Santa Barbara News-Press: June 30, 2023

Supreme Court ruling

High Court strikes down affirmative action policies at Harvard, UNC - A3

Health entities pay total of $68 million to settle lawsuit

By DAVE MASON

NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Cottage Health, Sansum Clinic, CenCal Health and Community Health Centers of the Central Coast have agreed to pay a total of $68 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged false claims to Medi-Cal.

The settlement for the four entities, all of which serve Santa Barbara County, was announced Thursday afternoon by the U.S. Department of Justice, Central District of California.

The DOJ said the four healthcare entities were alleged to have violated the False

Cottage Health, Sansum Clinic, CenCal Health, Community Health Centers of the Central Coast were alleged to have violated false claims acts

Claims Act and the California False Claims Act by submitting or causing the submission of false claims to Medi-Cal for “Enhanced Services.” The claims are related to Medicaid Adult Expansion under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

The DOJ added, “The claims resolved by the settlements are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.”

Under the settlement, CenCal Health will pay $49.5 million; Cottage, $9 million; Sansum, $4.5 million; and CHC, $3.15 million to the United States.

In addition, the state of California will

receive payments totaling $1.85 million.

The DOJ said the agreement was executed earlier in June and that a federal judge on late Wednesday unsealed the whistleblower case naming the four entities.

Under the Affordable Care Act, MediCal was expanded in January 2014 to cover adults between ages of 19 and 64 without dependent children with annual incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level. Sansum Clinic participated in the Medi-Cal expansion program designed by CenCal Health, its longtime healthcare partner.

Sansum Clinic issued a statement Thursday saying that it disagreed with the government’s claims but agreed to return $4.5 million of the $7.1 million in payments under the settlement.

“Our intention was to participate in a program that, along with CenCal, would allow us to provide for the health care needs of the previously uninsured individuals that were now newly enrolled in Medi-Cal,” said Sansum Clinic CEO Kurt N. Ransohoff.

“Sansum disagrees with the government’s claims, and we do not believe it was an overpayment or

Amtrak resumes service after derailment

Injuries largely minor in Moorpark collision; Amtrak traveling through Santa Barbara again

By LIAM HIBBERT NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Amtrak service to Santa Barbara resumed Thursday — the day after a train was derailed in Moorpark when it hit an irrigation truck.

Sixteen people were injured in the late Wednesday morning crash, but there were no fatalities.

The Amtrak Coast Starlight train, headed from Los Angeles to Seattle through Santa Barbara, was derailed after it crashed into a Ventura County Public Works Agency water truck.

The Ventura County Fire Department counted 186 passengers on board and reported passengers and employees sustained largely minor injuries. The only critically injured person was the water truck driver.

On the lack of serious injuries and casualties, Ventura County

that Sansum did anything wrong or inappropriate,” Dr. Ransohoff said in the statement. “However, we decided to settle this matter and return the alleged overpayments instead of engaging in costly, time-consuming litigation that would consume additional health care resources and distract us from our focus on providing high-quality health care to patients, as we have for over 100 years.”

The News-Press did not receive statements from the other three entities as of press time.

email: dmason@newspress.com

nEWS-PRESS EXCLUSiVE

Medical treatment not started for suspect in courtroom fire

Man was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

A Nipomo man — who was charged with setting a fire inside a Santa Maria courtroom in February but declared mentally incompetent to stand trial more than two months ago — has not yet begun to get the medical treatment a judge ordered him to receive in May, prosecutors said.

Instead, the defendant, Eric Wolfgang Spies, 31, remains locked up at the Santa Barbara County Jail on no bail.

The court was supposed to hear a review of Mr. Spies’ treatment progress a week ago, on June 22, but that did not happen, according to Deputy District Attorney Austin Ingalls, the prosecutor handling the case.

“We did not receive an update as to Mr. Spies’ treatment,” the prosecutor told the NewsPress Tuesday. “Mr. Spies is still housed in Santa Barbara County Jail and is waiting for a spot to become available within the State Hospital. The case was continued to 08/10/2023 for another status check.”

San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Michael Duffy ruled April 20 that Mr. Spies was not legally competent to stand trial, which means he is mentally incapable of understanding the charges against them and cannot take part in his own defense.

On May 11, Judge Duffy ordered that the defendant be transported to the Department of State Hospitals to receive restoration services in a locked facility. The court also authorized forced medication compliance.

The Department of State Hospitals will decide where he receives his treatment. There are numerous locked DHS facilities all over the state, Prosecutor Ingalls told the News-Press previously. “Some of the ones close to us are Atascadero State Hospital and

Coalinga State Hospital.”

Mr. Spies’ case is being heard in San Luis Obispo County because a Santa Barbara County judge, without specifying why, declared early on that it would be a conflict of interest for a local judge to preside over his criminal case.

The issue arose on March 2, when Mr. Spies’ attorney expressed doubts about his client’s mental competency. Criminal proceedings against Mr. Spies were suspended.

Mr. Spies has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of arson and second-degree commercial burglary in connection with the Feb. 18 incident in which he allegedly broke into a Santa Maria courtroom and set a fire, triggering the sprinkler system. Court officials said the combination of flames and water caused extensive damage to furniture, wall paneling, cabinetry, carpeting and court records. They estimated the cost to be about $750,000.

Mr. Spies allegedly went to the Santa Maria court complex, ignored a security guard’s order to leave and broke two glass doors to gain entry into the criminal court building. Once inside, he allegedly forced his way into a courtroom, pulling the doors so hard that he broke the wood frames on the top of the doors.

Court officials allege he then started a fire on the defense counsel’s chair, which spread to the table and carpet. The fire was so hot that it melted the lights in the ceiling and caused the sprinklers to come on, court officials said.

The defendant reportedly told the security guard he had received a notice about an upcoming hearing on a misdemeanor vandalism case and went to the court complex on Feb. 18, a Saturday, to see where he had to show up.

email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

Nurse Blake to bring his comedy show to Santa Barbara - B1

RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO

service through the Santa Barbara station, above, was interrupted Wednesday after the Moorpark derailment

Great Kitchens Don’t Just Happen... They Happen by Design.

Driver injured during rollover

GOLETA — A pickup truck rolled over in a center divider crash Wednesday evening on Cathedral Oaks Road.

The crash occurred at 7:12 p.m. at Cathedral Oaks Road and Santa Marguerita. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded quickly and transported the male driver by ambulance to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, said Capt. Scott Safechuck, the department’s public information officer.

The accident is still under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

— Liam Hibbert

TSA discover firearm in carry-on

SANTA BARBARA — TSA agents at the Santa Barbara Airport reported stopping a man Thursday from bringing a loaded gun onto a plane after it was discovered in his carry-on bag during the routine check by the X-ray machine.

The 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun was the third discovered in 2023 at the Santa Barbara Airport — one more than the two total found in 2022. The owner of the gun, headed to Denver, was escorted out of the security checkpoint.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, travelers should never bring a firearm to the security checkpoint in carry-on luggage,” said TSA Federal Security Director Anita Minaei. “Consider yourself warned: If you bring a

firearm to the security checkpoint, it will be an expensive and regrettable mistake.”

The recommended civil penalty for a firearm starts at $2,050 and can go up to a statutory maximum of more than $14,950. The circumstances of this case are currently under review by the TSA. Even if a traveler has a concealed weapons permit, firearms are not permitted in carry-on

California Senator introduces voluntary agricultural land repurposing bill

By TOM JOYCE THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) - U.S.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, introduced a bill that he hopes will bolster water supply.

Sen. Padilla introduced the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act. It would provide funding to states that voluntarily repurpose certain agricultural lands.

Sen. Padilla filed the bill in response to the Colorado River Basin’s water shortage, the Great Salt Lake’s declining water supply, and groundwater overdraft in California’s Central Valley, among other issues.

Sen. Padilla worries that if water shortages are not addressed, it will increase dust, pests, and weeds, negatively impacting the economy.

He thinks repurposing some agricultural lands can help mitigate the economic impact of drought while keeping the industry productive.

“Agriculture is essential to California’s economy and allows us to put food on the table for families across the country, but the climate crisis and historic droughts require us to adapt to long-term water scarcity,” Sen. Padilla said in a press release.

“My Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act will provide another tool for communities to support the collaborative planning and voluntary actions already underway to reduce water use in the West. This legislation embraces state and local ingenuity and long-term land use planning while ensuring that our agricultural economies remain vibrant for years to come.”

The bill would do the following, according to the release: Modernize the Bureau of Reclamation’s emergency drought authority to authorize funding for states and tribes to run voluntary

and multibenefit land repurposing programs. States would match the federal grant at a 50% costshare. Eligible state-run programs must be basin-scale, reduce consumptive water use, repurpose irrigated agricultural land for at least 10 years, and provide one or more other measurable benefits to the environment or community, including restoring habitat or flood plains connection to streams or rivers, creating dedicated recharge areas, creating parks or recreation areas, facilitating renewable energy projects, and other listed uses.

Amend the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program to authorize funding for the multibenefit land repurposing activities described above. This would allow additional water users and partners to engage in multibenefit land repurposing programs while states work to stand up state-run programs.

Prioritize programs that provide direct benefits to disadvantaged communities or were developed through a multi-stakeholder planning process.

This bill has received endorsements from the following entities: Environmental Defense Fund, Trout Unlimited, the State Water Contractors, Self-Help Enterprises, Audubon, The Native Seed Group, California Native Seed Supply Collaborative, Arroyo Pasajero Mutual Water Company, East Turlock Groundwater Sustainability Agency, East Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency, Woolf Farming, and McConnel Farms.

Ann Hayden, Associate Vice President of Climate Resilient Water Systems at the Environmental Defense Fund, praised the Senator for trying to solve the water shortage problem.

“We applaud Senator Padilla for introducing legislation that will

luggage.

For more information on what you can and cannot carry on the plane, use the MyTSA app, check the website tsa.gov, or interact with the Twitter and Facebook TSA accounts @ AskTSA by sending a picture of the item in question.

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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY

A pickup truck rolled over on Cathedral Oaks Road.

COURTESY PHOTO

TSA reported stopping a man from bringing this loaded Smith and Wesson handgun onto a plane Thursday at the Santa Barbara Airport.

Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action policies at Harvard, UNC

By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s race-based affirmative action admission policies violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Separate 6-3 and 6-2 rulings upend years of common practice at higher educational institutions around the nation and could have a major impact on how colleges discriminate based on race, and whether schools that have refused to do so can now receive federal funding. The courts three liberal justices – Elana Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson –dissented in the 6-3 ruling from the UNC case. Justice Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case because she previously served on Harvard’s board of overseers.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying that the court previously allowed for race-based policies in narrow circumstances and for limited time frames but that the current practices have far exceeded those

parameters.

“University programs must comply with strict scrutiny, they may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and – at some point – they must end,” he wrote. “Respondents’ admissions systems – however well intentioned and implemented in good faith – fail each of these criteria. They must therefore be invalidated under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

As The Center Square previously reported, the racebased admissions policies at Harvard and the UNC were challenged in two separate cases that were combined before the high court.

The nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions filed the lawsuits against Harvard and UNC in 2014, arguing that the policies were unfair to Asian and white students, who are disproportionately negatively impacted by the policies.

SFFA claims 20,000 members composed of “students, parents, and others who believe that racial classifications and preferences in college admissions are unfair, unnecessary, and unconstitutional.”

Higher educational institutions have considered race as a factor in admissions to promote a more racially diverse campus. The defendants in this case argued before the Supreme Court that the practice was standard in the field and that precedent was on their side, pointing to Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 case that allowed higher education institutions to consider race as a factor in admissions.

“Having failed to make the case that Harvard’s admissions practices contravene the court’s precedents governing the use of race in admissions, SFFA asks the court to overthrow them,” Harvard wrote in a filing last year. “But SFFA offers no legitimate justification for such an extraordinary step.”

Justice Sotomayor wrote the dissenting opinion, saying that Thursday’s ruling flew in the face of previous court precedent.

“At bottom, the six unelected members of today’s majority upend the status quo based on their policy preferences about what race in America should be like, but is not, and their preferences for a veneer of colorblindness in a society where race has always mattered and

continues to matter in fact and in law,” she wrote.

The majority opinion did make clear that there is an allowance for discussion of race and its impact on a student’s life in their application.

“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,” Justice Roberts wrote.

Edward Blum, president of SFFA, has pushed for years for fairness in admissions, saying earlier last year when the high court agreed to take up the case that “Harvard and the University of North Carolina have racially gerrymandered their freshman classes in order to achieve prescribed racial quotas.

“Every college applicant should be judged as a unique individual, not as some representative of a racial or ethnic group,” he added.

Poll: 4 in 10 Californians are considering leaving due to cost of living

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) - The lure of California has enticed many to make this state their home. Great weather, beaches, opportunity, and being among the top 5 economies in the world, all factor in its attraction. But whether these elements are sufficient to retain residents is something yet to be seen.

A The California Community Poll at the beginning of June shows that about 43% of Californians believe the state is heading in the wrong direction, 28% have mixed feelings about the direction of the state while another 28% think it is going in the right direction. One percent aren’t sure. With 1,354 interviews, the poll’s margin of error is +/- 2.7%.

This perhaps is congruent with the survey’s other discoveries, namely, the dissatisfaction with the cost of healthcare, 56% of respondents were totally dissatisfied. The cost of homes was also a source of dissatisfaction for 56% of those surveyed. California’s homes cost more per square foot to build and are continually rising.

Just over half of residents surveyed, expressed dissatisfaction with safety in their local vicinities. Another area of discontent was with the condition of the economy, 68% of individuals polled were totally dissatisfied, but it is the cost of everyday living expenses that is of highest concern with 81% of residents expressing dissatisfaction.

While across America food

Biden touts economy during

prices have been consistently rising as a result of inflation, labor costs, the supply chain and the war in Ukraine, factors acute to California such as above average gas prices and minimum wage amounts, increase costs above what consumers in other states pay. This is important because food prices make up almost 14% of the Consumer Price Index, second only to shelter. It’s not an optional expense either.

It’s not surprising then to discover that 61% of residents polled say the cost of living is the number one reason they are considering leaving California, and four in every ten Californians are considering moving to another state even while 68% say California is part of how they identify themselves.

The struggle is real, 46% of

Chicago visit Republicans say speech should have been an apology

By ANDREW HENSEL THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – Visiting Chicago Wednesday, President Joe Biden discussed his economic plan amid high inflation, unemployment and other costs Illinoisans are facing. Republicans say Biden’s speech should have been an apology.

It was the president’s first visit to Chicago this year. Upon landing at O’Hare Airport, President Biden met with Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

President Biden spoke to a group in a Chicago ballroom and discussed his “Bidenomics” economic plan, which he said is a three-part plan that aims to build the economy from the middle out and bottom up. The steps include a focus on investments and the middle class.

“First, making smart investments in America.

Second, educating and empowering American workers to grow the middle class. And third, promoting competition to lower costs and help small businesses,” President Biden said.

The president said his economic endeavors have been successful.

“Bidenomics is working. When I took office, the pandemic was raging and our economy was reeling. Supply chains were broken. Millions of people unemployed. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses on the verge of closing after so many already closed,” President Biden said. “Today, the U.S. has the highest economic growth rate, leading the world’s economies since the pandemic. The highest in the world.”

Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield,

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give landowners options for how to manage limited water supplies in ways that can minimize economic impacts and create real benefits for communities and ecosystems,” Ms. Hayden said.

Sara Porterfield, Trout Unlimited’s Western Water Policy Advisor, said the proposal would benefit cattle ranchers. “Trout Unlimited has worked with cattle ranchers across the West to sustain their operations while voluntarily reducing their irrigated footprint,” Ms.

COURTESY PHOTO

released a statement in support of the plan and said President Biden had brought jobs to Illinois.

“A record-breaking 13 million new jobs were created under this president, including more than 443,000 in Illinois. Factories are reopening. Middle-

Please see BIDEN on A4

Californians surveyed say they can get by every month but can’t pay for unexpected expenses and struggle to save, while 18% find it difficult to make ends meet. Only 27% of residents cite the state’s policies as a reason to leave.

Notwithstanding, the survey showed that despite the financial strain, the residents of California, by and large, are happy to live in the state because of the diversity of the people who call California home. It is a highly valued attribute which respondents agree “brings people together around new ideas and vibrant communities.”

Porterfield said in the release. “The Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act provides support for this kind of locally-led, voluntary, compensated action that can help demonstrate longterm agriculture and water sustainability, a needed drought-response tool. Trout Unlimited supports the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act.”

And Jennifer Pierre, General Manager of the State Water Contractors, thinks the bill would provide landowners with some water conservation flexibility. “In a time of climate adaptation ... this bill provides another option for landowners to sustainably manage their lands to the benefit of their communities,” Ms. Pierre said.

‘This bill provides another option for landowners to sustainably manage their lands’

President Joe Biden

Supreme Court expands degree to which businesses must accommodate religious workers

By J.J. BRANNOCK THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday to expand the degree to which businesses have to accommodate workers for religious purposes.

In the case, Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General, the court found that postman Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian, should not have been disciplined for refusing to work on Sundays for religious reasons. The majority opinion cited Title VII’s requirement to accommodate employees for religious purposes provided it does not cause the employer “undue hardship.”

Mr. Groff said the USPS begrudgingly found other workers to carry out his Sunday deliveries but continuously gave him “progressive discipline” until he finally resigned.

The high court sought to clarify Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically considering the precedent from the case Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, which interpreted the “undue hardship” line of the Act to mean “any effort or cost that is ‘more

than… de minimis,’” meaning more than trivial.

In that case, an airlines union denied Larry Hardison Saturdays off for religious reasons, and the Supreme Court found that the airline made reasonable efforts to accommodate Mr. Hardison’s religious beliefs and did not violate Title VII. They ruled that requiring the airline to bear more than a de minimis cost to accommodate Mr. Hardison’s religion would be an undue hardship and therefore not a violation of the legislation.

Both Mr. Groff and post office representatives agreed that the “de minimis,” meaning of little importance, interpretation of Hardison was misguided, with Groff suggesting the phrase “significant difficulty or expense” instead and the USPS preferring “substantial expenditures.”

The court found that both interpretations were too extreme, saying instead that courts must consider the “size and operating cost of [an] employer” and that “undue hardship in Title VII means what it says, and courts should resolve whether a hardship would be substantial in the context of an employer’s

business in [a] common-sense manner.”

John Bursch, the Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy, said about the case, “Employers must provide reasonable accommodations for employees’ religious practice unless doing so imposes undue hardships on their operations. For too long, that duty had been erased by a misguided court ruling. Thankfully, the Supreme Court clarified Trans World Airlines v. Hardison and affirmed that Title VII requires employers to grant religious accommodations in the absence of substantial additional costs in relation to the business.”

ADF attorneys had filed two friend-ofthe-court briefs with the Supreme Court on the case on behalf of John Kluge, a former Indiana music teacher who was challenging a public school’s decision to revoke his Title VII accommodations in a similar case based on “ideological complaints about his religious beliefs,” forcing him to resign.

“This standard protects all Americans’ right to live and work in a manner consistent with their faith,” Mr. Bursch said.

UPS strike is imminent if satisfying offer

By LAUREN SCOTT THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – If UPS does not give the International Brotherhood of Teamsters an offer the union can agree to by Friday, many Americans will be affected by a workers’ strike potentially starting Aug. 1.

“The Teamsters gave UPS a one-week notice on Tuesday to act responsibly and exchange a stronger economic proposal for more than 340,000 full- and parttime workers,” according to a June 28 news release.

Despite Teamsters having reached consensus on 55 noneconomic issues with UPS, the company has continued to seek

‘Joe Biden owes every Illinois resident an apology for the harm his policies have done’

BIDEN

Continued from Page A3

class wages are going up,” Sen. Durbin said.

In contrast to the national jobs picture, a report by Wirepoints that looked at Illinois’ overall economic performance since 2019 shows 70,000 fewer jobs in that time frame and that the state’s real GDP growth was 3.2% from 2019 to 2022, which ranked 10th worst in the country.

Republican state lawmakers reacted to President Biden’s address and said things are not going as well as the president would lead some to believe.

given

a cost-neutral contract during economic negotiations.

“With a deadline of Friday to return a last, best, and final offer, UPS risks putting itself on strike by August 1 and causing devastating disruptions to the supply chain in the U.S. and other parts of the world,” according to the news release.

“Teamsters nationwide overwhelmingly authorized a strike this month by 97 percent should UPS fail to come to terms on a new contract.”

Working together with the

Teamsters, Amazon delivery drivers and dispatchers went on strike on June 24 to demand the e-commerce giant stop what the union said was unfair labor practices.

“The strike will continue until Amazon remedies its unfair labor practices and recognizes and bargains with the Teamsters Union to address low pay and dangerous working conditions,” according to a news release.

Amazon’s contract with Teamsters guarantees workers

the right to drive safely in extreme temperatures and refuse the use of unsafe equipment.

“We are all living paycheck to paycheck. I’m constantly stressed about making rent, paying my bills, and affording food and clothing for my kids,” said Cecilia Porter, an Amazon driver. “We demand that Amazon recognize our union and honor our negotiated pay.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million people in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Starlight line closed Wednesday, but reopened the following day

TRAIN

Continued from Page A1

Fire Department Director of Communications

Scott Thomsen told the News-Press Thursday, “In that perspective, yes, it was a huge success because we only had minor injuries of patients

RUSSELL, Jeffrey Burton Ph.D.

08/01/1934 to 04/12/2023

that were passengers and employees and the one critical patient. As of right now, no fatalities. That is a huge success.”

The Starlight line was closed Wednesday, but reopened Thursday. Amtrak train 14 and 11 will begin and end in Emeryville, said Amtrak’s Public Relation Specialist Kelly Just.

“I’m very proud of our agency for the

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Concluding that he had spent too much of his mid-career focusing on the dark side, he preferred his earlier work and then two later books, Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians (1991) and A History of Heaven: The Singing Silence (1997). Many of his books have been translated into several languages, both European and Asian. During his long career he was a Harvard junior fellow, a Fullbright fellow, a Guggenheim scholar, which took him and his family to England, and the head of the ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ was his more than twenty years at the University of California Santa Barbara, where ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������

Born in Fresno, California in 1934, into a family whose roots in California date back to the mid-1800s, he grew up in Berkeley and attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a B.A. followed by an M.A. also from Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta in 1960.

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A devoted family man, he read to, played with, prayed with, and travelled extensively in this country and abroad with his wife and children. His children remember with joy his excitement at sharing with them his awe of the natural creation. His children will always remember his strong legs, his stride, his well-worn hiking boots, his khaki shorts, his grey-green backpack–and the bald spot on his head turning browner by the minute under the sun, as we followed him up switchbacks in the Eastern Sierra. We remember our father’s enormous enthusiasm (or intense disgust, depending on the subject) for an amazingly wide range of human works of art, architecture, literature, and science.

Almost every Saturday, after chores, about which he was furiously adamant, the family piled into the station wagon to visit nearby mountains and deserts. Summers were for long trips in the U.S. and Canada, and for magical weeks in the California redwoods with grandparents. Sundays were for mass, reading, play, and friendship.

A top-notch scholar, Jeffrey was never boastful about his achievements. He also had a broad streak of childlikeness; e.g. he was an avid fan of classic Disney animated characters Mickey Mouse and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He vastly enjoyed his children and grandchildren; he loved babies, all babies. He had a whimsical sense of humor, spontaneously composing hilarious lyrics to familiar tunes, and was known to fall out of chairs laughing uproariously at his offspring’s silly jokes. He could imitate with near perfection virtually any foreign accent with accompanying mannerisms, and did so often, with appreciation and verve.

His intense love of nature was inseparable from his love of God, and vice versa. He was �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� of redwood forest rather than log it. Almost as much as he loved history and theology, he loved learning about the natural sciences, and was an amateur astronomer, seeing ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� broad musical tastes including American folk music and the Beatles, his love of Mozart was supreme. He asked for Mozart to be played for him as he was dying. Nearly as sacred to him were Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and J.S. Bach. In modern literature, he valued Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Flannery O’Connor, among others. He spoke and wrote in eight languages. For this serious scholar of medieval Latin, a fun project was his collaboration with Madeline L’Engle on a Latin translation of A Wrinkle in Time (1991).

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McCarthyism group at UC Berkeley in the 1950s, he and Diana marched for civil rights in the 1960s, opposed the immorality of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, opposed abortion from the 1970s on, worked to stop nuclear proliferation and war in the 1980s, and worked for freedom of speech on campus in the 2000s.

He was a revered and beloved mentor to his graduate students, who appreciated his personal and academic support, as well as the hospitality and humour offered to them by him and by his wife Diana. To paraphrase a letter written by one of his former students, “Those were heady days, those seminars at the Russell house. Dr. Russell was always after truth; historical truth, but most of all Truth with a capital T.” He was exciting to talk to, because he believed the ability of human reason, assisted by grace, to seek truth where it could be found.

A convert to Catholic Christianity, his faith sustained him to the end. His was a long and full life, well lived. He is mourned deeply by his family and will be sorely missed by all who knew, loved, and respected him.

After Diana’s death, Jeffrey married Pamela Russell, with whom he travelled all over this country and the world. Also surviving him are his children, Jennifer (Mike), Mark (Sherry), William (Ky), and Penelope; four grandchildren, Emily, David, Anna, and Trillium; and godchildren Xoco and Sarah.

His memorial mass will be celebrated at the Santa Barbara Mission on July 7, 2023, at 11 a.m.

collaborative effort that everyone put in to treat and ensure all the patients got off the train quickly,” said Mr. Thomsen. Crews worked throughout the night and into Thursday morning to clear the derailed Amtrak train.

email: lhibbert@newspress.com

Obituary notices are published daily in the Santa Barbara News-Press and also appear on our website www.newspress.com

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The deadline for Weekend and Monday’s editions is at 10a.m. on Thursdays; Tuesday’s edition deadlines at 10a.m. on Fridays; Wednesday’s edition deadlines at 10a.m. on Mondays; Thursday’s edition deadlines at 10a.m. on Tuesdays; ������������������������������������������������������������������ Free Death Notices must be directly emailed by the mortuary to our newsroom at news@newspress.com. The News-Press cannot accept Death Notices from individuals.

State Rep. Brad Halbrook, RShelbyville, told The Center Square that the president should have used his time to apologize to the public.

“Joe Biden owes every Illinois resident an apology for the tremendous harm his policies have done to the economy.

Thanks to Joe Biden, even the dollar stores have raised their prices,” Rep. Halbrook said.

“Come July 1st, the Illinois sales tax on groceries will be

reinstated, and the hard-working people in my district will again be reminded of how Biden’s economy only works for the elite and the politically connected.”

State Rep. Mike Marron, RFithian, said President Biden’s speech is a “bad joke.”

“If you like double digit inflation and historic debt, then ‘Bidenomics’ is great,” Rep. Marron told The Center Square. “For the rest of us, it’s a bad joke.”

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released a statement and said Americans need relief.

“Illinoisans aren’t interested in watching Joe Biden, and J.B. Pritzker offer self-congratulatory pats on the back while their families struggle to put food on the table and keep the lights on in their small businesses,” Mr. Tracy said. “It’s time for Democrats to offer relief and real solutions to the issues Illinois families face, not more of the same tax-and-spend agenda that got us where we are today.” President Biden is seeking a second term for the 2024 presidential election.

of water consumed annually by 10 people in an urban environment.

is not

Despite Teamsters having reached consensus on 55 non-economic issues with UPS, the company has continued to seek a cost-neutral contract during economic negotiations.

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

Life theArts

His treatment? Humor

Nurse Blake to bring his ‘Shock Advised’ comedy show to Santa Barbara

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Blake Lynch planned to help people as a nurse.

But today, he’s giving them what’s often called the best medicine — laughter — as comedian Nurse Blake.

The nurse-turned-comic will share his funny healthcare stories during his “Shock Advised” show at 8 p.m. Aug. 11 at The Granada, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara.

“It’s all real stories based on true events,” Nurse Blake told the NewsPress by phone Thursday from his home in Orlando. “I’m not someone who does a joke, punchline, joke, then a punchline.

“There are three different acts — me growing up, me in nursing school and my life as a nurse,” said Nurse Blake, 32.

While Nurse Blake is popular with the nurses going together to his shows, he said you don’t have to be a healthcare worker to understand his humor.

For example, there’s the time his skills were needed when he was a passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight.

“I had been waiting for this moment for years,” Nurse Blake said about his chance to be a hero. “I wanted to help save someone’s life; I was hoping someone would film it: ‘Nurse from Orlando saved someone’s life!’

“They called for medical (help) on Spirit,” he said. “ ‘Is there a doctor on board?’ No.”

When the flight crew called for a nurse, he responded immediately and saw a woman lying on the floor. He thought he was going to be doing something like CPR, but it turned out the woman was dizzy after having consumed a cannabis edible and a glass of wine.

“She said, ‘I feel like I’m floating in the sky,’ ” Nurse Blake said. “I told her, ‘You are floating in the sky. You’re in a plane.’”

He likes to tell the story of a patient whose mother would put potatoes in his hospital bed to heal her son. “I said, ‘M’am, you can’t put a potato under your son. At least mash it up or use french fries so I can have a little snack. Did Doctor Oz have an episode saying that if you put a potato under a family member, it will cure his illness?’”

“Nurses, within their 12-hour shifts, have all these crazy stories,” Nurse Blake told the News-Press. “You never run out of content.”

Nurse Blake, who was born in

Please see NURSE on B4

FYI

Nurse Blake will perform his “Shock Advised” comedy show at 8 p.m. Aug. 11 at The Granada, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. Tickets cost $48.50 to $93.50 at granadasb.org. The $195 VIP package includes perks such as a photo opportunity with Nurse Blake.

Prime Time Band to perform at courthouse

SANTA BARBARA — The Prime Time Band will perform at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Sunken Garden at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

The band will play patriotic music during its traditional outdoor concert at the courthouse, 1100 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara.

Last year’s Fourth of July concert stood out for its variety of music as well as vocal soloists.

The Prime Time Band consists of more than 60 musicians who are 40 and older. It’s directed by Dr. Paul Mori, who became the band’s third musical director in 2021. Dr. Mori is an adjunct professor at Westmont College, conducts the Santa Barbara Reading Orchestra and regularly plays the bassoon.

“Music has the power to transport our imaginations and our emotions,” Dr. Mori said on the band’s website, ptband. org. “At its best, music matches our experience of living. With its power to evoke feelings, images and memories, it inspires us to live richly with hope. And what can be more important?”

— Dave Mason

CALENDAR

The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

TODAY

9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily: The Sistine Chapel Art Exhibition runs through Sept. 4 at the Santa Barbara Mission, 2201 Laguna St., Santa Barbara. Tickets start at $25 for adults, $18 for children, and $22 for seniors, military and students. Each ticket also includes admission to the mission museum. To purchase, go to santabarbaramission.org/sistine-chapel-omsb or stop at the museum’s gift shop.

Father Joe Schwab is hosting personal tours that delve into the theological and philosophical perspectives of Michelangelo’s art. Groups of 10 or more can contact Donna Reeves for a private tour at development@ sboldmission.org.

COURTESY PHOTO Boogie Knights, above, will perform 1970s hits during the New Year’s Eve Disco Boogie Ball at 9 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez. And the Spazmatics will play hits from the ’80s. Tickets cost $50.

The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

The Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High School, 721 E. Cota St., Santa Barbara. The concert is presented by Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, has reopened its recurring summer exhibit, “Butterflies Alive!” Featuring a variety of butterflies, this experience allows guests to walk through a garden while nearly 1,000 butterflies flutter freely around them. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 4, is included in museum admission. Members are always admitted free. For others, prices vary from $14 to $19. For more information, visit sbnature.org/butterfliesalive.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The James Castle exhibit is on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Admission is free from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information, see sbma.net.

JULY 1

The Santa Barbara County Animal Services and Ventura County Animal Services have teamed up to organize a free pet adoption event across all five of their South Coast shelter. The one-day adoption event is part of a larger goal by the organization to make pet ownership more equitable.

This fee-waived pet adoption event applies to all animals over one year of age. There will be no adoption fee for these animals, but there may be a nominal license fee depending on the city in which the adopter resides, in order to help ensure that each adopted pet receives the appropriate licensing, vaccinations, and identification, in compliance with local regulations. All interested parties must participate in the full adoption process to ensure the best possible matches are made. All animals leave the shelter spayed or neutered, vaccinated, flea-treated and microchipped. For more information, visit www. sbcanimalservices.org.

The Santa Barbara County locations of the event are:

• 5473 Overpass Road. Goleta.

• 548 W. Foster Road, Santa Maria.

• 1501 W. Central Ave, Lompoc, CA 93436

JULY 4

11:30 a.m. The city of Lompoc is planning a Fourth of July Family Fun Day at Ryon Memorial Park. Admission is free to the event at the park, located off West Ocean Avenue and South O Street. The Fourth celebration will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a patriotic bike parade from the Lompoc Veterans Memorial Building to Ryon Park. For more information, call Lompoc Parks and Recreation at 805-875-8100. Noon. A full afternoon of music and other activities will precede a night of fireworks during the Fourth of July celebration in Santa Barbara. Music will start at noon at the West Beach bandstand with DJ Joseph Souza, followed by Peer Pressure at 1 p.m., The Free Radicals at 2, Rock Shop Review at 3, Golf Sucks at 4, Drifting Dimension at 5, Time Travelers Bridget & Sophiaa from 6 to 6:45 p.m. Then it’s a 10-minute performance by La Boheme Dancers, followed by The Roosters at 7 and Spencer the Gardener at 7:50. The 20minute fireworks show will start at 9 p.m. There will be live music and more at Stearns Wharf as well. The Brasscals will perform at noon, followed by free face painting at 2 p.m. and the band Area 51 at 4 p.m. In addition to the music and fireworks, a street fair will take place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. along the Cabrillo Boulevard sidewalk at West Beach.For more information, go to santabarbara.ca.gov/july4.

4 p.m. North Avenue Baptist Church in Lompoc is having a celebration on the Fourth of July with a variety of free family-friendly games and a fireworks display. The event starts at 4 p.m. at 1523 W. North Ave, where there will be carnival games, cornhole, pony rides and more. The “Safe and Sane” fireworks show will start at 8 p.m. Throughout the celebration there will be food from food trucks for purchase, such as chicken and waffles and BBQ. All are welcome to join, for more information visit nabclompoc.org.

JULY 5

The city of Santa Barbara will partner with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper to host cleanups at nearby beaches to prevent litter from the Fourth of July celebration from getting into the Pacific.

To volunteer for the cleanup, go to signupgenius.com/go/10c0944aeab2fa5ffc07july#.

— Dave Mason

Patriotic music will be performed by the Prime Time Band during a Fourth of July concert Tuesday at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. The photos are from the band’s concert in September at Rancho La Patera and Stow House in Goleta. At right, Dr. Paul Mori directs the Prime Time Band at the event.

COURTESY PHOTO

“There are three different acts — me growing up, me in nursing school and my life as a nurse,” said Nurse Blake, who will perform his comedy show Aug. 11 in Santa Barbara.

Outer space is theme for UCSB movie series

SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures is heading toward outer space for its free Summer Cinema series.

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the 1977 Steven Spielberg classic starring Richard Dreyfuss, will kick off the series at 8:30 p.m. July 7 at the Sunken Garden at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, 1100 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara.

San Luis Obispo Symphony seeks nominations

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The San Luis Obispo Symphony is seeking nominations for a “Central Coast Pops Star,” to honor a community member who has made a significant impact on the Central Coast. Nominations are accepted until Aug. 1

The SLO Symphony’s Pops By The Sea fundraiser has been a popular community event for almost 40 years.

“One of the most anticipated features of this concert has been a baton auction,” the symphony said in a news release. “A live auction was held during the event, and the highest bidder would conduct a

Mr. Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy

Neary, who encounters a strange spacecraft and finds an ally in Jillian Guiller (Melinda Dillion), a single mother who believes her son has been kidnapped by aliens.

The Oscar-nominated film is rated PG and has a running time of 137 minutes.

People attending the screening can set up their blankets and chairs at noon on the day of the screening. Chairs must have low backs and be low to the grounds, and blankets must be permeable, which means nothing that’s plastic or nylon. You can’t bring

piece during the concert.”

This year, the symphony is seeking nominations for this event– giving the entire Central Coast a chance to nominate someone who deserves the honor of directing the SLO Symphony orchestra.

The winner will receive a table for ten at the event, their nomination will be read from the stage, and they will get a chance to direct the orchestra for one selection. Visit the Symphony

tarps. But you can bring a picnic. And UCSB students with ID can get free transportation from the university to the courthouse.

People who arrive early can scale a climbing wall, courtesy the UCSB Department of Recreation Adventure Program. UCSB Athletics, K-LITE and UCSB Arts & Lectures will offer additional prescreening activities such as raffles, giveaways and photo ops.

— Dave Mason

website at www.slosymphony.org/ batonnominations/ to submit a nomination. All nominations must be submitted by Aug. 1.

The winner will be notified by Aug. 7.

The San Luis Obispo Symphony’s annual Pops-by-theSea concert will take place at 4 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Avila Beach Golf Resort. Gates will open at 2:45 p.m., and music will begin at 4 p.m.

This year’s theme is

“Celebrating the Central Coas,” and the symphony will be welcoming guest artists, local singer and songwriter Damon Castillo and his band. Children’s entry is free with a paying adult. To learn more about this event and how to reserve your seats, visit slosymphony.org or call 805356-1438.

— Dave Mason

Diversions

Thought for Today

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”

— H. G. Wells

HOROSCOPE

By Horoscope.com

Friday, June 30, 2023

Aries: Your expansive, outwardly directed plans are moving at full force, but once in a while self-doubt slows things down, Aries. Today is one of those days in which insecurity may hamper your progress. The secret to success is to consider all the options and trust your instincts.

Taurus: Your emotions are more peaceful and easier to control today, Taurus. It’s almost as if you’re merging with the energy around you. The one thing to be careful of is indecision. When it comes to taking action on something and you aren’t sure which way to go, you’d do better to hold off.

Gemini: Go with the flow today, Gemini. Find the freedom you seek by simply following the path of least resistance. There’s no reason for you to be unhappy. Life doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. Just be completely yourself.

Cancer: Your heightened sensitivity could get you in trouble today, Cancer. The more you try to pin down a specific answer to something, the more resistance you may encounter. Don’t expect a straight answer from anyone or you will be disappointed. People may be flighty or forgetful.

Leo: Your expansive nature is reaching out to others, Leo, but you may run into opposition. Keep in mind that not everyone wants your advice. Give it only if someone asks for it. It may be in your nature to want to jump into people’s lives and fix things. Resist that temptation. What people may need instead is someone to listen.

Virgo: Your general mood is at a peak today, although this mood is slightly off due to indecision on your part, Virgo. Don’t let this get you down. If you find it hard to make a choice about something, the solution is simple. Put off making the choice until you feel more comfortable about it. If you must make a decision today, go with your instincts.

Libra: You may be a bit confused today, Libra. Nothing

seems to fit right. It’s as if you’re faced with many different roads, unsure of which one to take. All the choices seem reasonable and you may fear you will miss out on something great whichever one you choose. The truth is that you can find a way that incorporates what you’ve learned from previous paths.

Scorpio: You may be tormented by an important decision today, Scorpio. The good news is that once you make up your mind, you will feel much better about yourself. Until then, however, you may vacillate from one side to the other. Asking others for advice may put you in even more of a quandary. The only one who can decide your path is you.

Sagittarius: You may be a little hesitant today, Sagittarius, and not really sure why. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, another aspect comes up with a completely different perspective. It may be hard to choose one path and stick with it. Keep in mind that your unique path may incorporate many different side paths.

Capricorn: Watch your back today, Capricorn. There’s a distinct presence nearby that requires your attention. Luckily, your emotions are a lot more stable than usual, and you’re more strongly connected with your feelings.

Aquarius: You may look confused today, Aquarius. It may be hard for you to stick with one subject. Your attention may jump from one thing to another. That’s OK. There’s a distinct advantage to seeing all sides of the story. You will have greater perception and awareness of things today. Take this opportunity to put yourself in other people’s shoes so you know how to deal with them in the future.

Pisces: You may find it difficult to keep things neat and organized today, Pisces. It seems like you’re tying to organize a room full of feathers buffeted by gusts of wind. Buy a paperweight. Meanwhile, you might want to give up organizing the feathers and deal with it another time.

DAILY BRIDGE

By FRANK STEWART Tribune Content Agency

Friday, June 30, 2023

Many good books have appeared in 2023, including John Carruthers’ wonderfully entertaining “Bridge with Another Perfect Partner”; Barnet Shenkin’s “Heroes, Icons and Scandals,” a look back at the game’s memorable events and people; and Volume 3 of Mike Lawrence’s excellent “Insights on Bridge.”

In the Carruthers book, the author introduces his nemesis “Selby,” whose self-assurance matches his great skill. At six clubs, South takes the ace of diamonds, cashes the top trumps and hearts and exits with a trump. Carruthers, West, tells of how he next led the deuce of spades. When dummy played low(!), Selby had to put up the king. The slam was made.

LOFTY

Selby is quick to note, in his invariably lofty manner, that West prevails by leading the jack of spades. My 25th book, “Let’s Play Some Bridge,” is out. It’s a collection of over-my-shoulder pieces where you can compare your decisions with mine in 80 deals.

Baron Barclay has everything in print. See baronbarclay.com. DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

SUDOKU

CODEWORD PUZZLE

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3-by-3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9. that means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Sudoku puzzles appear on the Diversions page Monday-Saturday and on the crossword solutions page in Saturday’s Life section.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Answers to previous CODEWORD

How to play Codeword

Codeword is a fun game with simple rules, and a great way to test your knowledge of the English language. Every number in the codeword grid is ‘code’ for a letter of the alphabet. Thus, the number 2 may correspond to the letter L, for instance. All puzzles come with a few letters to start. Your first move should be to enter these letters in the puzzle grid. If the letter S is in the box at the bottom of the page underneath the number 2, your first move should be to find all cells numbered 2 in the grid and enter the letter S. Cross the letter S off the list at the bottom of the grid. Remember that at the end you should have a different letter of the alphabet in each of the numbered boxes 1- 26, and a word in English in each of the horizontal and vertical runs on the codeword grid.

PUZZLE

partner doubles, you respond one heart and he raises to three hearts.

What do you say?

ANSWER: Your partner undertook a nine-trick contract, and he can’t know that you have a fivecard suit and a useful king. If you trust your partner, bid four hearts. His hand should be no worse than

8

The dealer, at your left, opens one diamond. Your

Nurse Blake began by posting humorous videos

NURSE

Continued from Page B1 Orlando, grew up in a family of healthcare workers.

“My dad has been a night time respiratory therapist. My mom has worked in medical device sales,” he told the News-Press.

Nurse Blake’s dad would sleep during the days, coming home just when Nurse Blake was eating his bowl of cereal for breakfast. “He shared his cool patient stories with me.”

His conversations with his father convinced Nurse Blake to go into nursing. He earned his bachelor’s in nursing in 2014 at the University of

Central Florida. After working as a nurse, Nurse Blake felt burned out. So in 2017, he started to do something uplifting online. He started posting humorous videos of himself as a means of connecting with other nurses.

The videos proved so popular that

Nurse Blake started performing a few comedy shows in 2019 at schools and hospitals. From there, it grew to 100 shows a year, and today Nurse Blake focuses his attention on his comedy show. He also runs NurseCon at Sea, which uses an entire cruise ship for a conference of educators, dancers and others. “It’s accredited. Nurses can receive

continuing education hours,” Nurse Blake said. And he founded Banned4Life when he was in nursing school and was told at a blood drive he could never donate blood because he was gay. He discovered that the FDA banned blood donations from men who had sex with other men because of the risk of AIDS. It was a lifetime ban.

“No one was talking about it,” Nurse Blake said. “So I started a Facebook page. We raised awareness.” He led a petition drive to change the policy, and in 2015, the FDA lifted the lifetime ban. It modified its recommendations.

And in May of this year, the FDA dropped the requirement that men who

Kids’ movies return to theaters

have sex with men abstain from sex for three months before giving blood. Instead, all donors today are screened with a questionnaire to evaluate risk factors based on behavior, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.

On another healthcare note, Nurse Blake said patients have been curious about him because he’s a male nurse.

“There’s a misconception that we (men) are nurses because we couldn’t get into medical school,” Nurse Blake said. “They think, ‘You’re a guy; that means you’re a doctor.’ We’re trying to break the stigma and stereotypes. And it’s great seeing the number of females becoming doctors.”

email: dmason@newspress.com

Inquiry into teachers unions influence over school COVID closures ramps up

By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – The U.S. House Committee tasked with reviewing the federal pandemic response is ramping up its investigation into what influence teachers unions had over federal rules that kept schools closed. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, sent a letter to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky demanding all records and communications between her and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

Critics note that teachers unions are significant political donors and raise concerns that those funds could have earned undue access to health policy at the expense of students.

As The Center Square previously reported, federal election filings reveal that the American Federation of Teachers and its local affiliates doled out $19,903,532 in political donations in

the 2020 election cycle, with almost all of those funds directed to Democrats and liberal groups.

AFT donations in 2020 included at least $5,251,400 for the Democrats Senate Majority PAC and $4,600,000 for the Democratic House Majority PAC, according to filings and data compiled by The Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets database.

A GOP report released in March last year confirmed these findings and reported that teachers unions had “unprecedented access” to the federal officials in charge of recommendations for school reopenings and COVID policy.

“Teachers’ unions, including AFT, donated more than $43 million to liberal groups and candidates during the 2020 election cycle,” the GOP report said. “The two largest unions – which both endorsed then-candidate Biden for President – have approximately 4.7 million members. [CDC scientist]

Dr. [Henry] Walke’s testimony to the Select Subcommittee shows the Biden Administration rewarded their support with unprecedented access to the

policymaking process for guidance on re-opening schools.”

Ms. Weingarten pushed back on these claims during a Congressional hearing in April with Rep. Wenstrup’s subcommittee. AFT argues they were not in favor of keeping schools closed, but for the reopening of schools safely.

“If you have educators in your lives, you know that their priority is their students – to create a safe environment for all children and to prepare them for life, career, college and citizenship,” Ms. Weingarten testified at the hearing..

“We know that kids learn best in person, so opening schools safely – even as the pandemic surged – guided the AFT‘s every action.”

With conflicting accounts, Rep. Wenstrup is now pushing to get those written communications to show what was really said between AFT and federal health officials.

Rep. Wenstrup pointed out that during that same hearing, lawmakers learned that Rep. Weingarten had a “direct telephone line” to Walensky.

The latest research shows significant

learning loss from students who missed class because of the pandemic.

The Department of Education released data last fall showing that national test scores declined the most in decades largely as a result of learning loss from school closures.

“Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading and 7 points in mathematics compared to 2020,” the report said. “This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever score decline in mathematics. This Highlights report compares performance on the NAEP long-term trend reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students from the winter of 2020 to results of long-term trend assessments in the winter of 2022.”

Rep. Wenstrup says the CDC is largely not cooperating with the investigation.

“The Department of Health and Human Services is continuing its pattern of obstructing Congress by apparently only producing documents already made publicly available via the FOIA,” the letter said.

The Metro Summer Kids Movies have returned this summer to Metropolitan Theatres on the South Coast.

The series, which began June 14, continues through Aug. 10 at Fiesta 5 Theatres (916 State St. Santa Barbara) and Camino Real Cinemas (7040 Marketplace Drive, Goleta). Tickets cost $2. To purchase, go to metrotheatres.com.

“This family-friendly program brings films for all ages back to the theater and offers our youngest guests and their families a fun way to spend their summer by watching their favorite films on the big screen,” said David Corwin, president of Metropolitan Theatres Corp. Films screen at 10 a.m. Wednesdays at Fiesta 5 and 10 a.m. Thursdays at Camino Real Cinemas.

Here’s the schedule.

Fiesta 5: July 5, “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”; July 12, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”; July 19, “Hotel Transylvania 3”; July 26, “Minions: The Rise of Gru”: Aug. 2, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”; Aug. 9, “The Bad Guys.” Camino Real Cinemas: July 6, “The Boss Baby’: July 13, “The Croods”; July 20, “Madagascar’; July 27, “Kung Fu Panda”; Aug. 3, “Megamind”; Aug. 10, “Trolls.” For more information, visit www. metrotheatres.com.

— Liam Hibbert

Rotary to host Fourth of July Parade and Festival

SOLVANG — The Santa Ynez Valley Rotary Club’s Fourth of July parade, festival and fireworks will take place from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The event will begin with the parade at 11 a.m. Entries will vary from classic cars to horses, dance troupes, high school marching bands and floats created by local businesses. Then the festival will be held from noon to 10 p.m. at Mission Santa Ines in Solvang.

There will be live entertainment by Smelly Cat at 3 p.m., Agin Brothers at 5 p.m. and Falco Heavy at 7:30 p.m. DJ Peete will spin music all day starting at noon.

Fireworks will light up the Solvang sky at 9 p.m.

Tickets for the festival cost $15 for general admission. Tickets are free for kids 12 and younger and active military members with IDs, who receive four free passes per person. To purchase, go to syvrotary.org.

— Dave Mason

DE REVISIÓN

Y AUDIENCIA PÚBLICA La Autoridad de Vivienda del Condado de Santa Bárbara invita a todas las partes interesadas a revisar la Política de Admisión y Ocupación Continuada (ACOP) para el Programa de Vivienda

Pública. Las partes interesadas pueden descargar una copia de los planos preliminares del sitio web de la Autoridad de Vivienda: www.hasbarco.org o pueden solicitar una copia llamando a la Autoridad de Vivienda al (805) 736-3423.

Los comentarios por escrito pueden enviarse a la Autoridad de Vivienda del Condado de Santa Bárbara en P.O. Box 397, Lompoc, CA 93438-0397 o por correo electrónico a teresaruffoni@hasbarco. org. La fecha límite para enviar comentarios por escrito es el 17 de agosto de 2023, a las 3:00 pm. Se llevará a cabo una audiencia pública sobre los proyectos de planes el martes 17 de agosto de 2023 a las 5:00 p.m.

Los miembros del publico están invitados a asistir a la reunión en persona en 815 W Ocean Avenue, Lompoc, California o a través de Zoom Meeting.

Unirse a la reunión de Zoom en https://www.zoom.us, haga clic en Unirse a la reunión, ingrese el