••• Actress Meg Ryan bought on El Bosque Road in Montecito for $5.025 million. It’s a cute house. —Dirt
••• Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts has a really interesting look at the money behind the pro–Das Williams PAC. Highlights: “At least $11,000 of the $36,600 in new contributions reported so far this week by the controversial ‘Central Coast Residents Supporting Das Williams for Supervisor’ committee has come from cannabis interests”; and “Additionally, the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians gave $10,000 to the independent expenditure committee; the Chumash earlier donated $20,000 directly to the campaign committee for Williams, who played a key role in months of secret negotiations that ended with the tribe winning county approval for the 1,400 acre Camp 4 annexation.” And then there’s “the committee’s strong connections to the oil industry”….
••• Only when pushed did Williams make an effort to stop the committee from attacking his competitor, Laura Capps. —Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts
••• Meanwhile, the Independent endorsed Williams anyway, asking, “Is his behavior over the past three years a good enough reason to toss him overboard? We don’t think so.” I would’ve answered that question differently…. The paper’s other endorsements: Steve Bennett for the state assembly, Monique Limón for the state senate, and Salud Carbajal for Congress.
••• “An oil cleanup barge arrived off the coast of Summerland on Tuesday to begin the next phase of oil capping. The Global Marine barge is carrying oil cleanup equipment and bringing in contractors to begin exploratory excavation on a leaking well, ‘North Star,’ on Summerland Beach. State Lands Commission officials are conducting the excavation project as part of their plan to cap up to three wells in June or July of this year. Two of the wells are on the beach and the other is Treadwell #10 offshore.” —Edhat
••• Montecito Journal has more on the circumstances around last week’s raid of San Ysidro Pharmacy.
••• Two new stores at the Paseo Nuevo mall: The Barn, which focuses on men’s clothing but has some women’s stuff, too, and Trendy Collections, “a collective of local makers and small businesses.” And two fitness studios are coming this spring: WH Body Refinery and Orangetheory. —Noozhawk
••• “Pier 1 Imports has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is closing 450 stores, including the location in Goleta.” —Edhat
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