••• I warned you about what happens when a fire hydrant gets sheared off. Yesterday’s geyser at Milpas and Indio Muerto Hutash was a doozy. —Edhat
••• Congressman Salud Carbajal tested positive for Covid-19 “after he was in contact with […] Mike Lee, a Republican Senator from Utah who tested positive last week. […] Senator Lee has received criticism in recent days after he was seen on video mingling with others in attendance at a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden [….] Lee is seen in video not wearing a face covering while hugging and embracing others who attended the ceremony.” —KEYT
••• Let’s take a moment to thank Noozhawk for attending city council meetings so we don’t have to. In it recent recap: “The city’s inclusionary housing policy currently states that developers who build 10 or more units should set aside 10 percent of the units for moderate-income residents, people who make between 80 percent and 120 percent of the average median income, which at the top is about $105,000 annually for a family of four. […] Much of Tuesday’s debate centered on whether to move to 15 percent citywide,” but instead the council decided to “consider a 15 percent inclusionary housing ordinance for everywhere in the city except the central business district, where it will remain 10 percent.” Also, the council refused to cut down a big tree for a homeowner on Castillo Street.
••• “The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office has ruled the fatal 2019 shooting of Cameron Ely by four Sheriff’s deputies a justifiable homicide. Ely, the 30-year-old son of Tarzan actor Ron Ely, was unarmed when he was shot 22 times outside his family’s Hope Ranch estate, where earlier in the evening authorities say he had stabbed and killed his mother, Valerie.” The Independent article goes on to explain why Ron Ely has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
••• “A new metric went into effect on Tuesday that will help determine when counties in California can reopen. It’s called the health equity metric. […] The new metric requires that these places on the lower end of the [Healthy Places Index] not have a worse positivity rate than the rest of the county as a whole.” We need to find ways to accelerate reopening, not decelerate it. —KSBY
••• “The Santa Maria Post Acute Center is now the site of one of the largest outbreaks at a Santa Barbara County skilled nursing facility since the start of the pandemic. […] According to data from the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, the outbreak has affected 38 residents and 24 staff members.” —KSBY
••• “A rise in encampments and homelessness near the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in northern Goleta has officials and authorities talking about ways to relieve the situation. […] Overnight parking typically would not be allowed [in the parking lot at Haskell’s Beach], but Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered that authorities could not ticket for overnight parking during the Covid-19 pandemic.” —Noozhawk
••• The Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis lost its appeal to the county Board of Supervisors regarding Castlerock Family Farms’s plan for 100 acres of cannabis farming in the Santa Ynez Valley. And the Board of Supervisors did not require that Castlerock do anything to mitigate the foul odors associated with the crop. —Independent
••• Interview with Santa Barbara school board candidate (and incumbent) Wendy Sims-Moten. —Newsmakers
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