More cold than wet

Santa Barbara County sees chilly conditions and sprinkles

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Brrrr!

Santa Barbara County was colder than usual Monday, with the highs no warmer than the 50s. The lows were in the mid- or low 40s and upper 30s.

There were also some scattered sprinkles on a partly cloudy (sometimes mostly cloudy) day when you clearly didn’t need an umbrella.

According to the National Weather Service, the total rainfall was just 0.02 inch in Goleta and Santa Barbara, 0.01 inch in Lompoc and just a trace in Santa Maria. The highest amount of the rain in the county fell in New Cuyama, with 0.08 inch.

The bigger story is the chill.

Highs were just 58 in Santa Barbara and Goleta, 54 in Santa Ynez, 53 in Santa Maria and 52 in New Cuyama.

The lows were 37 in Santa Maria and New Cuyama, 41 in Santa Ynez, 46 in Goleta and 47 in Santa Barbara.

Today’s forecast calls for sunny skies and, for the most part, warmer temperatures. The National Weather Service predicts highs of 62 in Santa Barbara, 61 in Santa Maria and at UCSB, 60 in Lompoc, 59 in Santa Ynez and 54 in Cuyama. Expected lows are 43 in Santa Barbara, 34 in Santa Maria, 33 in Santa Ynez and 32 in Lompoc.

Patches of blue sky break through the clouds Monday morning in Santa Barbara, which saw a trace of precipitation.

The low will go below freezing today in Cuyama to a chilling 29 degrees, according to the weather service.

Similar highs and lows are expected for the rest of this week.

There’s a 10% chance of rain today in the Santa Barbara area, Santa Ynez and Cuyama, but the weather service said there’s no chance of the wet stuff in Lompoc or Santa Maria.

For the rest of the week, conditions will vary from sunny to partly cloudy in the county, with a 20% chance of rain Friday in Santa Maria and Lompoc. The chance of rain will vary from 10% to 20% in those two cities through Monday.

The National Weather Service doesn’t see much of a chance for rain this weekend for Santa Barbara until Sunday night and during the day on Monday. Even then, it will only be a 10% chance of precipitation.

A 10% chance of rain is also expected throughout the day and night on Sunday and Monday in Santa Ynez. email: dmason@newspress.com

Councilmember Eric Friedman, the committee’s chair, told the

News-Press.

“This funding will be an important tool to assist lowincome homeowners remain in their homes by providing assistance for essential repairs to ensure habitability,” he said.

“Even with homeownership, there are many households that don’t have the financial means to address critical home improvements such as new roofs, plumbing or electric upgrades (and) bathroom remodels to address physical constraints, or other standard repairs.

“The funding for the program comes from development in-lieu fees, which is an effective use of those funds as it will help keep residents in homes that are safe.”

The pilot program now heads to the full council for its approval. It will appear on the council’s consent agenda for consideration on Feb. 7, according to Laura Dubbels, the city’s housing and human services manager.

The pilot program would assist low-income individuals,

SB City Council expected to officially end emergency

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara City Council today is expected to terminate the state of local emergency issued earlier this month when a massive winter storm pounded the city, dumping more than 5 inches of rain in just two days.

The meeting starts at 2 p.m. at the council’s chambers, 735 Anacapa St.

Staff is recommending the council adopt a resolution ending the local emergency declared by City Administrator Rebecca Bjork on Jan. 9, and ratified by the council three days later.

City Administrator Bjork, acting in the capacity of director of emergency services, proclaimed the local emergency so city departments could prepare for the storm’s inevitable outcome, which included debris flows that blocked city roads and flooded streets that trapped residents inside their vehicles who had to be rescued by police and firefighters.

“Conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property arose within the City of Santa Barbara caused by storms and floods commencing on or about Jan. 9,” reads the resolution.

The law requires the Santa Barbara City Council to periodically review the need for continuing the local emergency and to proclaim the termination of the local emergency at the earliest possible date that the conditions warrant, staff said.

“The Director of Emergency Services has reported that the conditions of extreme peril necessitating the declaration of local emergency no longer exist and that the declaration of local emergency may be terminated,” reads the resolution.

The city, however, will continue to seek to recover costs and may continue to exercise authority under any federal, state or county emergency or disaster declaration arising from or related to the storms and floods that gave rise to the city’s declaration of local emergency, staff said.

If, as expected, the council approves the resolution, its decision will be the polar opposite of last week’s decision by the Carpinteria City Council to extend its state of local emergency for at least another 30 days.

In other business, the Santa Barbara City Council will be asked to approve an ordinance amending the city’s Municipal Code regarding zoning regulations for accessory dwelling units.

New state legislation intended to increase production of Accessory Dwelling Units necessitates updating the city’s zoning regulations, staff said.

Assembly Bill 2221 and Senate

Please see COUNCIL on A3

Biden is now considered ‘liar-in-chief’

Concerns’ About Harry’s Memoir”

In other words, “It’s all HIS fault!”

Or: “The Ginge & Cringe Show” wants to be invited back to Blighty to vacuum up a new round of private conversations to peddle to the media.

Too late for that. Banishment for two — adios and finito bon soir, but thanks for the tittle-tattle.

However …

Editor’s note: “News Revue” is a new column by Robert Eringer. It will be published on various Tuesdays.

A

Private military armies: 44,000 confirmed dead. Russian national guards: 6,250 confirmed dead.

• “Putin is Set on Big War with NATO to Bring Back the Iron Curtain,” Russians love anniversaries.

Mad Vlad is planning to celebrate with a major offensive on Feb. 24, the one-year mark of his imprudent Ukraine invasion.

Public comment period begins for Housing Element Update

Santa Barbara County on Monday completed its draft Housing Element Update.

Now begins 30 days of public comment.

You can find the draft at www. countyofsb.org/3177/housingelement-update and enter your comments there.

The Housing Element Update is one of the mandated components of the county’s General Plan.

county, its goal is “to submit a high-quality Housing Element that has the unincorporated communities’ best interest in mind.” nnounced Joe Biden, “There’s no there there.” There where?

For this cycle, the California Department of Housing and Community Development requires that Santa Barbara County identify land to accommodate 5,664 new housing units in unincorporated portions of Santa Barbara County between 2023 and 2031. That housing need allocation, the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, is further broken down to require 4,142 units on the South Coast and 1,522 units in North County. It also includes mandated affordability criteria.

This is funnier than Bubba Bill Clinton questioning “what the definition of is is.”

Double-talk, along with claptrap, is the second language of most politicians.

• “Classified Documents Found at Pence’s Indiana Home.”

Classified documents were found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana.

And now we learn former President Jimmy Carter found a batch at his modest house in Plains, Ga. (Might other retired presidents learn a lesson from the peanut prez in humility, hard work and not lining their pockets post-presidency?) What will the Justice Department do next, haul 98-year-old Jimmy into court?

And maybe probe Bubba Bill, too, for absconding with classified documents pertaining to his lax efforts tracking and tackling Osama Bin Laden prior to 9/11 and parking them in a dark corner at the Clinton Library in Little Rock.

• “Incredibly Suspicious’

Hunter Biden Email May be Based on Classified Info.”

Subject: Ukraine.

Date: 12 April 2014.

Email content: Filled with complex and sensitive intel written in a government bureaucratese style unlike any other writing produced by Hunter Biden.

Hunter’s goal: To demonstrate his usefulness to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma so they would pay him millions of dollars.

Was the intel scrounged from a classified document in one of the locations daddy Joe recklessly placed them?

The answer should be simple for Special Counsel Robert Hur to uncover: It will either match a classified document returned by Biden’s lawyers — or not.

And if the illegally stashed docs pertain to Hunter’s work in Ukraine?

• “Biden’s Classified Files

Debacle Will ‘Knock Him Out of the 2024 Race’ for the White House.” This is the take-away by politically savvy Dick Morris, who advised Bill Clinton.

“This issue here is not if everybody took documents home,” says Mr. Morris, but if the docs contain “classified information about American policy toward Ukraine.”

• “Prince Harry’s Book Flops at his Own Local Bookshop.”

That would be Tecolote in Montecito’s upper village.

“I think most people up here think of it as a soap opera,” says bookseller Mary Sheldon.

Even Harry & Meg’s biggest supporter, British journalist and author Omid Scobie, has grown bored. In a podcast interview he said, “How can a regular person not have Sussex fatigue at this point?”

Judging by a lack of news about “Spare” following one week of sensational titillation, that pan has already flashed. Or as Kevin Spacey’s character says at the end of “The Usual Suspects,” “And like that, it’s gone.”

• “Meghan had ‘Gentle

Vandalism reported

• “Monarch WANTS Prince Harry to Attend His Coronation”

Justin Welby, the Church of England’s principal leader as the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been asked by King Charles III to mediate a deal for Harry and Megs to attend his Westminster Abbey Coronation. Reason: Their absence would be a bigger distraction than their presence. (In other words, the opposite of Montecito.)

(Ah, maybe it’s where else Joe mislaid classified intelligence.)• “Monaco Receives Scathing Council of Europe Report on its Ability to Fight Money Laundering and Terror Financing.”

Dare we say, “Told you so?”

Because we’ve been saying this (and writing about it) for years.

Moreover, Monaco is protecting Russian oligarchs who should be sanctioned.

The rampant corruption that allows this to happen goes right to the very top, to profiteering pirates at the palace and Prince Albert II.

• “Ex-Adviser to Monaco’s Royal Family Sentenced to Three Years in Child Porn Case.”

The Rev. William McCandless aka “Father Bill,” was plugged into Palais de Monaco for many years … until police uncovered thousands of child porn images on his computer.

• “Elon Musk Claims ‘Major Side Effects’ from the COVID Booster like he ‘was Dying’ & Claims Cousin was Hospitalized with Inflammation of the Heart.”

The good news is that Elonowned Twitter is now allowed to post truthful information about COVID vaccines along with the truth about COVID’s origin: A Chinese lab with U.S. funding. Myocarditis, which Mr. Musk’s cousin suffered, is acknowledged even by official-dumb to be a potential side effect of the COVID vaccine.

• “Seattle-Area Medical Examiner’s Office Running Out of Space for Dead Bodies.”

No, this is not from the COVID vaccine but due to a large number of drug overdoses among the vast homeless population encamped along Seattle’s scruffy streets.

Hmm. Maybe fentanyl is Joe Biden’s solution to the homeless problem. It would certainly explain the inexplicable: The absence of a southern border that allows a seamless and endless import of fentanyl.…

• “Sergei Lavrov Warns Russia Close to ALL-OUT-WAR with West.”

Little else is ever expected of somber, morose Lavrov, who utilized a visit to South Africa to dismiss any notion of peace talks with Ukraine even though…

• “Russia has Suffered ‘180,000 Dead or Wounded Soldiers’ in Ukraine.”

All because Mad Vlad Putin and fellow war criminal Lavrov have no qualms about expending another 180,000 (or more) of their own conscripted and untrained troops.

• “Russian Funeral Industry Breaks Records Amid War.” Ukraine war casualties in 2022 vastly outnumbered Russian deaths from COVID (the highest number in the world) in 2021.

An annual trade show called Necropolis that exhibits coffins and other funeral-related services has never been so well attended while, according to mortician Dmitry Yevsikov, “Crematoriums are growing exponentially.” And will presumably break new records, leaving…

• “Russia’s Military Commanders ‘Terrified’ by Putin’s Demands for New Offensive on Multiple Fronts and fear ‘Mass Slaughter.’”

Russian army: 126,500 confirmed dead.

Putin sees “the entire Eastern Europe as his fiefdom,” claims Professor Gregory Yudin.

County staff has been working with the community on this Housing Element Update for the past year, holding in-person, virtual workshops and individual meetings. According to the

The Board of Supervisors is expected to adopt the finalized Housing Element Update later this year.

— Dave Mason

But Russian commanders must first sort out their internal squabbles as …

• “Paranoid Putin Turns Against Wagner Chief After the Mercenary Boss ‘Failed to Take the Hint’ and Kept Bragging that His Forces Achieved More Success than Russia’s.” Hence, little wonder…

• “Paranoid Putin Sets up Air Defense System Near Secret Forest Palace to Save his Family from Ukrainian Missile Strikes.”

The word “paranoid” in conjunction with Putin eructs quite a lot lately. And indeed Mad Vlad has every reason to be paranoid, not just about Ukrainians targeting him but now his own mercenaries too, not least because Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prighozin…

• “Dismisses Moscow Generals as ‘A Bunch of Clowns’.”

Hard to disagree with the assessment by Yevgeny, who was a hot dog salesman before becoming a warlord, though he surely means that President Putin himself is the biggest clown.

Mad Vlad’s newest commander, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, responded to the decimation of his troops by demanding they shave their beards before marching off to the frontline meat grinder.

Yevgeny’s precise words: “A bunch of clowns try to teach exhausted fighters how many times they ought to shave — and what kind of cologne they must use to greet high commanders.”

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadryov, whose bearded Moslem troops are assisting Russia in Ukraine, weighed in with, “Drop your machine guns; let’s go and shave. What kind of stupid thing is this?”

And the situation escalated to …

• “Kremlin Admits Wagner Mercenary Boss is at Risk of Assassination.”

Which, of course, is what Mad Vlad does to his enemies. Only these days, he doesn’t even bother to deny it, pumped as he is by steroids for various diseases. (What he really needs is Thorazine and Abilify, maybe a lobotomy.)

Said Putin spokesperson Dmitry “Pesky” Peskov, ominously, “This is more of a question of the special services.”

Which resulted in…

• “Wagner Appears to Laugh Off Assassination Plot.”

“Yes,” says Yevgeny, “That’s a very good idea. I agree that it’s time I’m eradicated.”

Psychos Putin and Prighozin would make an entertaining comedy duo — and hopefully will one day stage their slapstick at The Hague.

Meantime …

• “Doomsday Clock Sits Just 90 Seconds Before Midnight Due to War in Ukraine—the Closest Humankind has Been to Annihilation in 76 Years.”

We are now 10 seconds closer than in 2022 to The End. States the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: “Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict — by accident, intention or miscalculation — is a terrible risk.”

Intelligence analysts in Washington, D.C, watch to see if priceless art works at The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg are being crated and moved out to underground bunkers for storage. That’s the tipoff. And if/when that happens, it is head-for-the-hills time.

It is therefore not surprising that…

• “WHO Issues ‘Guidelines’

TRAFFIC, CRIME AND FIRE BLOTTER

COURTESY PHOTOS President Joe Biden

SpaceX flight set for today

SpaceX’s launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base has been rescheduled for this morning. The flight was originally set for Sunday, then delayed to Monday and finally was slated

for 8:15 a.m. today from Space Launch Complex 4 East. During this morning’s launch, a Falcon 9 rocket was to bring 49 Starlink satellites into Earth’s low orbit. The Starlink satellite program is designed to provide internet access for 46 countries.

— Dave Mason

SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara police officers responded very early Monday morning to a business located in the 600 block of State Street for an investigation of reported vandalism, a department spokeswoman said.

During the investigation and upon reviewing nearby surveillance video, officers learned that a physical altercation occurred between two individuals a little after midnight (Sunday night into Monday), Lt. Kasi Corbett said.

During the altercation, it appears both individuals involved had fallen into a large