The title of this article is provocative and I understand this. But, as one economist put it: those clamoring for manufacturing jobs have never worked in one. My point is that U.S. trade policy is completely misunderstood and our political leaders are demagoguing the issue to create fear and buy your votes. Tariffs and protectionism harm consumers and benefit only a miniscule number of businesses and workers, workers who are mostly union members. I have the data and history of protectionism to back up my assertion. Anything you hear to the contrary are mostly economists who shill for unions.&n ..read more

The Montecito Association held its monthly Board meeting April 9 in person at the Montecito Library.  Public Comments for Items Not on the Agenda: Peter Daily presented his issues of private roads flooding following rain events. He asked the MA to get drainage and curbs installed with the Roads Department, and to resolve uninsured properties in Montecito. Cliff Ghersen referenced the minutes of March 5 Land Use Committee Meeting on the Miramar agenda asking the MA to mention all the letters from people who wrote about it in their minutes, as well as fix how one contacts the MA directly vi ..read more

One of Montecito’s most elegant, fashion forward, socially dynamic woman has left us. Lynda Lee Millner passed away peacefully in her home on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, surrounded by her family and loved ones.  Lynda at Home (courtesy photo) Lynda was born in 1936, in Washington state, to Aage and Zula Olesen. She grew up in Spokane, WA where she graduated from high school as valedictorian. She went on to attend business college and graduate with an associate degree. Shortly thereafter she married Cork Millner, an officer in the navy, and together they had two children, Kim Cavalle and Dane ..read more

Santa Barbara Symphony’s law-firm sounding April adventure makes its connections through klezmer, the traditional Jewish & East European music that often doesn’t get a lot of orchestral opportunities. After the concert opens with Mozart’s “Overture to Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384,” his first opera written in Vienna, David Krakauer takes another star turn as the soloist in the piece written for him 15 years ago by Belarusian-American composer Wlad Marhulets – the “Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet,” which overlays the traditional music with classical instrumentation. Post-intermission, th ..read more

Less than two weeks after everyone’s attention was focused on the solar eclipse, the Westmont Observatory focuses on lunar craters and a red giant Friday, April 19, beginning after sunset at 7:30 pm and lasting several hours. The observatory, home to the powerful Keck Telescope, opens to the public every third Friday of the month in conjunction with knowledgeable volunteers from the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit. The 11-day-old moon will be high in the east during the start of stargazing. “Rising in Leo – the lion – the moon will offer a host of prominent craters near its south pole, includi ..read more

The Montecito Union School Foundation (MUSF) annual gala fundraiser was held on Friday, April 12 at the Rosewood Miramar Beach Montecito. This year’s formal affair – Côte d’Azur: A night in the French Riviera. Vice Principal Rusty Ito and wife Rebecca with MUS Superintendent Anthony Ranii and wife Lindsay (photo by Joanne A Calitri) The important fundraising gala assures that the resources of MUS will continue and be added to. It awards grants towards the school’s musical $11,600, the African drumming classes that started with MUS music teacher Pam McClendon over 10 years ago, the MUS Strategi ..read more

The 65th Annual Carpinteria Community Awards Banquet took place on Saturday, April 6, at Girls Inc. of Carpinteria’s indoor gym.  Held annually since 1958, the event was led by the newly formed Carpinteria Community Association [CCA], whose Board of Directors are President Karen Graf, Neil Bartlett, Bob Berkenmeier, Mary Ann Colson, Beth Cox, Gary Dobbins, Clyde Freemen, Donna Lemere, Curtis Lopez, Shelley Nunes, and Pam Werner. The CCA was recently formed for the annual awards selection and event.  Junior Carpinterian of the Year for 2023 Lizbeth Alpizar Farfan (photo by Joanne A Ca ..read more

“I didn’t always know I wanted to be a doctor. Actually, I hadn’t really considered medicine until my sister was diagnosed,” says 17-year-old Natalie Martinez. Natalie and her family are Carpinteria locals. On the weekend, they enjoy hiking the Franklin Trail and visiting family in Ventura. But their lives were upended when Natalie’s 13-year-old sister, Evelyn, was diagnosed with vasculitis, an autoimmune condition that can cause serious damage to the blood vessels.  “During her final days one of her health care providers came up to me. She told me stories about Evelyn while she had been ..read more

The ancient activity of laundering has woven itself into our culture in many ways. As an example, there was once a popular catchphrase “no tickee, no washee” which derived from the time when most of the laundry businesses in the U.S., were owned and operated by immigrants from China. Originally it meant that, in order to pick up your clean laundry, you must present the receipt you received when you gave it in. [Such mockery of one ethnic group’s way of speaking English is of course today taboo.] It all may have started in California at the time of the 1849 Gold Rush. Most of the aspiring miner ..read more

In many ways, Earth Day is every day at Caruso’s.  “We have to follow Mother Nature,” insists Executive Chef Massimo Falsini, who recently steered the oceanfront eatery at the Rosewood Miramar Beach toward its first Forbes 5-Star honor. Caruso’s is also the winner of a coveted One Star rating from Michelin, along with a Michelin Green Star nod for a slew of sustainability efforts, from food sourcing to composting. “If you were to send up a drone on any particular week and take a picture of our farmers’ market, and then take a picture of our plates set across the table, the colors would ma ..read more