Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service. SANTA BARBARA, CA – March 23, 2023 City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation staff have completed work on the Shoreline Park Torii Gate Garden Restoration Project. The donation-funded project was a collaboration between the Parks and Recreation Department and local organizations. In 1998, a traditional torii gate and Japanese garden were installed in Shoreline Park to honor Santa Barbara’s sister city, Toba, Japan. While the torii gate marking the entrance to the Shoreline Steps remained a notable feature of the pa ..read more

Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service. SANTA BARBARA COUNTY – A project to reconstruct the bridges on US 101 at the Interchange with State Route 135 in Los Alamos will result in a full overnight closure in both directions of US 101 tonight. The Northbound and southbound lanes of US 101 will be closed at the Interchange with State Route 135 tonight, March 23 from 8 pm until Friday, March 24 at 6 am. Travelers headed north on US 101 will detour at exit 154 to Hwy. 135 (Bell Street) to the northbound US 101 on-ramp. Travelers headed sout ..read more

Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service. GOLETA, CA, March 23, 2023 – For the first time in more than a decade, Lake Los Carneros is full thanks to over 28 inches of rainfall this winter in Goleta. The most recent storms added enough water to fill the lake to its maximum capacity. The lake level reached an engineered overflow pipe on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. The last time this occurred was during the 2011-2012 winter season. According to Goleta’s Parks and Open Space Manager George Thomson, a full Lake Los Carneros is good for wildlife habitat. He sai ..read more

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday criminally charged two individuals with a hate crime for allegedly stealing two pride flags and burning one in the Santa Ynez Valley last summer. According to the DA’s March 23 complaint, Avi Stone Williams and Joshua Jerome Eligino were charged with misdemeanor petty theft and violation of civil rights — a hate crime under California law — after allegedly stealing a pride flag from a Santa Ynez family’s home last year between July 18 and 20 and another from St. Mark’s in the Valley Episcopal Church between July 27 and 28, and bur ..read more

‘Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks’ by Patrick Radden Keefe | Photo: Courtesy Patrick Radden Keefe tells us in the preface to in his new book, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks, that the 12 long-form essays “reflect some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.” In this, of course, the stories are similar to the concerns in his previous two books: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Irelan ..read more

Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service. Santa Barbara Award Program Honors the Achievement SANTA BARBARA February 8, 2023 — Rochelle I. Greenbaum, M.A., CCC, Speech and Language Pathologist has been selected for the 2023 Santa Barbara Award in the Speech Pathology category by the Santa Barbara Award Program. Each year, the Santa Barbara Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through ..read more

Is America still a Republic where everyone has equal rights? Or is it descending into a Banana Republic with a weaponized criminal justice system, a radical educational system and a media that is a mouthpiece for the radical left? Case in Point: Will there be an unprecedented moment in American history where we see the selective, bias, potential selective persecution of a past president of the United States? (Donald Trump) Why is he being targeted for the same things other Democrats were guilty of but not charged? (Hillary Clinton, fined) Do the Democrats want a c ..read more

Credit: Courtesy Ventura playwright Kieron Barry’s new play, Spy for Spy, has two characters and six scenes: six snapshots of significant moments in a relationship. “I suppose you could call it a memory play,” says Barry. “The play is about a relationship, but it’s from the perspective of someone remembering a relationship. The six scenes are the various points along the journey.” The structure of this show mimics the manifestation of memories, which can appear in the mind in an order that defies their logical chronology. Thus, the six scenes in Spy for Spy are performed in a random order. Bar ..read more

Felix Mattei, the Swiss-Italian immigrant who founded the stagecoach stop Mattei’s Tavern in 1886, wasn’t the only family member to make his mark on our community. His son Clarence Mattei (1883-1945) was a sought-after portrait artist (portraitist) who captured images of many luminaries on the local, national, and international stages of that time.  T. M. Storke by Clarence Mattei | Credit: SB Historical Musem An exhibition currently on view through May at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Clarence Mattei: Portrait of a Community, spotlights his work in oil, pen, pencil, and charcoal ..read more

On March 12, about 100 of C.A.R.E.4Paws supporters gathered at La Lieff Winery in the Funk Zone to raise funds for a new mobile clinic that will enable the nonprofit to serve more pets in need. Guests enjoyed the first rays of sunshine in several days, along with wine and nibbles. During the short program, Executive Director Isabelle Gullo thanked donors and recognized lead supporters for the new mobile clinic: Lee Heller, Lyn Proctor, John and Karen Jostes, and a few others. She shared how last year, C.A.R.E.4Paws helped nearly 13,000 dogs and cats in its two aging mobile clinics. It did 2,30 ..read more