UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The Blue-Green Rivalry leaves Cal Poly black and blue again!

UCSB shot what is believed to be a program-record 82% from the floor in the first half on their way to a 40-point beatdown of the Mustangs 107-67.

The Gauchos have now won 17 straight games against the Mustangs, their last loss in the series was in January of 2018.

UCSB made 23-of-28 shots in the first half including 10 three-pointers as they led 59-33 at halftime.

The Gauchos kept their foot on the gas in the second half and reached 100 points with over 3 minutes left in the game.

Zion Sensley led six Gauchos in double-figures in scoring with a game-high 20 points off the bench. The Sophomore also led everyone with seven rebounds.

(Miro Little had a strong game for UCSB with 12 points, a career-high 11 assists and just one turnover. Entenza Design).

(Freshman CJ Shaw added 16 points off the bench as UCSB improved to 5-3 in the Big West and 12-7 overall. Entenza Design).

(Aidan Mahaney tallied 15 points for UCSB who ended up shooting 67% from the floor with 15 made three-pointers. Entenza Design).

Cal Poly got 11 points from Jake Davis while Hamad Mousa added 10 points.

(Coach DeGeorge sees his Mustangs fall to 3-5 in the Big West and 7-13 for the season. Entenza Design).

The post Gauchos crush Cal Poly by 40 points for 17th straight win in the Blue-Green Rivalry appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The Santa Barbara Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 83rd annual Person of the Year award.

The honor recognizes an individual, couple, or family whose service has made a lasting and meaningful impact on the Santa Barbara community.

Community members are encouraged to submit nominations highlighting leadership, service, and dedication to improving quality of life in the region.

Nominations will remain open through February 18, with this year’s honorees set to be announced in March.

For more information on eligibility and how to nominate, visit the Santa Barbara Foundation’s website.

The post Nominations Open for Santa Barbara Person of the Year appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - A local nonprofit races to rescue surplus produce and deliver it to families in need as hunger rises across the region.

Fresh food begins long before it reaches a plate.

Just after sunrise at Rincon Hill Farms in Carpinteria, workers move quickly through the fields — cutting, sorting, and lifting crops pulled from the soil before the heat settles in.

This is where the rescue begins.

“We have an undercover crop that’s helping to protect the soil,” said Chloe Lobdell, farm director at Rincon Hill Farm.

Rows of fresh produce stretch across the fields — some destined for store shelves, others left behind. But even what doesn’t make it to market still has value.

“It’s wintertime, but we have a lot of root vegetables and lettuce,” Lobdell said.

That food now fuels Veggie Rescue, a Santa Barbara nonprofit that has saved more than five million pounds of fresh food by diverting surplus produce from farms, grocery stores, and farmers markets — and delivering it directly to those who need it most.

“To rescue food that would otherwise end up in landfills,” said David Roberts, Veggie Rescue program director. “All of our food is donated, and we get it to nonprofit partners within 24 hours.”

Veggie Rescue distributes food to nearly 70 nonprofit partners, including schools, churches, shelters, and food banks across Santa Barbara County.

“We’re so thrilled that we’re able to donate food to so many partners,” said Executive Director Eryn Shugart. “But the need right now is outpacing the supply.”

Shugart says cuts to federal benefits and reductions in food bank budgets have pushed more families into food insecurity — at a time when fresh food is already in short supply.

“Unfortunately, as benefits have been cut at the federal level and the Foodbank’s budget has been reduced, food insecurity has risen in our county,” Shugart said.

As demand increases, Veggie Rescue has been forced to maintain a waiting list for organizations seeking fresh food — something the nonprofit hopes to eliminate with increased community support in the coming months.

“I don’t want there to be hungry people in this beautiful place where there’s so much abundance,” Shugart said.

As the sun sets, the rescue shifts from the fields to the city.

At the State Street farmers market, Veggie Rescue driver Kevin Kemp moves through closing stalls, collecting unsold produce as vendors pack up for the night.

Crates of greens, berries, and tomatoes fill the van — all headed to shelters, pantries, and meal programs.

“They could’ve held onto it,” Kemp said. “But they donated it.”

Even small donations make a difference.

“You realize it really does add up — just a couple hundred pounds at a time,” Kemp said.

The journey ultimately leads back to the fields, where hope is planted with every harvest — and where the answer to hunger begins.

The post Exploding Hunger Crisis Hits Santa Barbara Food Rescue appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Por Laura Paddison, CNN

En las arenosas orillas del lago Michigan, con un denso bosque como telón de fondo, un edificio de hormigón gris de ángulos pronunciados podría ser el rostro de un renacimiento nuclear estadounidense.

La planta nuclear de Palisades, a unas dos horas en auto de Chicago, fue desmantelada en 2022, considerada antieconómica en un mundo con el gas estadounidense barato. Pero la empresa Holtec, con sede en Florida, la está reactivando.

Esto marcará no solo el primer reinicio de una planta nuclear estadounidense clausurada, sino que, si todo marcha según lo previsto, Palisades también será la cuna de un gran avance nuclear: los primeros “reactores modulares pequeños” comerciales de Estados Unidos.

Estos reactores nucleares avanzados, conocidos como SMR, son como minicentrales nucleares, pero se promocionan como más baratos, más seguros, más rápidos de construir y más fáciles de financiar que sus contrapartes convencionales, y la publicidad en torno a ellos está aumentando rápidamente.

Su atractivo es evidente: la perspectiva de energía limpia y abundante, disponible las 24 horas del día, los 7 días de la semana.

Son un imán para las empresas tecnológicas que buscan fuentes de energía fiables para satisfacer la enorme demanda de sus centros de datos, que se prevé aumentará exponencialmente con el desarrollo de la IA.

El dinero fluye a raudales desde las grandes tecnológicas y la administración Trump.

Los SMR se encuentran en un punto óptimo actualmente, afirmó Michael Craig, profesor asociado de sistemas energéticos y clima en la Universidad de Michigan. “Se encuentran en un terreno ideal donde hay muchísimas ideas geniales… y tienen mucha promesa y potencial”, declaró a CNN.

La realidad, como siempre, probablemente será más compleja y los expertos advierten cautela.

El coste total de los SMR puede ser menor que el de las plantas convencionales, pero siguen siendo muy caros, lo que significa que el precio de la electricidad que producen será mucho mayor que el de la eólica, la solar o el gas, advierten los expertos.

También tardan mucho en ponerse en funcionamiento. Solo hay tres SMR operativos en todo el mundo, y ninguno está en Estados Unidos. Uno está en una barcaza rusa frente a la costa siberiana y los otros dos en China.

Si el revuelo por los SMR está justificado o no solo se empezará a ver claro cuando se construyan, y la carrera para hacerlo ya está en marcha.

La energía nuclear avanzada es una historia al estilo de ‘Regreso al futuro’, afirmó Touran.

En las décadas de 1950 y 1960, Estados Unidos contaba con docenas de reactores pequeños, “y todos operaban de forma antieconómica”, declaró a CNN.

Por ello, buscando economías de escala para reducir costos y el precio de la electricidad, la industria apostó por el crecimiento.

Sin embargo, la energía nuclear es una tecnología inherentemente compleja, y construir megaproyectos a medida ha resultado difícil. Los plazos se retrasaron, los costos se dispararon y la energía nuclear se estancó en Estados Unidos, incapaz de competir con el gas barato obtenido por fracturación hidráulica.

Ahora, lo pequeño vuelve a estar de moda. Las empresas dicen: “Tenemos nueva tecnología, tenemos nuevos materiales, y esta vez será más barato”, afirmó Touran, aunque “eso definitivamente está por verse”, añadió.

El atractivo perdurable de los SMR reside en su nombre. En primer lugar, se trata de su tamaño.

Los grandes reactores nucleares convencionales son increíblemente caros, a veces alcanzando decenas de miles de millones de dólares.

Los reactores más pequeños simplemente cuestan menos de construir. Son “una solución tecnológica a un problema financiero”, indicó Touran. “Ning

By Helen Regan, Darya Tarasova, CNN

(CNN) — Ukrainian, United States and Russian negotiators will hold talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, marking the first known meeting to be attended by all three countries since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov confirmed Russia would join representatives from Ukraine and the US for the “first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues” in Abu Dhabi, confirming an earlier statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He did not say at what time the talks were scheduled to begin.

The talks come after President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than three hours beginning late Thursday. Kremlin aide Ushakov described those talks as “exceptionally substantive, constructive, and, I would say, extremely frank and confidential.”

But he also warned that “without resolving the territorial issue… one should not count on achieving a long-term settlement,” and added that Russia would continue to pursue its objectives “on the battlefield, where the Russian Armed Forces hold the strategic initiative,” until an agreement is reached.

Recent US-led efforts to broker an end to the four-year war have so far failed to halt the fighting, with Moscow’s demands Ukraine give up territory claimed by Russia long a sticking-point in negotiations.

Russia is occupying around 20% of the territory recognized under international law as part of sovereign Ukraine, including almost all of the Luhansk region, and parts of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Moscow’s longstanding maximalist demands include Ukraine surrendering the entirety of these four regions, which it has annexed but not fully conquered.

Russia’s delegation to Abu Dhabi will be led by Main Intelligence Directorate Chief Admiral Igor Olegovich Kostyukov. Ukraine’s will include the deputy head of the presidential office and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov. The White House has yet to comment on the meeting.

Minutes after the Putin-Witkoff meeting kicked off, Russia said its long-range bomber aircraft conducted a scheduled five-hour patrol flight over the Baltic Sea on Thursday, a move likely intended as a show of force as diplomatic efforts intensify.

‘Down to one issue’

Hours before flying to Moscow Witkoff said negotiations were “down to one issue,” suggesting an agreement was perhaps within reach.

“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” he said, speaking at an event in Davos on Thursday.

A European official later confirmed to CNN that the remaining issue Witkoff referred to was territory, without giving further specifics.

Russian leader Vladamir Putin’s object of desire has long been Ukraine’s Donbas area which has rich farmland and important rivers. The loss of the region would leave the vast open plains of central Ukraine vulnerable to any future Russian offensive.

The Trump administration has placed increased pressure on Ukraine to accept a peace deal, despite widespread concerns such an arrangement could favor Moscow.

During his speech in Davos, the US President appeared to indicate he felt a breakthrough between the two sides was close. “I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done, and if they don’t, they’re stupid,” Trump said of Zelensky and Putin.

On Thursday Zelensky delivered a fiery speech of his own in Davos, calling out European leaders on not doing more to stop Putin’s war, comparing Read more