The post What’s Happening in Downtown Santa Barbara: March 20-25 appeared first on edhat.

By Ritu Prasad, Meteorologist Chris Dolce, CNN

(CNN) — Homes on Hawaii’s Oahu island have been destroyed and towns have been cut off by catastrophic flash floods as the second significant storm in a week pounds the state.

It’s unclear how many homes have been destroyed in northern Oahu where the flooding is occurring, according to Oahu Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Molly Pierce. Pierce was also not aware of any water rescues so far but said she expects that to change before the night is over.

Evacuations have been urged for Waialua and Haleiwa, according to the Oahu Department of Emergency Management.

“If you can evacuate safely, evacuate to higher ground now,” the department said. “If water is rising in your home, move to a higher floor. If you are trapped, go to the highest level.”

Emergency responders are struggling to access the flooded area, with two main roadways into it — Kamehameha Highway and Kaukonahua Road — flooded, Pierce said.

“All points into the area are currently flooded, both coming in from central Oahu and from the Kahuku North Shore side. All routes in are flooded right now,” Pierce added.

A flash flood emergency — the highest-level flood warning — was issued for the area until 8 a.m. HST, or 4 p.m. ET.

“This is a FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY for Northern Oahu. This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!” the warning from the National Weather Service said.

Heavy bands of rain from a new Kona storm have soaked Oahu overnight, dumping two-to-three months’ worth of rain in the last 24 hours. Rainfall totals have reached 6 to 12 inches on the northern half of the island.

The ground is saturated from last weekend’s major storm, so water is running off quickly and causing more serious flooding.

Dams and reservoirs on the island are also at extremely high levels, but are starting to come down with a lull in the rain, though officials are monitoring them given the already high saturation from the earlier storm.

More heavy rain is possibly on Oahu and the rest of the islands through this weekend, and a flash flood watch is in effect until Sunday afternoon.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN Meteorologist Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

The post Homes destroyed in Hawaii as catastrophic flash flooding hits Oahu appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

The post Boys’ Volleyball Roundup: San Marcos Edges Rival Santa Barbara in Four Sets appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Friday revived a First Amendment lawsuit from a street preacher who used a loudspeaker to call people “whores,” “Jezebels” and “sissies” as they tried to enter an amphitheater to attend concerts in a suburban Mississippi community.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion for a unanimous court.

The issue for the court was not the constitutionality of the protest-control ordinance enacted by the city of Brandon, located outside Jackson, Mississippi. Rather, the question for the justices was whether sidewalk preacher Gabriel Olivier could file a civil suit challenging the ordinance even though he had already been convicted of violating it.

A 1994 Supreme Court precedent, Heck v. Humphrey, bars people convicted of a crime from using civil lawsuits to effectively reverse their convictions. Because Olivier had previously been convicted of violating Brandon’s ordinance, lower courts, including the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, concluded that his civil lawsuit challenging the city’s rule could not move forward.

The December oral argument turned almost entirely on how to interpret the Heck precedent, which was written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. That decision was intended to block people convicted of a crime from filing a civil suit against police or other officials that would, if successful, effectively let them undermine their conviction. If a court reviewing that civil suit found an underlying law unconstitutional, then people guilty of violating it would almost certainly seek to toss their conviction and punishment.

But Olivier said he would not do so – that he only wanted to block future enforcement of the ordinance.

Though the case is technical, the court’s decision could have broad implications for similar ordinances across the country. Local governments claimed that Olivier’s position would create new legal challenges to parade permitting requirements, zoning rules for adult businesses and regulations around homeless encampments.

Olivier traveled to Brandon several times in 2018 and 2019 to share his faith on sidewalks near the city’s amphitheater. In 2019, the city passed an ordinance requiring protesters to gather in a designated area about 265 feet away. It banned loudspeakers that could be heard more than 100 feet away and required signs – regardless of their message – to be handheld.

The city described the protests as chaotic. Olivier yelled at concertgoers – using words like “fornicator” and “drunkards” – as they entered the amphitheater. The group sometimes held large signs depicting aborted fetuses, according to court records. Concertgoers would walk into traffic to avoid the group. Police would have to intervene to prevent fights between the group and attendees, the city said.

In 2021, as concertgoers arrived to hear country music artist Lee Brice perform, police advised Olivier and his group to move to the designated area. Olivier declined, according to court records, and was arrested for violating the ordinance. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a fine and a year’s unsupervised probation.

The conservative 6-3 Supreme Court has repeatedly sided with religious claims in recent years, al

The post Trump administration acknowledges it needs immigrant farmworkers as it moves to cut their pay appeared first on edhat.