers told us coming here to the Arlington Theater and hearing from experts in the film business inspired them to consider a career either on or off the screen.”

Quinn Friggione

Vieja Valley Student

 “…  I am a dancer. so maybe some part that has to do with dancing.”

Finley McGinness

Vieja Valley Student

“Uhhhh……….  the lead ….the lead role  probably”

Stella Roy

Cold Springs Student

I would like to help make the movie.  But I’m not sure about being in the movie”

track five

.       Questions submitted in advance from the students …were  answered as part of the program.

Byron Howard

Director

“…..It’s a great business.  super fun it’s a really great way uh to make a living”

Nathan Evans

Vieja Valley Student

“…I think in giving the kids a chance to ask direct questions of these directors and these community members   what a powerful opportunity for our Vieja Valley students.     we are so grateful for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival”

Nathan Evans

Vieja Valley Student

“…..we’ve got some actors  we’ve got  directors. we’ve got some magical kids in room 11 at Vieja Valley.”

track six

.      The goal was to educate and inspire the kids in all aspects of the arts.

Finley McGinness

Vieja Valley Student

” I thought it was just a really great movie to watch. It was, it was like an an inspiring movie. “

In Santa Barbara I’m Newschannel reporter John Palminteri

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Patricia Martellotti

CAMARILLO, Calif. (KEYT) – It’s a big day for several search dogs in Camarillo.

They’re learning to board an aircraft and deploy by air when disaster strikes.

“Making sure we make the right match … and part of that is getting off campus and making sure they get to experience different things … which may include someday on deployment … for instance going up in an aircraft,” said senior director Denise Sanders of the Search Dog Foundation.

The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation rescues shelter dogs and transforms them into elite search teams — trained to find survivors buried in rubble.

“We make sure no one gets left behind and can come home … training like this allows them to be even better at their job and be even faster,” said Sanders.

Inside the aircraft, dogs press close to their handlers — adjusting to engine noise, vibration, and tight cabin space.

That’s because when they land, there’s no warmup. They go straight to work.

“Any of the animals are prohibited from boarding commercial airlines to get to FEMA deployment because of that limitation there is a critical need for these dogs to get to where they need to go,” said chief pilot Michael Kennedy of Fetch Air.

The Search Dog Foundation hopes to expand this training here in our community, so more teams can be ready to fly.”

That expansion could mean faster deployment for emergencies impacting Ventura County, Santa Barbara, and beyond.

Camarillo-based Fetch Air provides the aircraft — helping simulate real-world disaster response.

From shelter kennels to the skies above California, these dogs are preparing for their next call — wherever disaster strikes.

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Alissa Orozco

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The 41st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival is set to display over 200 films in the next weeks on across multiple screens in the city. Among the screenings are short films created by local filmmakers such Ralph Torrefranca and his new film Fil-Am.

At just 14 minutes, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival describes the film as the story of “a 16-year-old Filipino kid is forced to leave his old life behind for the terrifying new world of Santa Barbara.”

Based on his experience moving from the Bay area to the city of Santa Barbara, Torrefranca wrote and directed Fil-Am over the course of three days in areas up north and here in Santa Barbara. Torrefranca joined your Morning News to talk about the experience.

“I started falling in love with film here in Santa Barbara, taking my first film class during the summer, and then eventually like figuring out that I actually did want to pursue this seriously,” said Torrefranca.

Along with being a film maker, Torrefranca is also a celebrated musician and DJ.

“I feel like storytelling’s always been just a big part of my life, so being able to have this avenue of a visual medium where I could like write the script and develop the script with with the actors and the characters opposed to just like writing a song in my room by myself, I feel like it’s a real collaborative effort.”

You can see Fil-Am at the McHurley Film Center on February 7th and 9th during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

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Scott Hennessee

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Fans have a connection with Adam Sandler forged over dozens of films over three decades like Happy Gilmore from 1996 and it’s popular sequel released in 2025. Many of those fans lined up behind the barricades around the Arlington Theatre to see the star who came around to greet them on a night when he received the most prestigious honor handed out by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Known for comedies, Sandler showcased his dramatic chops in his most recent film Jay Kelly, alongside George Clooney.

“I love Clooney and I loved being on his team,” Sandler said told NewsChannel 3-12 on the red carpet.

Two thousand people inside the Arlington Theatre were on Team Sandler as he received the Maltin Modern Master Award from SBIFF. He was greeted by a standing ovation from the sold out crowd before a discussion with film critic Leonard Maltin. Later in the evening, Duston Hoffman took the stage to talk about Sandler. They shared the screen in 2017 for The Meyerowitz Stories.

“We like to have fun, we like to get it done and make sure we’re all proud,” Sandler said about making movies.

Sandler’s films have banked over three billion dollars at the box office worldwide. His production company has a huge deal to make movies for Netflix where his titles are are very popular for the streamer.

Santa Barbara International Film Festival Director Roger Durling called Sandler a masterful actor while emphasizing how hard it is to make people laugh like Sandler does.

“I’ve greatly admired this man for so long for all the laughs that he’s provided to us.” Durling said. “And I have met him a few times. He’s the nicest. You saw him just now saying hello to everybody.”

This wasn’t the first sold out show Sandler has done in Santa Barbara. He performed two comedy/music shows at UC Santa Barbara in 1995 and 1997 at Campbell Hall. News Channel Anchor Scott Hennessee kept his ticket from the 1997 Sandler concert he went to while a student at UCSB, and showed it to Sandler during their interview on the red carpet.

“I remember that dude!” Sandler said.

Sandler recalled recording his now famous “The Chanukah Song” during his first show at UCSB to be on his comedy album.

“That’s funny, man,” Sandler said. “I really love it here, man. I love the school. I love the hang here. I’ve had nothing but good memories. When I was young here, and with my family here … Tremendous place.”

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Mike Klan

DAVIS, Calif. (KEYT) – One streak ended and another continued and neither was positive for UCSB.

Missing two starters UCSB lost 85-75 at UC Davis as the Gauchos had their 6-game win streak snapped.

It’s the sixth consecutive loss by UCSB to UC Davis.

Miro Little and Marvin McGhee IV did not play due to undisclosed injuries.

UCSB freshman CJ Shaw led the Gauchos with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

The Gauchos trailed 40-32 at the half but tied it up the game at 58 midway in the second half.

But Davis gradually pulled away behind Marcus Wilson who scored a game-high 24 points.

The shorthanded Gauchos had four players play 38 or more minutes with Aidan Mahaney logging all 40 minutes and scoring 15 points.

Colin Smith had 16 points in 38 minutes, Zion Sensley added 14 points in 38 minutes and Shaw also was on the court for 38 minutes.

UCSB drops to 8-4 in the Big West and 15-8 overall.

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Mike Klan

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Behind a career-best performance by sophomore guard Zoe Shaw, the UC Santa Barbara Women’s Basketball team usurped the visiting UC Davis Thursday night, besting the third place Aggies 69-61. Shaw had a historic game, racking up a career-high 29 points to fuel the Gauchos’ second win over Davis this season.

FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ”We’ve known what she could be. I just told her to be more aggressive, and this is a huge game for her. Hopefully this is a really big shift of confidence for her, but I was really, really proud of her tonight and she played 39 minutes, so it was really impressive.”

HOW IT HAPPENEDThe Aggies got going in the first, opening the game with a three-pointer ten seconds in. Zoe Shaw replied with the first of her seven total three-pointers on the night, foreshadowing her upcoming performance. The Gauchos built a slight lead at 8-3, but UC Davis put down seven straight points and eventually finished the first ahead at 14-12.

The Gauchos steadily climbed in the second, first presenting an eight-point run in the first half of the period. Shaw was the only Gaucho to score in the second half of the quarter, during which she amassed eight points and two more three. Davis was unable to stifle her and lost the quarter, 31-23.

Shaw opened the second half with yet another three-pointer, to which Davis responded with one of their own, then the Gauchos administered an eleven-point scoring run, getting themselves nearly 20 points ahead at 45-26. The Aggies responded by scoring 12 points nearly in a row, but the Gauchos were still ahead 47-38 going into the fourth.

The final quarter witnessed 18 free throws, ten of them made by the Gauchos. The Aggies managed to come within seven points of the Gauchos several times through the quarter, but Santa Barbara held on. Shaw made 12 points to keep the Gauchos on track, and they won 69-61.

Shaw’s total of 29 points serves as the highest reached by a Gaucho this season and as a new-career high by seven. 21 of her points came from three-pointers, and the seven are a new career-best for her in three-pointers made. Additionally, Shaw shot 53% from outside the arc and 56% overall.

Zoe Borter also reached double-digits, dropping 14 points throughout the game for the second-highest tally of the Gauchos. Maddie Naro hauled five assists while freshman Chauncey Andersen led in rebounds once again, nabbing nine.

UP NEXTThe Gauchos head to UC Irvine, who they will play on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)

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Mike Klan

SAN LUIS OBIPSO, Calif. (KEYT) – Guard Hamad Mousa (above) finished with 33 points – one shy of his career high – and the Cal Poly men’s basketball program nearly overturned a 16-point second half deficit versus CSUN Thursday evening before being edged, 97-96.

Guard Peter Bandelj added 20 points for Cal Poly (9-15, 5-7), which still faced a 91-81 disadvantage with five-and-a-half minutes to play before a three-pointer from sophomore Cayden Ward and layups from Bandelj and guard Guzman Vasilic dropped CSUN’s lead to three.

Limiting CSUN to two field goals in the final five minutes, Cal Poly eventually closed the gap to one following another Bandelj layup with 47 seconds remaining. CSUN missed its ensuing attempt and Bandelj rebounded only to be whistled for an offensive foul with 17 seconds to go.

CSUN’s baseline inbounds pass was mishandled, however, and Bandelj retrieved the steal before being fouled at the rim. He sank both free throw attempts but, at the other end, Matadors guard Josiah Davis produced his 12th and final assist to find a trailing Joshua O’Garro for the eventual game-winning layup with two seconds on the clock.

At the buzzer, a three-point attempt from Ward fell short.

Vasilic added 11 points for Cal Poly, which sank 17 three-pointers – one shy of its season high set at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4). CSUN, however, shot 51.9 (14-for-27) percent from the arc compared to Cal Poly’s 40.5 (17-for-42) percent mark.

Up 15-8 to begin Thursday’s matchup, Cal Poly missed five successive early three-point attempts as CSUN – sinking six of seven opportunities from the floor in a four-minute window – surged into a 22-17 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the opening half.

Behind 10 first-half three-pointers, CSUN led by as much as nine in the opening period before taking a 52-48 edge into the locker room.

The Matadors then surged out of the break with a 14-3 run to go up 66-51 with 17-and-a-half minutes to play.

Cal Poly Noteworthy (versus CSUN)

Up Next: Cal Poly visits UC Davis on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m. The Mustangs captured this year’s season series opener at home, 84-78 (Jan. 10).With Thursday’s setback, Cal Poly slipped to eighth place in the Big West standings, but sits just two games back of fourth place UC Davis (14-9, 7-5).Still a double-digit scorer in all 23 appearances, Hamad Mousa increased his Big West scoring lead to 21.2 points per game.Mousa’s seven three-pointers Thursday marked a career high and were two shy of Peter Bandelj’s program-record nine at Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4).Sinking eight of nine free throw attempts, Cal Poly retained the Big West lead with a 76.9 percent mark this season.Coupled with CSUN’s 95-90 season series opening win on Jan. 8, the Mustangs and Matadors have combined for 378 points this season.

(Article courtesy of Cal Poly)

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Sophomore star Jules Horton scored three goals and dished out three assists as Santa Barbara looked every bit as the top-seed in a 13-3 rout of Riverside Poly to open up the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.

Freshman Violette Bailey scored a game-high 4 goals including a rebound goal with less than a second left in the first half to give the Dons a commanding 8-0 lead.

Rose Nelly scored three goals and Yesenia Dunn added two goals for the Dons who play at Edison in a second round game on Tuesday, February 10th.

Also in Division 2, Temple City edged Carpinteira 12-11, Woodbridge defeated Thousand Oaks 13-9, Estridge edged Ventura 12-11 and Camarillo outlasted Rosary Academy 16-14.

In Division 4, Santa Paula won at home against Roosevelt 14-11 and in D5 Royal defeated Sierra Vista 19-6.

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