Category: keyt-local-news

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.”

Click here to follow the original article.

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.

Click here to follow the original article.

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)

Click here to follow the original article.

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)

Click here to follow the original article.

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.

Click here to follow the original article.

John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – After a ribbon cutting and open house on Monday, the new McHurley Film Center in Santa Barbara is fully open and already very busy.

The center was finished just in time for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which has about 25 movies a day at the state street location in the heart of downtown.

Film fans were in all of the five theatres starting as early as 8:00am, followed by a rotating lineup of films throughout the day.

As the first ones came out we got their initial reviews.

Mary Anne Contreras was with her friends that are the “Breakfast Club” of early film fans.

“So impressed. It smells good. It looks good. It feels good. I’m happy. Amazing. It was better than what’s happening at the Riviera (theatre), and I thought it was noticeably incredible.”

With her Marla Phillips said, “the sound quality is fantastic. It’s really good and that’s a 4k. I think that’s a 4k screen. It’s great about the seats, really comfortable.”

It checked every box for Rendy Freedman. “Because of the sound, the seats and the screen. It was amazing and the popcorn!”

Outside of the Film Center is a large board showing the daily lineup of movies and special tributes. There are also special line up locations for each of the five theatres and for pass holders to keep everything orderly as people come and go.

After the festival the film center will have a variety of films showing year-round including documentaries, international movies, and family friendly films.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Alissa Orozco

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – As part of Santa Barbara City College’s School of Extended Learning (SEL), students can now receive one-on-one mental health counseling at no cost for the first time ever.

Counseling and referrals to resources will now be available to students on both Schott and Wake campuses assist students with a wide variety of issues, both personal and academic. The college says the services aim to help students with coping/stress management skills, emotional support, and general life management skills. 

“The mental health counseling will help SEL students enrich and enhance their personal lives and personal growth, which will then advance them in achieving their educational goals,” said Monica Campbell, Director of SBCC’s School of Extended Learning. 

Students can access these services by visiting the SBCC Mental Health Counseling Department, call (805) 898-8190, or emailing at selmentalhealthcounseling@pipeline.sbcc.edu

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Allison Winslow

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – San Luis Obispo county firefighter and paramedic Sam Secord is on the road to recovery after donating a kidney to his lifelong friend and fellow Eagle Scout, Finn Israel.

The successful surgery took place January 14th at Stanford Medical Center. In a GoFundMe post, Secord’s family says he decided to become a living donor after seeing Israel’s strength, perseverance, and faith.

Secord will be unable to work for the next 8-10 weeks as he recovers. A GoFundMe has been set up by the Secord family to raise funds to support the firefighter and his wife, Amber. The money will go towards paying off their mortgage payments, utilities, groceries, and more. The couple is less than $2,000 away from reaching their goal at the time this article was written.

Sam and wife Amber

Anyone looking to donate can visit the couple’s GoFundMe page.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Initial construction has started on a new large-scale housing development that will become one of the largest residential projects planned for Santa Maria in many years.

Crews are now leveling the property along South Blosser Road and West Battles Road preparing the land for what will become the part of the Blosser Ranch master-planned community.

“We’ve broken ground on what’s known as Lot 7,” said Jared Goldstein, Canfield Development Inc. Managing Principal. “What you’re seeing now is our grading operations, which is kicking off the exciting chapter for the entire Blosser Ranch community.”

Work happening right now is for the first of what will be six-phased project situated on 160-acres that is bordered by South Blosser Road to the west, West Battles Road to the south, West Stowell Road to the north, and South Depot Street to the east.

“Blosser Ranch is a master plan community that features approximately 1,500 residential units,” said Goldstein.  “It’s a mix of, apartments and homes. As for the homes, they have flexibility to either be for sale product or rental product, depending on what the market and the community demands from us.”

The first phase of the Blosser Ranch community will be 301-unit apartment complex that will be built on the southwest portion of the property.

“It’s really designed with community living in mind,” said Goldstein. “It’s got a fantastic clubhouse with spaces for families, a children’s study room, game areas, a fitness center and a business center. The outside area at lot seven is going to have a pool, a spa, kids play park, pocket parks, barbecue areas. It even includes a Santa Maria style, barbecue for the residents. In addition to pet run and outdoor gaming spaces. We’re really proud of what we created and how it’s going to integrate into the community and even create its own community, and it’s a whole lifestyle built right into the neighborhood. We can’t wait to have residents occupy the project and use these amazing amenities that we’ve planned for it.” 

The high-profile property sits catty-corner from the Santa Maria Fairpark and is the last large-scale undeveloped land in the heart of the city.

The square-shaped plot of land has been used for agricultural purposes, including for growing famous Santa Maria strawberries for decades.

In addition to the homes, Blosser Ranch will also include a school, Santa Maria Fire Department station, retail space, sports complex, and a water retention basin.

The much-anticipated sports facility has been in the works by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department for nearly 10 years and is now under construction after ground was broken last year.

According to Goldstein, the first phase of Blosser Ranch that includes the 301 apartments is expected to be competed in three years, while the timeline to finish the project in its entirety is still to be determined.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Not long ago, millions were taken from their homes — and never came back.

“Bombs were falling, so as a six-year-old, I was constantly terrified,” said Holocaust survivor George Rusznak.

“The war became closer and closer, and we knew the Germans were marching up from North Africa,” said Holocaust survivor Josie Martin.

Eight decades earlier, half a world away, the Holocaust tore through their childhoods.

George was growing up in Hungary.

Josie was living in France.

Both were targeted for being Jewish.

“That period in my childhood — always hungry, always cold, and almost always scared,” George recalled.

“The last thing my parents told me was never to tell my name… because our last name was Levi — L-E-V-Y — a dead giveaway,” Josie said.

Her parents made an impossible choice: Josie would live — even if they did not.

A nun took her in, hiding her while her parents stayed behind.

“I cried, thinking I might never see them again,” she said.

Across Europe, George’s survival depended on his mother’s courage.

“When we were told to start moving, my mother turned to a guard and asked him to let us go. A miracle happened. He said okay,” George said.

Hungarian Jews were forced into ghettos.

Freedom vanished.

“The people who lived in that building — nobody ever came back. We don’t know exactly what happened to them,” he said.

Twice, George’s mother was captured.

Twice, she escaped.

“We survived because my mother didn’t just hope. She did something audacious. She believed she could succeed,” he said.

George’s parents could not leave Hungary.

Josie was forced to leave hers behind.

Both were spared the concentration camps — where six million Jews were murdered.

“I was reunited with my parents in September 1944, just before my sixth birthday. For the first few days, I wouldn’t speak,” Josie said.

“The neighbors hoped they would survive — but they didn’t do anything. My mother did,” George said.

Years later, their paths crossed at the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara — two survivors bound by memory, and a promise to keep it alive.

Today, they are among a dwindling number of living Holocaust survivors — voices rising from history’s silence, warning: never again.

“Aristotle said … education of the mind without education of the heart is no education at all,” George said.

Now, a new virtual exhibit ensures their voices endure — allowing anyone to ask them anything.

During a demonstration, one question surfaced: “Did you forgive the Germans?”

“I don’t hate the German people. I don’t hate any people,” George responded.

“We digitized stories of those no longer with us — and filmed those still here using AI technology,” said Cyndi Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara. “It’s essential to keep telling these stories — and to show what happens when hate goes unchecked.”

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for people to interact with me — whether I’m here or not,” George said.

George and Josie hope their voices will live on — not as echoes of sorrow, but as light for the living … guiding us long after the last witness is gone.

“If we can feel … the way the people we hate feel … maybe we’d be more understanding — and less inclined … to cause harm,” George said.As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles, two voices in Santa Barbara refuse to let memory fade.

George Rusznak and Josie Martin were children when war tore through Europe — ripped from homes, separated from family, and forced to hide simply because they were Jewish.

“We survived,” George says, “because my mother didn’t just hope — she acted.”

In France, Josie was taken in by a nun after her parents made the impossible choice to send her away. “I cried, thinking I might never see them again.”

Decades later, their lives intersect at the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara — two survivors bound by resilience, remembering those who never returned.

Now, a new virtual exhibit at the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara uses artificial intelligence to preserve their stories, letting visitors ask them questions even after they’re gone.

It’s a way of defying time itself — ensuring that when the last witness is gone, their voices still answer.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” says George. “Whether I’m here or not, people can still hear what I lived through.”

Two survivors. One promise: never again.

“If we can feel … the way the people we hate feel … maybe we’d be more understanding — and less inclined … to cause harm,” George said.

George and Josie hope their voices will live on — not as echoes of sorrow, but as light for the living, guiding us long after the last witness is gone.

Click here to follow the original article.