••• Covid-19 update: “The county has reported 394 confirmed cases and four deaths as of Sunday. […] The number of hospitalizations has hovered around 40 since April 9, and the number of intensive care unit hospitalizations peaked at 19, on April 5, and has dropped since then. As of Sunday, 41 people were hospitalized, including 13 people in an ICU.” —Noozhawk
••• “There’s been a significant increase in lost and injured hikers. ‘We’ve seen a threefold increase in the number of calls since the stay-at-home order has been in place,’ Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue team member Jason Levy said.” —KEYT
••• A shed between Sambo’s—I hate even typing that name—and the Hotel Milo caught fire; the fire department put it out and deemed it suspicious. —Noozhawk
••• Newsmakers is interviewing a bunch of politicians this week—including Monique Limon and Salud Carbajal—and you can email your questions.
••• From a Los Padres ForestWatch press release that ran on Edhat: “Southern California and central coast mountain lions were placed under the protection of the California Endangered Species Act while they are being considered as candidates for permanent protection under the law. […] Mountain lions have lived in California for tens of thousands of years. They are a keystone species that act as ‘ecosystem engineers.’ They keep prey populations—especially rodents—in check and their kills provide food for scavengers like the critically endangered California condor. Their presence helps maintain diverse habitats that support a multitude of fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, mammal, insect, and invertebrate species.”
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