Pandemic’s impact on children
Goleta considers bike share pilot
Cottage Children’s Medical Center specialist discusses child development- B1
City begins survey to determine residents’ wishes - B4
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T U E SDAY, J U N E 29, 2 021
Wrong-way driver stalls Highway 101 traffic By ANNELISE HANSHAW
A red Mazda moving north in the southbound lanes of Highway 101 was first reported in Ventura. A California Highway Patrol officer, travelling south, passed the driver near the Casitas Pass Road exit in Carpinteria. The male driver and sole occupant of the Mazda, which the CHP reported was a stolen vehicle, exited
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
A California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer suffered moderate injuries after attempting to stop a driver of a stolen vehicle. The vehicle was previously reported driving the wrong direction.
Employees continue mediation with The Biltmore
The northbound lanes of Highway 101 were closed for just over four hours Monday afternoon, stalling traffic between Carpinteria and Ventura. The delay came after a police pursuit of a wrong-way driver.
onto Casitas Pass before re-entering Highway 101 and traveling north in the northbound lanes. A CHP motorcycle officer attempted to make a traffic stop, but the driver did not pull over. Instead, the driver abruptly stopped, causing a three-vehicle Please see 101 on A4
Shelter found for homeless Upper State Street inn could house up to 50 individuals By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara is scheduled to have a mediation session with furloughed employees July 10. The Montecito resort has not set a projected reopening date. A couple hundred employees are threatening a lawsuit against the Ty Warner-owned hotel for not paying them severance. They have been without work since the resort’s closure March 20, 2020. Please see BILTMORE on A3
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara is closed without a reopening date in sight.
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
A homeless individual camps in the bushes next to De la Guerra Plaza. City Net, a nonprofit partner with the city of Santa Barbara, has secured a lease with a State Street hotel to shelter up to 50 homeless individuals living in high-prone areas.
The city of Santa Barbara’s nonprofit partner, City Net, negotiated terms and secured a lease of the Rose Garden Inn on upper State Street to temporarily house up to 50 homeless individuals. Starting July 5, a progressive rollout of rooms will become available on the property — located in the 3000 block of State Street — and they will remain available for 120 days. The master lease agreement is pending approval of the Santa Barbara City Council, which is expected to come today because the council directed City Net to secure the agreement. The push for a temporary shelter followed the Loma Fire on the Mesa back in May and numerous fires that have sparked in homeless encampments. The City Council called for action due to the number of homeless encampments located in high-fire prone areas, as well as the city’s susceptibility to wildfires during the severe drought and summer months. While city staff suggested a safe, secure encampment in a commuter lot, the council agreed that a hotel or motel would be the best option for long-term solutions. “The council has been supportive of finding places to move our unhoused residents so that the fire-prone camps can be cleared and vegetation removed, and the benefit to these individuals is that they will get shelter, support and Please see HOMELESS on A4
GOP: No ballots delivered to empty UCSB dorms But local Republicans believe risk of fraud remains By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
An allegation that 3,000 voting ballots in the Nov. 3 election were mailed to empty UCSB undergraduate dorms was officially deemed not true by the Santa Barbara County Republican Party. The party wrote in a press release that it met with Renee Bischof, the county chief deputy registrar of voters, last week to investigate the allegation, which was made by Thomas Cole of Analytics 805. The Elections Office and local Republican leaders agreed that results proved that the majority of undergraduate students had changed their voting
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addresses by the time the ballots were mailed in October 2020. At the time of the primary in March 2020, ballots mailed to the undergraduate UCSB dorms totaled 3,612. However, the number of ballots mailed for the November election totaled 122. “It’s just false. There’s just no truth to those allegations, and that data is totally publicly available,” Joe Holland, the county’s director of elections, told the News-Press Monday. “There’s nothing hidden about any of that data.” Mr. Cole alleged that someone in charge of the mail at the building illegally filled out the ballots for the students and sent them directly back to the election board, which
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convinced and wrote in its press release that “this does not mean that there is no fraud.” Bobbi McGinnis, the chair of the party, said that while she was among the group that met with Ms. Bischof and believed the Elections Office was open and transparent about the processes, she said she still has concerns about “the lack of voter photo ID at the polls and the inability of Elections to verify signatures and citizenship before the ballot is cast.” Ms. McGinnis told the News-Press that she was told by the Elections Office that the polls put out precinct sheets that are mandated by the state, and as people vote, Please see ELECTION on A2
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
Joe Holland, pictured here in 2003, told the News-Press that there’s nothing secretive about the County Elections Office’s processes and that any claim that fraudulent activity occurred is false.
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would be a felony. In response to the claims, Mr. Holland said that anyone who wants to come in and watch the process is welcome to, adding that the County Elections Office routinely receives visits from the Grand Jury, the media and even junior high school classes. “It does seem strange to be talking about this in late June,” the director of elections said. “It’s a completely open process. Every single signature we have on file on every single vote-by-mail envelope is reviewed and observed, and if it does not match the signature we have on file, or if it’s missing, we send a letter to the voter to have them correct that.” But the Republican Party is not totally
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Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 11-19-24-32-44 Mega: 4
Monday’s DAILY 4: 3-8-8-4
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 17-20-42-45-65 Mega: 12
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 10-22-33-37-39
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 07-11-04 Time: 1:47.89
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 8-31-39-43-60 Meganumber: 17
Monday’s DAILY 3: 3-0-3 / Midday 5-2-2