Category: keyt-local-news

Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –

Division 5: San Marcos 2, Mountain View 1 (OT): Luis Campos scored the Golden Goal as the Royals advance to the semifinals and will host Santa Ana on Saturday.

(Video courtesy of Aaron Solis)

Camarillo 2, Westlake 1: Jack Slocum scored winning goal with five minutes in regulation

Division 3: Channel Islands 2, Littlerock 1

Calabasas 3, Knight 1: Coyotes and Raiders will meet in semifinals.

Division 4: Pacifica 2, Lakewood 0

Irvine-University 2, Santa Paula 0 (Pacifica vs Irvine in semifinals)

Division 8: Pacifica Christian/OC 2, Bishop Diego 1

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) Mardi Gras celebrations got underway on Fat Tuesday.

The Michael Gutin Band entertained a rowdy crowd at The Palace Grill in Santa Barbara.

Some people canceled due to rain, but others including Father Larry and John Palminteri and friends sang along to the band.

 it is their tradition.

 The Palace Grill had two seatings with a menu that included Cajun Martinis and Creole Cuisine.

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Mike Klan

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Kobe Sanders received a huge ovation when he was introduced during the rivalry game over the weekend between Cal Poly and UCSB.

Afterwards the 2024 Cal Poly graduate Sanders was applauding the current Mustangs after they snapped a 17-game losing streak to UC Santa Barbara with an 89-79 victory. Sanders never beat the Gauchos in his four seasons at Cal Poly(2020-2024) as the Mustangs notched their first win in this series since January of 2018.

“Feels like home, I mean everyone brought great energy when they saw me,” began the 23-year old Sanders. “Just to see the guys go out and compete tonight, beat our rivals Santa Barbara, meant everything to me. Everyone is playing together, playing great basketball soyou love to see that.”

Sanders earned All-Big West honors as a senior at Cal Poly leading the team in scoring at 19.6 points per game.

After graduating Cal Poly with a degree in kinesiology in 2024, Sanders went to the University of Nevada as a graduate transfer.

He was named third team All-Mountain West scoring close to 16 points per game during the 2024-’25 season.

Sanders was selected in the second round (50th overall) of the 2025 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks who traded his rights to the Los Angeles Clippers.

He has made an impact during his rookie season for the Clippers, averaging 7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. The 6’8 shooting guard has also been a solid defender and is playing over 21 minutes per game.

“A lot of people counted me out, a lot of people didn’t see me getting many minutes and I have been blessed with the opportunity so just trying to put on for smaller schools and you know smaller cities,” smiles Sanders.

Sanders has been so effective for the Clippers that earlier this month they gave him a new contract. He is no longer on a two-way deal but rather a standard 2-year NBA contract worth 2.3 million dollars.

The longshot from Cal Poly is certainly making the most of his shot in the NBA.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – With more rain starting to cover the Central Coast, the short break between storms is over.

For most of the day,  those who needed to dry off and clean up from Monday’s rain got a chance. But now rain is back for round number two.

One of the weekly events that takes place rain or shine is the farmers market on State street downtown.

Farmers were able to set up before the rain moved in, but it picked up just after the afternoon market began.

This is a challenging week with the wet weather keeping many people inside.

The farmers say their fields are muddy but they did their best to bring the cleanest fruits and vegetables out for their displays for this week’s market, although some of the product was not easy to harvest with the wet roads on their property.

Ana Pliego with Mike’s Organic Farm says to get the vegetables ready after a muddy rain they take, “lots and lots of time. Put it in a big bucket and spray and spray and spray (with water) and you’ve got to take the leaves apart. It’s not perfect. It’s patience.”    

As for a slower turnout in the rain, “thankfully we have some regulars that are pretty consistent. They show up no matter what. This is where they get their groceries,” she said.

A few booths away, Kyle Eckert with Riviera Mushrooms says with the weather shifting, he “just hopes the rain holds off and people are going to brave the rain.”

He expects to see weekly customers even with some rain.

“People will definitely still come out. This is a slower market, people are still coming out. Vendors are still here.”

In other areas, the clean up has been taking place all day where trees went down on Monday.

Most of the crews got the branches cut and picked up but there’s still work to do.

One tree down by the East Beach volleyball courts in Santa Barbara snapped in several places and will need some careful trimming to make it safe.

In the Santa Barbara harbor, the entrance has been filling with sand and that’s made it difficult for some vessels to come and go.

The harbor patrol has been checking the levels, especially at low tide and moving the buoys to give boat captains the lanes they need to avoid the sand closing in on the entrance.

We are still waiting for word on when the next dredging operation will take place.

The last time the harbor was dredged was early last year.

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Tracy Lehr

CARPINTERIA, Calif. (KEYT) Tuesday’s storm will be remembered for its thunder and lightning, wind and rain.

People could hear the storm after dark.

Earlier in the day people tried to go about their business.

They came prepared with umbrellas.

The weather also brought out the wildlife in the park where flooding created a pond on the grass by Carpinteria State Beach.

A Great Blue Heron, on the hunt, caught dinner across from The Spot hamburger restaurant.

That’s where a couple from Colorado commented on the weather.

“We always say California is great because we love it here but it is actually warmer in Colorado this year laughs so yeah,but it is all good we love it here, we walk n the beach whether it is raining or sunny,” said Heidi Brookers.

They even packed an umbrella.

“We thought it would keep away the rain but it didn’t,” said Denny Brookers.

The rain didn’t cancel Carpinteria Aquatics Club’s swim or water polo practice.

Frankie Stewart is preparing to compete in the 500 freestyle in the next swim meet.

Melody Lopez will be swimming freestyle in that meet, too.

The coach says the athletes with the most grit won’t let a little rain stop their training.

They would cancel is thunder was in the area during their workout.

In Lower Manning Park in Montecito sand for sandbags got soaked from the on and off downpour.

The forecast called for the heaviest rain on Tuesday night.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Change isn’t coming — it’s here.

And for small businesses across Santa Barbara, that change is hitting hard.

“I don’t know any of the changes… I wasn’t really aware changes were being implemented this year,” said Andrew Rawls, owner of The Crafters Library.

“It’s a big burden … because we’ll go to jail if we don’t!” added Alison Hardey, owner of Jeannine’s Restaurant & Bakery.

Attorneys Victoria Diffenderfer and Olivia Young of Fauver, Large, Archbald and Spray LLP warn the new laws reach companies of every size.

“Employers are now required to be very specific with data supporting job postings and salary ranges,” Diffenderfer explained.

“These laws are put in place to protect consumers and protect the individuals who are receiving your services through your business … it’s important to set the groundwork now,” Young said.

For some owners, the pace of change feels overwhelming.

“Oh. We can’t keep up. We get a notice and think, ‘Oh no — what’s this one?’ Then we scramble,” Hardey said.

“Usually what ends up happening is once we’re told we’re out of compliance then we’re like oh we didn’t even know this was a thing,” Rawls added.

The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce isn’t surprised.

“It’s understandable. Small businesses can’t possibly know every new rule — but we don’t want them tripped up by something they didn’t even know existed,” said Kristen Miller, President and CEO.

She said the Chamber works to identify which new laws affect specific businesses and advocates on their behalf when conflicts arise.

“Our goal is to help businesses really identify which new laws or regulations affect them and then if they identify a trip up or a conflict with another law, then to rely on us to go to government and try to smooth that out,” Miller said.

Some changes are hitting harder than others.

For example, Rawls had to revise pay scales — but higher payroll hasn’t meant higher sales.

“As a business owner, I have to balance the fact that I now need to pay my employees more so they can survive — but it doesn’t necessarily translate into more shoppers and more patrons in my store so my bottom line is being eaten away by that — it’s a Catch-22,” Rawls said.

The Chamber’s main concern is the pace of change.

“This extra layer of the pace of change on regulation adds complexity to an already difficult path — that’s what we are really concerned about,” she said.

Still, the Chamber is not urging businesses to resist change — but to survive it.

“Ultimately everyone wants our local economy to thrive — it brings everyone up so anything we can do to make those numbers go up not down is a positive,” Miller said.

For Hardey, the message is simple.

“We need the help — we just want to stay in business. If the Chamber can help small business, we’re all ears,” she said.

Because in today’s economy, understanding the law may be just as important as making the sale.

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Dave Alley

GUADALUPE, Calif. (KEYT) – United States Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spent part of Tuesday in Guadalupe, where he toured the city’s newest school, as well as its senior center.

“It’s a beautiful little community and it’s my first time here,” said Schiff. “I love coming to new places like this, and it was wonderful to see some of the youngest residents and some of the older residents, but also to see the challenges that you face as a small town that doesn’t have a large commercial base in meeting the needs of constituents.”

The first stop for Schiff was the brand new Guadalupe Early Learning Center, which opened up last month.

The school is the newest campus for the Guadalupe Union School District and has just over 100 students who are enrolled in transitional kindergarten and preschool.

According to Schiff’s office, he was able to secure $1.9 million in federal funding that was used to help offset some of the more than $10 million that was needed to build the school.

“Without that funding, we would not have been able to deliver this particular facility, which would have lessened the quality of their early childhood education, which would have not provided them the support they needed to change the trajectory of their of their lives,” said Emilio Handall, Guadalupe Union School District Superintendent. “Without the support of the federal government in this facility, we wouldn’t have one.”

After his tour of the Early Learning Center, Schiff made his way across the city to the Guadalupe Senior Center, where he spent time speaking with residents, as well as members of the Guadalupe City Council, including Mayor Ariston Julian.

“With all the world issues that are going on in the world and in the nation and the state, to have Adam here visiting Guadalupe, it’s just a just a really pleasant, just a heartwarming feeling for the community,” said Julian. “He interacted with us right now, and the community asked questions just like it was an everyday, casual social event. It was very important for the seniors to see that. We need to start expanding senior centers services and we will do that based on the money that we’re getting here to renovate this hall.”

Schiff’s office indicated the Senior Center federal funding that will be used to make upgrades and enhancements to the aging facility.

“I was very proud to help obtain $275,000 working with Senator (Alex) Padilla and (Congressman) Salud Carbajal to help do some needed repairs and updating of this facility,” said Schiff. “So very proud to do it. Now we have to keep working though to make sure that the funding for food and facilities like this is not interrupted. Some of the Administration’s deep cuts to the SNAP program are going to really hurt senior programs like that here, so we want to keep the food coming as well as make necessary upgrades to the facility itself.”

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Caleb Nguyen

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – San Luis Obispo Police are investigating a suspicious death as a potential homicide after further analysis.

SLOPD officers found Veronica Beatrice Baro, 50, a transient woman in the city, dead in a homeless encampment Feb. 12 near San Luis Obispo Creek behind the Chevron at Calle Joaquin and Los Osos Valley Road.

SLOPD found Baro’s body at an advanced stage of decomposition and secured the area before SLO County Sheriff’s and Coroner’s Office took over the investigation.

Baro’s exact cause of death is pending autopsy results and her death is considered suspicious during a pending homicide investigation, according to the SLOPD.

The investigation remains active and those with more information are asked to contact Crime Stoppers at the following number.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) — Non-profits here in Santa Barbara County will be getting an extra helping hand this year.

The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara announced it will distribute $1,375,000 in grants this year to non-profit organizations serving women, children, and families across the southern County.

For over two decades the Fund has awarded nearly $13 million to 163 local non-profits, and continues to support the strength and generosity of community-focused women.

The 2026 grants will be unveiled during the Celebration of Grants event on May 13 at the Lobero Theatre. Members and community partners will be in attendance to highlight the work of recipients, continuing to make a difference in critical areas of need.

Each year, local agency proposals are reviewed by the Fund’s volunteer Research Committee for funding consideration.

Members then cast their votes to decide which initiatives will receive support — an approach the Fund says “embodies the organization’s democratic spirit and commitment to transparency.”

“This year’s record funding pool reflects both the generosity of our 1,450 members and the power of collective giving,” said Women’s Fund Board Chair Carolyn Jabs. “When we pool our resources, every contribution—no matter the size—has a multiplier effect. Together, we’re able to create meaningful, lasting impact for vulnerable women and families in our community.”

To learn more about the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara or to get involved, visit womensfundsb.org.

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Jarrod Zinn

OCEANO, Calif. (KEYT) – Long-awaited improvements are coming to the playground at Oceano Memorial Park.

A brief groundbreaking was held this morning during a break in the rain.

City and county leaders were joined in cold wind by representatives of ‘Play And Park Structures,’ the company doing the work.

“This is the only park in Oceano,” says SLO County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding. “So this is a really, really important, park for the community.”

The playground equipment has lots of wear and tear and the area is notorious for flooding.

“Families can’t use the park, for weeks on end after that,” says Paulding. “And it’s actually a hazard.”

And, there are A.D.A. accessibility issues.

“The funding came from advocacy at the board level,” says Paulding. “And then our public works department making this a key priority within their facility condition assessment process, which helps identify facilities that really need repair or replacement throughout the county. And this one rose to the top.”

Improvements include new equipment, smoother entrance ramps, and a path to the basketball court, all with better A.D.A. access.

Public works officials say the overall cost of the project is about $770,000.

“I know that folks here have been asking, ‘When is the park going to be done?’” says Paulding.

Construction will begin once the current storm systems have passed, and it’s expected to be finished for the playground to reopen in May.

“This is a heavily utilized park,” says Paulding. “And so it will be utilized, by the community, all throughout the year.”

The playground will remain closed from this point until construction is completed.

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