Large Mammal Count
Migrating gray whales on their return trip from the arctic have been passing through the Santa Barbara Channel in recent weeks, and the nonprofit group Gray Whale Count scrambled to take an accurate headcount.
Year: 2006
Feeling California
Hoping to pull the plug on off-shore drilling in California waters, S.B. Congresswoman Lois Capps proposed the California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act last Thursday; in a similar vein, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein recently brought similar legislation to the Senate floor.
A Journey Back From Postpartum Depression
In a small, tidy office on Chapala Street, a young Latina mother still recovering from postpartum depression (PPD) recalled the voices that once told her to walk into the ocean with her children and never come back. “Just go, go : at the beach,” said Danielle Vasquez. “Just go in with the kids.”
Like most mothers with PPD, Vasquez (not her real name) didn’t realize she had a common and treatable disorder. She thought she was either on her way to being crazy or already fully there.
Speedbump
Police raided a Milpas Street house Friday morning, arresting eight of the 13 adults on the premises of what they said was a meth crash pad.
Montecito Rules
Threatened on one side by a precedent-setting lawsuit and pressure from the Montecito Association on the other, Santa Barbara County supervisors voted 3-2 to reject an appeal by a property owner who sought to subdivide his land for development.
Indy Publisher Named Regent
Santa Barbara Independent publisher George Thurlow was elected last week to serve a two-year term as alumni representative to the University of California Board of Regents.
Excess Gaviota
A preliminary plan to sell off a portion of county-owned land along the Gaviota Coast took a baby step forward this week when the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to declare a small portion of the Baron Ranch surplus property.
Gaucho Medal
Former UCSB track and field standout Valerie Flemingalong with teammate Shauna Rohbocktook home an Olympic silver medal this week in Italy for her pushing prowess in the women’s two-person bobsledding event.
March On
The weather this past month should be enough to convince anyone that we live in a global environment. Colder-than-normal waters in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America are responsible for shifting the jet stream far to our north this winter.
Judging the Joneses
A week after Judge Frank Ochoa sentenced to prison confessed gunman Philip Jones and his daughter Kelee Davidson for their roles in the murder of Jarrod Davidson, a motion was filed to have Ochoa disqualified from judging the third suspect in the case, Jones’s wife Malinda.
