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Supervisors ask that county be removed from SoCal Region By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted at its Tuesday meeting to send a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom requesting Santa Barbara County be removed from the Southern California Region and be considered part of a Central Coast Region. This region would also include San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, both of which have sent the same request to the governor. If the letter is accepted by the governor, Santa Barbara County would no longer be under stayat-home orders once the current three-week order has passed, so long as the county, San Luis Obispo County, and Ventura County’s collective ICU capacity come out to less than 15% and are projected to stay under that percentage for four weeks. While 51% of Santa Barbara County’s staffed ICU beds are available, as part of the Southern California Region it falls under stay-at-home orders due to hardhit counties like Los Angeles County bringing the region’s total ICU capacity down to 10.9%. The Southern California Region consists of 11 counties: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. According to Santa Barbara County Public Health Department director Dr. Von Do-Reynoso, when Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties are excluded from Southern California and their ICUs aggregated, they come out far better than Southern California. “We have run our numbers and we consistently have higher ICU capacity jointly between the three counties,” she said. There was visible frustration among some of the supervisors Please see COVID on A8
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A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready for its launch during a 2016 test at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Lawmakers: Why was VAFB rejected? Carbajal, Feinstein send letter to Air Force about Space Command decision By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal and Sen. Dianne Feinstein are asking the U.S. Air Force why it rejected Vandenberg Air Force Base as the future headquarters of Space Command. Originally, Vandenberg was one of three finalists for the site, but the Air Force ultimately excluded the Santa Barbara County base from consideration. On Tuesday, Rep. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and Sen. Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter Please see VAFB on A6
INSIDE Chuck Yeager and his legacy. A6.
Chumash Casino remains open By ANNELISE HANSHAW
INSIDE
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Latest SB County COVID-19 numbers. A2.
RAPHAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
Chase Restaurant & Lounge decorated for Christmas but deserted like much of State Street since Santa Barbara County entered a new stay-at-home order.
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The Chumash Casino Resort has continued to operate its casino but closed its hotels after the
announcement of the Southern California stay-at-home order. It plans to maintain 24/7 operations. Under the regional stay-at-home Please see casino on A8
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U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal has joined U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in asking the Air Force why it ultimately decided to reject Vandenberg as the future headquarters for the U.S. Space Command.
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Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 1-13-30-35-40 Meganumber: 2
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 5-8-4-9
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 15-19-33-39-68 Meganumber: 25
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 6-8-14-21-31
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 01-04-08 Time: 1:40.56
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Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 5-8-8 / Sunday’s Midday 1-6-2
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