Category: keyt-local-news

Alissa Orozco

GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) – On Thursday, the organizers of Posada Navideña, a Christmas mixer scheduled to take place in Goleta, canceled the event just a few hours before the celebration.

The festive and cultural event hosted by Toyota of Santa Barbara, The Greater Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce & Foundation planned to bring together local businesses and community in Goleta for an evening of food, music, and celebration.

The event – scheduled to kick off at 5:00pm – was canceled just a few hours before due to “current climate uncertainty.” 

A statement posted on social media read: “Many organizations have halted public events because of current climate uncertainty. For this reason, we are aligning with our partners and halting all public events for now. We want our community to be safe during this end of year festivities and we wish everyone the best time with their loved ones.”

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A post shared by Greater Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber (@greatersbhispanicchamber)

The organizer’s statement alluded to other recent cancellations of community events on the Central Coast such as the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Día de los Muertos event, and the Milpas Holiday Parade – both canceled due to immigration enforcement concerns.

As of Friday morning, Una Noche de Las Posadas is still scheduled to take place in Santa Barbara. Live music, a maker’s market, and a procession will happen tonight to honor the holiday tradition cherished amongst Latin communities.

A procession will embark from the Chapel at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park to Casa de la Guerra – a reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging.

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Unexpected restructuring is on the horizon for support and intervention teachers at Santa Maria Bonita School District.

The announcement just before Thanksgiving caught teachers by surprise.

“On November 21st, we were called into about 15 minute zoom meetings, letting us know that new job descriptions had been written and that the positions as they are stand now will be dissolved and restructured,” says Jennifer Danowitz, S.M.E.E.A. Support Services Director.

The school district is changing the job descriptions and thus the duties for teachers who work with students needing help in english.

“They have been giving out news that has not been the very best received,” says Darren McDuffie, Santa Maria-Bonita’s Superintendent. “It’s emotional.”

The process includes dissolving more than 60 positions where instructors work closely with small groups of students.

Those jobs would be re-instated, but with new guidelines and duties working with larger groups of students.

“No one disagrees with that we need to do better for our students and that our students need services,” says Danowitz. “We just disagree with how we were let know and not included what those services look like.”

District officials say these changes are actually being considered in order to expand access to more students based on site needs.

“I would like to see examples of the new model being implemented,” says Martha Rodriguez, a Sanchez Elementary E.L.D. (English Language Development) coach. “What districts and schools have been successful with the elimination of Tier three?”

District administrators acknowledge the abrupt nature of the announcement.

While some support positions at smaller schools may be consolidated, the goal is to hire more coaches at larger schools with bigger needs.

“As far as creating conditions, ‘Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.’ It’s a quote from Robin Sharma,” says superintendent McDuffie. “And, It is messy, but we are doing something for our students. It’s going to be gorgeous at the end.”

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News Channel 3-12

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Unity Shoppe’s annual Holiday Telethon is a Santa Barbara tradition that invites the entire community to give back to those in need.

The 2025 Holiday Telethon will take place Friday from 5:00pm – 8:00pm at the Kenny Loggins Event Center – but no worries, you can watch the whole event right here on KEYT.com

The event will feature appearances and performances from Kenny Loggins, Brad Paisley, Michael McDonald, Duane Henry… and a few surprise guests!

To donate, call 805-845-5555 the night of the Telethon or visit the Unity Shoppe website.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –

Channel League Girls Basketball:

Ventura 80, Dos Pueblos 70: Kailee Staniland: 33 pts, 10 ast for Cougars; Carly Letendre: 27 pts for Chargers.

San Marcos 66, Rio Mesa 65 (3OT)

Pacifica 53, Santa Barbara 13

Channel League Boys Basketball:

San Marcos 62, Rio Mesa 29: Koji Hefner: 14 points for Royals.

Santa Barbara 79, Pacifica 40:

(Owen Horn scored 17 points in Dons win. Entenza Design).

(Levi Oakes scored 13 points in home-opening win for Dons. Entenza Design).

Channel League Boys Soccer:

Santa Barbara 1, Dos Pueblos 0: Irving Garcia scored in 61st minute.

San Marcos 0, Oxnard 0:

Rio Mesa 1, Pacifica 0: Aiden Gonzalez scored goal in first half.

Channel League Girls Soccer:

Dos Pueblos 3, Santa Barbara 1: Goals by Burgess, Siedel and Ferro for Chargers.

San Marcos 1, Oxnard 1: Cami Sparks scored for Royals.

Buena 3, Ventura 2: Goals by Padilla, Barajas and Fenley for Bulldogs.

Girls Water Polo: Villa Park Tournament:

San Marcos 23, Huntington Beach 13

San Marcos 20, El Segundo 8: Charlotte Raisin totaled 12 goals in two games for Royals.

Dos Pueblos 19, Mt. Carmel 3: Kyra Jones 5 goals for Chargers.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – To the victor goes the spoits.

CIF-Southern Section Division 7 girls volleyball champion Cate High School swept the major individual honors.

Senior Oyin Opawumi was named CIF-SS D7 Player of the Year while the Rams Jordon Dyer is awarded Coach of the Year.

Opawumi was joined by fellow Cate seniors Fallon Erickson and Evangeline Little as All-CIF D7.

Here are other local players to receive All-CIF recognition:

Division 2: San Marcos senior Samantha Fallon

Division 4: Ventura senior Gigi Scaglia, Ventura junior Mia Howard

Division 5: Santa Barbara junior Blake Saunders, Santa Barbara junior Paylin Marcillac

Division 8: Foothill Technology senior Emily Turner, Foothill Technology sophomore Fiona Holt

Division 9: Nordhoff sophomore Wren Zimmerman, Nordhoff freshman Audrey Churpek

Division 10: San Luis Obispo Classical senior Madi Blasingame, San Luis Obispo Classical senior Sibylia Ridley, Thacher senior Cata Brown, Thacher Ori Ouermi

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Mike Klan

LEXINGTON, Kentucky (KEYT) – Emma Fredrick tied for match-high honors with 11 kills but Cal Poly saw their surprising postseason run end in a 3-0 sweep at Kentucky (25-19, 25-18, 25-7) in an NCAA Regional Semifinal.

Lizzie Carr had 11 kills for the Wildcats(28-2) who advance to the Regional Final versus Creighton on Saturday.

The Wildcats defense was the story as they held the Mustangs to a .114 hitting percentage and Cal Poly had 19 hitting errors.

Cal Pol ends the season at 27-8 with NCAA Tournament upset wins against BYU and USC.

The Mustangs were the only unseeded team to reach the Sweet 16.

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Scott Hennessee

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Internationally acclaimed musician Jake Shimabukuro performed a free ukulele concert for school kids at the Arlington Theatre Wednesday morning. Hundreds of 4-6th graders were bussed in from around the area, and they joyfully sang along to a number of songs.

Shimabukuro told the students he began playing ukulele at age four and his mom was his first teacher. He showed them the first chords he learned, and how easy the instrument is to pick up and strum a tune. The event was put on by UCSB Arts & Lectures with Shimabukuro returning to the stage a few hours later for a ticketed event dubbed “Holidays in Hawai`i” which is where he’s from.

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Beth Farnsworth

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Two of Santa Barbara’s top cops are spreading a sobering, holiday message this season: ‘Do not drink and drive.’

Santa Barbara Chief of Police, Kelly Gordon, and Santa Barbara County District Attorney, John Savrnoch, stopped by our news station Wednesday afternoon. They’re putting out a Public Service Announcement (PSA) as people gather for holiday festivities.

Chief Gordon said so far this year, the Santa Barbara Police Department alone, has made nearly 300 arrests for DUI (Driving Under the Influence), predominately involving alcohol. Each of the 296 arrests involved a collision.

Both Gordon and Savrnoch want to drive home the message that one bad decision can have devastating impacts.

“It surprises me that in the year 2025, with as many options as there are out there, with as much education has been done with all of the dangers and everything that’s been talked about when it comes to driving under the influence, that we still see this as such a huge problem in our community,” said Gordon.  

“If you are ever out and you have to ask yourself, ‘Am I okay to drive?’ The answer is obvious no,” said Savrnoch. “Make a plan to stay sober and drive. Make a plan for what happens if you do get caught up in the party, but make the plan before you’re under the influence. Because plans made under the influence are notoriously horrible plans.”

Savrnoch said drivers convicted of a first-time DUI potentially face tens of thousands of dollars in court and attorney fees and, insurance. He added, the risks of losing your license and your job are very real.

“The reality is, that the consequences can be very, very severe all the way up to death,” said Gordon. “And for myself and the officers, the last thing we want to do is give a notification to a family member that their loved one has been killed or seriously injured because of drunk driving, whether it’s them behind the wheel or someone that they have injured as a result of their actions behind the wheel.”

Savrnoch said behind drug-related crimes, the crime of committing a DUI ranks second.

“And there is absolutely no excuse for it,” he said.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – With land use, financial and legislative conflicts all in the forefront, solving the on-going housing crisis is going to be as challenging as ever in 2026.

At the annual Coastal Housing Coalition conference, several experts spoke about the status now and the requirements they face for future projects.

Panelists included analysts, architects, land use, and property attorneys and those with legislative experience.

The majority of the new units either proposed or permited are in Santa Barbara and Goleta.

The keynote speaker was Mikey Taylor, the Mayor Pro-Tem for the City of Thousands Oaks. He is also an entrepreneur familiar with multi-unit housing, single family homes and business projects.

He said cities on the South Coast need to have someone on their council who knows about real estate and can deal with the intricate details facing elected bodies.

He did not have a direct answer when asked about the on-going stalemate with the Paseo Nuevo proposed redesign to add over 230 units, some of them affordable. Currently the city has a subcommittee meeting with the development and financial teams on the project to design something that would replace the vacant Macy’s store on the corner of Ortega Street and State Street.

A week ago, it was in front of the Santa Barbara City Council for a hearing that lasted more than five hours.

Taylor said he was encouraged to see large companies begin to invest in housing projects to use for their employees and begin long-term options for workers, especially those who are making lengthy daily commutes to their homes in more affordable areas.

(More details, photos and video will be added here later today.)

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Jarrod Zinn

ORCUTT, Calif. (KEYT) – Large white balloons in the sky over Orcutt Wednesday and Thursday morning were part of a long-running science experiment at Orcutt Academy High School.

An egg survived a 300-foot parachuted drop as geology students got a hands-on experience launching weather balloons.

In summer-like conditions, the high school science class pocked the Orcutt skyline with the large white balloons.

The students attached gondolas—boxes that store their sensors—and raise them 300 feet in the air to take readings.

Teacher Ty Fredriks says this is the 18th year of what Orcutt Academy calls “Balloonfest.”

“This is actually something that has been happening since Orcutt Academy started,” says Mr. Fredriks. “So our very first balloon fest was in 2009, and this is our 18th annual one. So it’s really it’s been a tradition. And, you know, the kid, the alumni come back and we go, ‘I remember Balloonfest!’”

Students are challenged to present their data to each other on Friday.

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