Category: keyt-local-news

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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Caleb Nguyen

NIPOMO, Calif. – Two people died in a three-car crash just before 6:30 p.m. Monday at Orchard and Cherry Blossom in Nipomo, according to CAL Fire SLO.

The San Luis Obispo CHP confirmed Tuesday afternoon that 70-year-old Fernando Contreras of Santa Maria and 49-year-old Darlene Leticia Scruggs of Nipomo died in the accident.

Contreras, for an unknown reason, drove his Chevy directly into the path of Scruggs’ RAV 4 traveling northbound on Orchard Road with another 63-year-old Nipomo man in a BMW behind Scruggs, according to the SLO CHP.

Contreras rolled over in his Chevy and crashed into the BMW as it rolled, before the car rolled over on its side near a dirt area east of the roadway, according to the SLO CHP.

Scruggs’ car got pushed off the road onto a dirt path west of the roadway and the 63-year-old’s BMW came to rest in the northbound lane of Orchard Road following impact, detailed the SLO CHP.

Contreras is believed to have traveled the wrong way at an unknown high speed before the crash due to the severe damage on all three cars, according to the SLO CHP.

Both Contreras and Scruggs were pronounced dead at the scene due to their injuries and it is unknown if drugs or alcohol are factors in the crash, detailed the SLO CHP.

Both lanes were closed on Orchard Road due to the accident, according to CAL Fire SLO.

The crash remains under investigation and those with information are asked to contact the SLO CHP.

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Jarrod Zinn

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – An infusion of grant money is bolstering Cuesta College’s well-regarded nursing program.

The program is among 55 institutions across the state to receive the “Rebuilding Nursing Infrastructure” grant.

“We’re working hard here to to create and help new nurses out in the field. And that’s going to, in turn, help our hospital partners as well,” says Rick Staley, full-time faculty at the Cuesta College R.N. program.

The Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office made the selections based on results from the National Certification and Licensure Exam, or “NCLEX.”

“I’m really looking forward to having a simulation technician as part of the grant. Simulation takes a lot of preparation and a lot of setup, and our current faculty really haven’t had the time to do that with all of our other responsibilities,” says Staley.

The grant is worth $623,000.

“Here in the simulation lab, our teachers like to get a little creative, so they tend to give us a little harder time than we actually see in the hospital. They do tend to get us out of our comfort zone and this is a safe place for us. So, you know, we get to ask questions, we get to clarify things. We do tend to gain more confidence here,” says Valerie Farias, a first-year R.N. student at Cuesta.

This money will support the program’s R.N. accreditation, bolstering of L.V.N. to R.N. pathways, digital & multilingual textbooks, and expansion of current programs to assist in retention and completion.

“They really do make this a really successful program for all students,” says Farias.

Cuesta College’s NCLEX pass rate is reported by the Board of Registered Nursing at 100%, surpassing both state and national averages.

“In the area of equity, especially this is going to offer them iPads and access to things that maybe they haven’t had before. So I’m excited for that for students,” says Staley.

The college will be leveraging this grant with other private and public donations and investments.

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Dave Alley

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – SLO Food Bank is preparing to handle significant reductions in state and federal funding just as the need for its services is reaching unprecedented levels.

“At the same time we’re facing historically high food prices, a historically high number of people are coming to the SLO Food Bank in need of nutritious support,” said SLO Food Bank CEO Molly Kern. “We’re experiencing cuts from our partners at the federal and state government for funding and food that we used to get to distribute.”

SLO Food Bank reports since fall 2024, it is serving on average 45,000 people monthly, which is a higher average than it experienced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re seeing need increase every month,” said Savannah Colevans, SLO Food Bank Communications Senior Manager. “More and more people are needing our services. Food is expensive, living is expensive, and so people more and more are turning to the Food Bank to create a little bit of extra room in their budget. It is really dire right now.”

Now, as the need for its services grows, SLO Food Bank is facing cuts and reductions to its government funding sources that it says will reach above seven figures.

“Historically, food banks have had a great partner in the federal government,” said Kern. “It’s been bipartisan, supported programs that have allowed us to make sure that American grown, raised and made food gets to our neighbors who are most in need, but that has been changing, and so as we look to the coming year, we are preparing to serve more people at a time when food is even more expensive, with less support from our federal partners.”

According to the SLO Food Bank, it is looking at an annual loss of $600,000 from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA).

“The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program has really been a game changer,” said Kern. “It allows us to get beautiful locally grown fresh produce from some small farmers in the area, which is something that we’re not always able to do because usually we’re ordering on such a large scale in order to be able to get great prices. We’re just not able to purchase from small farms in smaller quantities, but this program has allowed us to do that, and it has been met with such incredible enthusiasm from the people we serve, but also from the farmers who are partnering with who are so proud to be able to be part of feeding their neighbors while also investing in their businesses, growing their economic impact for their local community at the same time.”

SLO Food Bank is also facing a $400,000 cut from CalFood Funding.

“CalFood is a program through the State of California that really does a similar thing to LFPA,” said Kern. “CalFood helps us buy California grown, raised, and produced products. It was one of our largest grants to be able to buy California made food. We often times used it to buy more locally or regionally sourced food. We get amazing tortillas from Santa Maria. We work with regional partners to get beautiful produce. It is the grant that allowed us for much of this year to be able to have things like milk and eggs, even when eggs were expensive. It allows us to get beautiful fresh produce, things like onions, chilies, potatoes, lettuce, lots of different kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables that each of us need to have a healthy, nourished life. We’re supported by this program, and the $400,000 a year cut is definitely going to be felt by our community in San Luis Obispo.”

Another financial hurdle to clear for SLO Food Bank is a potential 20% reduction in financial support from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

“All of the food that you see behind me right now is sourced through the USDA, through a program called the Emergency Food Assistance Program,” said Kern, while speaking inside the SLO Food Bank warehouse. “It is a phenomenal program that connects food producers with food banks throughout the country, and also provides us with additional funding to make sure that we’re reaching our most rural neighbors, and so in San Luis Obispo County, that is really to the east of our county that’s so important., and also north and south, where our drive time, and sometimes even the time away from any grocery store is more than 60 minutes. This program has really enabled us to make sure that we are serving the most vulnerable and most isolated community members.”

Despite the looming cuts, SLO Food Bank leadership is expressing confidence it can weather the financial storm due in large part to the fact that less than half of its operational budget, just 30 percent comes comes from the government.

“At the SLO Food Bank, we can turn every dollar into four nutritious meals for our neighbors facing hunger,” said Kern. “We can do that through a number of different ways and we do it because more than 70% of our operating budget comes from local people and businesses who want to be part of our mission, and that makes us incredibly resilient to changes in government leadership and different priorities. While we have so valued and would love to continue these partnerships, we have an amazing community that has already stepped up to make sure that we can continue to do the work we do, regardless of what happens.”

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