HOME PRICES DIP: Well, we can no longer say that the average Santa Barbara area house has a million-dollar price tag. (Some bragged, others shuddered.) According to the California Association of Realtors, the South County median sales price in July was a mere $940,000. That’s down 8.3 percent from June. And we’re no longer one of the most expensive towns in California. The current real estate market here is, as realtors say, “soft.”

COURT’S DOOR SHUT: Without explanation to the public, Superior Court Judge Clifford Anderson closed a stabbing death preliminary hearing to the press and public. In very rare cases, it’s permissible, but please, Your Honor, you need to announce a reason when you do this. Justice is not a private matter. I left a call for Judge Anderson and, as of deadline, haven’t heard back.

MESSING WITH HOPE RANCH: Residents of posh Hope Ranch are cut lots of slack in county government, but not when it comes to the increasingly arrogant Goleta Water District board. The elite enclave of Hope Ranch has long been served by the district, but now the board wants to detach it. Meaning, among other things, residents will still get water but no longer have a vote for boardmembers. And guess what? The action would eliminate the board’s chief gadfly and whistle-blower, Bert Bertrando, who just happens to live in HR. Sheer coincidence, no doubt. He’d no longer be on the board. There was a big fuss about that at the last board meeting, and more dispute about this and other controversies likely are ahead at the September 9 meeting.

NOT GOOD SPORTS: In my days at the Santa Barbara News-Press, the sports desk was a bustling place, jamming the paper with local sports news. But now the section is as thin as most Dodgers’ batting averages. You take away local sports news and you’re alienating loyal readers who rely on it. To make matters worse, sports department copy editor Dennis Moran has been suspended by associate editor Scott Steepleton for unannounced reasons. What makes some wonder about this is that Moran is on the newsroom union’s committee trying — fruitlessly so far — to negotiate a contract with owner Wendy McCaw. The union has demanded to discuss the decision and asked that the suspension be rescinded. Meanwhile, sportswriter Blake Dorfman, who went to China to cover the Olympics for the paper, has resigned. A year ago, the News-Press had a sports staff of eight or nine people to field calls from local coaches and managers phoning in results, reports blogger Craig Smith. “As of now, they only have two people to take those calls, and do everything else.” Folks around town are scrambling to work out some method of providing timely local sports news for athletes, schools, and families.

WHAT A BLAST: Up in Santa Maria, the City Council wants to crack down on those problem street corner flower vendors, but not on fireworks sales. The vendors are “a blight,” complained flower store owner Bill Tomasini in the Santa Maria Times. The council also favors protecting local car dealers against out-of-town offsite sales, such as those in the Kmart and JCPenny parking lots.

UGLY SIGN OF THE WEEK: Earl Warren Showgrounds gets the nod for its garish electric sign on Calle Real. But don’t blame the City of Santa Barbara or the county: This is a state-owned facility run by a group of appointed locals.

FOOTPRINT IN HAWAI‘I: Honolulu tops the Brookings Institution list of cities with the lowest carbon footprint, measured on a per capita basis. That’s because the city of 377,000 is compact and has a well-used transportation system, reports Sierra magazine. Surprisingly, L.A. finished at number two, although it was way high on the pollution tonnage scale. Santa Barbara was too small to be listed among the 100 largest metro areas. Cities in the lower ranks, such as Indianapolis, where my brother lives, and other Midwestern towns, tend to depend on cars for transportation and coal for energy.

CAMPAIGN BURNOUT: How come so many people are already weary of the presidential campaigns, but the Demo convention just started and the GOP huddle is yet to come? We’ve long known who the two main parties’ candidates are and heard what they have to say, if we’re paying attention, that is. Is there anyone left — who cares — who hasn’t pretty much made up his or her mind?

FAST WORK: Julia McHugh, suffering after a kidney stones removal procedure, needed her husband, Scott Orlosky, back from his backpacking trip. But how to reach him? She called Steve Gowdy, veteran hiker and owner of Santa Barbara Building Maintenance. She gave him Steve’s GPS coordinates, Gowdy pinpointed the campsite and spoke to Kings Canyon National Park, and a ranger already in the backcountry hiked five miles to alert Steve. Then Steve hiked 20 miles to a trailhead, took a ferry ride, and drove eight hours, getting him home the next day. Said Julia, who received emerald earrings for their 25th anniversary: “Those are the only stones I want in the future.”

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