Making their coach proud
Rooted in talent ‘TREES’ quilt exhibit graces Wildling Museum in Solvang - B1
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F R I DAY, O C T O B E R 2 9, 2 0 21
SB mayor defends city’s achievements Murillo focuses on homelessness in re-election campaign By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Editor’s note: This concludes the News-Press series of interviews with Santa Barbara mayoral candidates. See Monday’s News-Press for a review of the candidates and their positions on the issues.
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Graduate student researchers rally in front of Cheadle Hall on UCSB’s campus Thursday.
Student researchers rally
Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo says the City Council has accomplished plenty in the last term, whether or not her opponents in Tuesday’s election want to admit it. “This is a race of challengers trying to unseat incumbents … So their strategy has to be to create a sense that ‘everything is wrong at City Hall, and I need to come in and fix it,’ ” she told the NewsPress. “What I would ask the voters is to look at their neighborhoods, look at the city services. We provide the good work that we’ve accomplished addressing homelessness,” she said. “I would ask people to look at the vitality and all the promise of the State Street Promenade. And so there’s a lot that’s good.” The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is building low-income and middle-income complexes. Mayor Murillo is
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS
Mayor Cathy Murillo
FYI On election day, the city will be displaying results outside of City Hall, facing De la Guerra Plaza, from 8:159 p.m. Tuesday in addition to online postings.
excited about an apartment complex for people exiting homelessness that will be located at Anacapa and Cota streets and is securing funding. She also points to the safe shelter program, which houses Please see ELECTION on A4
Biden unveils $1.75 trillion plan
Lawmakers urge for UC’s immediate recognition of graduate students union
By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE SENIOR REPORTER
Editor’s note: Today the NewsPress joins media that receive state and national news from The Center Square, known for its stories with a taxpayer sensibility. The Center Square is a project of Chicago-based Franklin News Foundation.
At left, Griffin Johnson leads the researchers in a chant: “If we don’t get it, shut it down.” At right, Researchers walk up the stairs of Cheadle Hall to protest in front of Chancellor Henry Yang’s office.
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Graduate student researchers across University of California campuses are preparing for a strike-authorization vote after the university system refused to recognize fellows and trainees as part of a Student Researchers United bargaining unit. Thursday, the graduate student researchers protested at UC campuses. Participants at UCSB delivered a resolution to Chancellor Henry Yang’s office asking him to urge UC President Michael Drake to recognize the union. The unionization drive consists of 17,000 members, and the University of California agreed to bargain with 11,000 of those petitioners. Around 3,000 members are not UC employees as defined by the Higher Education EmployerEmployee Relations Act, the
university says, and the remaining students’ status has not been determined. UC sent the following statement to the News-Press: “The University of California believes our graduate student researchers contribute to the University’s key research mission, creating new knowledge. We support our employees’ right to union representation. UC is in ongoing discussions with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) regarding the final composition of this new bargaining unit. “The University will recognize the graduate student researchers included in the petition, which also included graduate students who are not University employees as defined by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act. We hope to resolve this matter in a timely fashion so that goodfaith negotiations on the terms
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and conditions of employment with this new bargaining unit can commence.” A spokesperson for the University of California clarified that it only recognizes the 11,000 student employees. Graduate student researchers argue there is not a difference between fellows and other researchers. Joe Costello, a physics grad student, spoke during Thursday’s demonstration about the distinction. “Instead of negotiating with us in good faith, UC is paying all these high-powered lawyers a ridiculous amount of money to file legal challenges and trying to divide us,” he said. “They say that fellows and trainees are not employed, which we all know is bull (sic), right? “They work in the same lab, under the same professors, for the same university; they do the exact same thing we do. And they’re trying to take advantage of some
technicalities in the way the money goes to try and divide.” He told the News-Press that graduate student researchers are treated poorly and paid low wages. “When I first got involved with this, it was because it was kind of ridiculous that teachers assistants had a union and graduate student researchers didn’t. And people might not be aware of how fluid that distinction is,” he said. “So it didn’t really make sense for there to be protection sometimes and not others.” Earlier this week, 30 members of California’s congressional delegation sent a letter to President Drake urging immediate support of Student Researchers United. U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, is one of the 30 signatures. “The UC system, of which I am a proud alum, is America’s premiere research institution Please see PROTEST on A4
(The Center Square) — President Joe Biden departed for Italy Thursday, leaving lawmakers behind to debate the framework of his newly released reconciliation plan, purported to be down to $1.75 trillion from $3.5 trillion. The White House unveiled the updated reconciliation plan just before the president’s exit. The framework preserves some elements of the original plan, including publicly funded preschool, an extended child tax credit, home care spending and climate change spending. The plan also promises to cut the deficit without taxing anyone making less than $400,000, though both those claims have been refuted by critics. In addition, previous top line numbers from the administration, such as Thursday’s $1.75 trillion, have been disputed. “After hearing input from all sides and negotiating in good faith with Senators Manchin and Sinema, Congressional Leadership, and a broad swath of Members of Congress, President Biden is announcing a framework for the Build Back
NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
President Joe Biden’s new reconciliation plan has been scaled back to $1.75 trillion from $3.5 trillion as part of efforts to win votes from two moderate Democrats: Sens. Joe Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. The plan can’t pass if it loses either of their votes.
Better Act,” the White House said in the announcement. “President Biden is confident this is a framework that can pass both houses of Congress, and he looks forward to signing it into law. He calls on Congress to take up this historic bill — in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — as quickly as possible.” Critics of the plan pointed to “gimmicks” in the accounting that make the plan seem cheaper Please see SPENDING on A2
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 2-25-26-27-32 Meganumber: 4
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 2-0-8-2
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 6-14-19-56-62 Meganumber: 9
Thursday’s FANTASY 5: 2-7-12-13-29
Thursday’s DAILY DERBY: 04-01-10 Time: 1:48.49
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 3-6-26-35-51 Meganumber: 17
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A4
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 1-2-7 / Wednesday’s Midday 7-4-6