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Gas prices rise before the Fourth
Foster care population grows during pandemic By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
The Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services saw a slight increase in the number of children entering the foster care system during the pandemic despite reports of alleged child abuse dropping in the past year. According to data obtained by the News-Press, the county’s Child Welfare Services had 280 entries into the foster care system in 2020, up from 263 in 2019 and 223 in 2018. In addition, the average monthly number of children in foster care was approximately 420 in 2020, up from an average of 360 in 2019 and 327 in 2018. Amy Krueger, the deputy director for the Department of Social Services, said there are multiple reasons for these increases. For one, court closures have delayed hearings for months at a time, extending the amount of time a child is usually kept in the foster system. Additionally, transition-age youth are temporarily eligible to remain
in care past the age of 21, where before, they would have been required to leave the system. While pandemic-induced delays are one driver of the increase in the foster care population, Ms. Krueger said the department began seeing an increase in the number of kids entering the system years before the pandemic hit. Increased instances of the regular triggers of neglect — substance abuse, mental illness and domestic violence — led to a foster care population that has grown consistently over the last four years. These factors, when compounded with the stress of the pandemic, partially explains the population increases the department saw in 2020. “I think, anecdotally, the reasons children are entering foster care are the same reasons they were entering before the pandemic, and the biggest reason is general neglect,” Ms. Krueger told the News-Press. “We’re seeing families under stress, we’re seeing people Please see FOSTER CARE on A4
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS
Fog prevails Thursday above State Route 154 on the drive from the Santa Ynez Valley to Santa Barbara. More fog is predicted for mornings this weekend in both the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara area.
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS
Gas prices in California jumped recently, in part, due to an increase in the state’s gas tax, but mostly due to the price of oil, with producers anticipating a sharp increase in travel. The hike was reflected at Santa Barbara gas stations.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Gas prices are on the rise again in California, the state with the highest rates in the nation. California currently surpasses the second-highest state, Hawaii, by 27 cents. The state’s average is now $4.28 per gallon. Jeffrey Spring, spokesman for Southern California AAA, attributes the hike to many factors. But he said the main reason is the price of oil, which is the highest it has been in three years. “The price of oil has been sort of hovering around $72 to $73 a
barrel right now,” the spokesman told the News-Press Wednesday. “At this time last year, it was probably $40 a barrel.” Oil producers are anticipating a large rush in traveling, with the Fourth of July weekend, summer months and the lifting of travel and pandemic restrictions. Mr. Spring said prices have been gradually going up for the past few months as restrictions were loosened. Other reasons for the hike could be some refinery issues that have occurred in California, Mr. Spring said, citing a couple of flaring incidents that happened two to three weeks ago. Refinery incidents typically
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everything seems to be pointing upward. “It’s not a fast spike kind of price increase, but fairly gradual for the past few months, just where we get a few cents every week. So it’s not something that makes people’s eyes widen, but you look back to where we were back in March or February — prices have gone up quite a lot. I would expect them to come down, but I would say not any time soon.” The Southern California AAA spokesman said he doesn’t have any concerns about shortages, at least statewide. He said the shortages that Please see GAS PRICES on A4
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The forecast for the Fourth of July weekend is fairly typical Santa Barbara weather for this month. For the next seven days, Santa Barbara residents can expect essentially the same weather conditions that were present over the last week. The days will start out with low clouds and fog in the morning, and they will clear for sunny afternoons in the upper60s and mid-70s. “For the next seven days, it looks pretty much the same,” David Sweet, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service
in Oxnard, told the News-Press. “It’s almost identical for the next seven days.” The humidity levels will be fairly standard for the foggy mornings, and Mr. Sweet said there will be a slight warm up going into next week. He referred to the forecast as “nothing out of the ordinary.” Residents of the Santa Ynez Valley can expect slightly higher temperatures than the Santa Barbara area, with highs in the mid-80s and lows in the mid-50s. However, valley residents will have patchy morning fog and clear, sunny afternoons as well. email: gmccormick@newspress. com
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result in some sort of production problem, keeping the price headed upward. Mr. Spring said that in a typical year, residents see an increase right around March and April. He added that in a typical year, prices tend to level off in June and start to fall in July. In 2021, the prices began to rise in February, and so far, there hasn’t been any sign of leveling off or decreasing. “This may not be a typical year,” Mr. Spring said. “It’s hard to say at this point that prices will be going down any time soon. Eventually, they will go down, which is what usually happens, but right now,
Foggy mornings, sunny afternoons forecast for Fourth weekend
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Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 12-13-16-18-25 Meganumber:25
Wednesday’s DAILY 4: 0-7-9-4
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 7-38-50-52-69 Meganumber: 21
Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 21-28-34-36-38
Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 10-04-11 Time: 1:48.96
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 8-31-39-43-60 Meganumber: 17
Wednesday’s DAILY 5-6-4 / Wednesday’s Midday 6-5-0