LAWSUIT OVER CAMERON ELY’S DEATH
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Fair Education Santa Barbara founders write about SB Unified, Just Communities - C1
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Tsunami advisory issued for West Coast Minimal impact reported in Santa Barbara County By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
On Saturday, the national weather service issued a tsunami advisory for the West Coast including Hawaii, parts of Alaska, California, Washington and Oregon. The advisory is due to the eruption of an underwater volcano near the Pacific Island Nation of Tonga. The volcano is approximately 5,000 miles from California. The impact in Santa Barbara was minimal with a peak wave of 4.5 feet at 9 a.m. While not tall, the waves came in a noisy manner that made the birds at Goleta beach nervous, and some flew away startled. “There is always an urgency to act and not
always good information to act on.” Kerri Murray, President of ShelterBox USA, a Santa Barbara based non-profit, told the News-Press during a phone interview. “The National Tsunami Warning Center has issued a Tsunami Advisory for the Santa Barbara County coast,” according to a press release from the city of Goleta. ThE notification is only an advisory and there is no need to evacuate at this time. A Tsunami advisory means that a tsunami is expected or occurring and may produce strong currents or waves which will be dangerous to those in or near the immediate coastline. During an advisory you should stay away from beaches and waterways.
“ShelterBox is actively monitoring the violent volcano which erupted in Tonga, and triggered a tsunami, sending shockwaves across the region. We are working to determine the humanitarian needs related to shelter … The volcano was one of the most violent ever captured on satellite- with a 3 mile wide plume of ash, steam, and gas rising 12 miles into the air. Our teams have responded dozens of times to volcanoes, typhoons, cyclones, floods and earthquakes across the South Pacific and Western Pacific,” Ms. Murray told the News-Press in an email. “We are advising people to stay out of the water and off the beaches,” Kristen Lund, a Please see TSUNAMI on A2
Rincon Classic Weekend kicks off with delay
DAVE MASON / NEWS-PRESS
Birds gather in front of a normal wave at Goleta Beach. A tsunami advisory was issued Saturday for the West Coast.
COVID-19 workplace safety rules change for state employers By MADISON HIRNEISEN THE CENTER SQUARE
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The Rincon Classic Weekend kicked off on Saturday morning after a delay due to a tsunami advisory. The event will continue today.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF REPORT
A tsunami advisory delayed the starting time of the Rincon Classic Weekend on Saturday Morning. As a result, all first round heats will be 15 minutes long. “There was a surge that was noticeable about 2 hours after the warning. It was an intense day, before that there was a windstorm. Mother nature is wild and in control. It started off with the wrong directed wind. Some tents got blown away. It started to get out of control before the sun even came up. In the name of safety we improvised. The first head was already in the water and we had to pull them out. We postponed the event by an hour and ten minutes,” Chris Keet, cofounder of Surf Happens, told the News-Press. Chris and Jenny Keet are the founders of Surf Happens. Saturday and today marks the return of the Classic after a one year hiatus due to the pandemic. This weekend was the 40-year Please see RINCON on A3
10-year-old Maddox Keet made the U14 final.
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(The Center Square) – Revised workplace safety rules went into effect across California on Friday, including new employee testing and masking requirements. The new rules, approved in December by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA), come as the state faces an increase in COVID-19 cases associated with the highly contagious omicron variant. Under the new regulations, employers must provide testing at no cost and during paid time to all employees who had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 in the workplace – including those who were fully vaccinated before the close contact. This change represents a shift from rules passed last summer, which excluded fully vaccinated individuals who did not experience symptoms from the testing requirement after close contact. In addition, the new regulations bar employees from using “selfadministered and self-read” tests, meaning that workers cannot take a test at home by themselves. Instead, tests must be processed in a lab or self-administered if observed by an employer medical professional over telehealth. The new guidance also updates quarantine requirements for employees who test positive for COVID-19. Earlier this month, the California Department of Public Health aligned with the Centers for Disease Control recommendations that reduced the amount of time employees are required to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. Those changes took place in the workplace on Friday. Under updated protocols, employees who test positive, regardless of vaccination status, must quarantine for at least five days before returning to work. Employees can then return after five days if their symptoms have resolved and test negative on day five of isolation. If an employee continues to experience symptoms, they cannot return to work until symptoms resolve or until 10 days after a positive test. Officials from the California Chamber of Commerce said that while the updated protocols
call for increased testing among employees, it will “simultaneously shorten the exclusion periods for employees who test negative.” “In the view of the California Chamber of Commerce, that is a good trade-off for California’s employers because it will allow healthy workers who test negative to return sooner, but will weed out individuals who actually have COVID-19,” Robert Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, told The Center Square. “In light of the present labor shortage, California’s workplaces desperately need every healthy worker.” Mr. Moutrie noted, however, that CalChamber is concerned that the current testing shortage could make the new requirements difficult for certain employers, “particularly for smaller employers who cannot compete for the scarce supplies.” The new Cal/OSHA protocols also update guidance for employees exposed to COVID-19. Under the new protocols, employees who are unvaccinated or are fully vaccinated and booster eligible but have not received a booster dose yet must be excluded from the workplace for at least five days after close contact and must be tested before returning. Vaccinated workers who received a booster shot or were recently vaccinated and not yet booster eligible are allowed to remain in the workplace if they get a negative test result on day five of exposure and wear a face covering for 10 days after initial exposure. The new regulations also include updated masking guidance, requiring employees to wear masks that fit snugly over the nose and mouth and “do not let light pass through when held up to a light source.” Surgical masks, N95s, KN95s, tightly woven fabric masks and gaiters with at least two layers are acceptable under the guidance. California recently extended its indoor masking mandate, which requires masks to be worn in all indoor public spaces through Feb. 15. The initial guidance was issued in December and was set to expire in mid-January, but health officials extended the mandate due to rising case rates. The new Cal/OSHA guidelines that took effect Friday are set to expire in mid-April.
Sudoku................. B3 Sports ................... A2 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 1-26-34-42-45 Mega: 10
Saturday’s DAILY 4: 6-3-6-9
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 5-8-13-22-48 Mega: 25
Saturday’s FANTASY 5: 3-9-12-16-39
Saturday’s DAILY DERBY: 08-12-01 Time: 1:46.93
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 3-18-37-51-59 Meganumber: 13
Saturday’s DAILY 3: 2-7-7 / Midday 6-9-9