••• As you’ve probably already heard, “UC Santa Barbara will stop in-person classes immediately and use ‘remote instruction’ for final exams and classes through at least April to mitigate the potential impact of COVID-19 on campus and in Isla Vista.” This would seem to protect the staff more than the kids, since they’re still going to congregate elsewhere. Send them home for the semester, however, and you’re really sticking it to Isla Vista businesses. (Photo courtesy UCSB.) —Noozhawk
••• Meanwhile, “Santa Barbara City College transitions some classes to online courses.” —KEYT
••• ” A second travel-related case of the Coronavirus has been reported in Ventura County, according to the Ventura County Public Health Department.” —KEYT
••• “Governor Gavin Newsom announced late Wednesday night that state public health officials […] recommend that any non-essential gatherings of 250 or more people should be postponed or canceled across the state until at least the end of March.” —KEYT
••• Consequently, San Luis Obispo has canceled its farmers’ market through April 2. I’ve left a message with the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market Association to see if it knows what it’ll be doing; I’ll update this if I hear back. —KEYT UPDATE 3/13: I never heard back, but the Independent just posted an article saying that the market will be open, but you can’t touch produce unless you’re buying it.
••• “CEC’s Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival has been postponed [from April] and is now scheduled for July 10-12, 2020 at Alameda Park.” —from a press release on Edhat
••• From another press release on Edhat: “District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced today that Adolph Washington Jr. (age 28) and Davion Jones (age 35) were convicted on Monday, March 9, 2020 of multiple gang related residential burglaries and a home invasion robbery” in Montecito after the debris flow. The home invasion story is terrifying.
••• “Violence, suspensions and the number of students carrying knives are on the rise in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. […] According to the data [assistant supervisor Frann] Wageneck presented, there has been a 26% increase in suspensions related to drugs and alcohol since 2016, and 4.2 percent of the district’s students have been suspended at least one time in the past year.” —Noozhawk
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