SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) Santa Barbara City Council is considering rent stabilization within the city limits.

But they have not come up with an ordinance, yet.

In October, Councilmembers Kristen Sneddon and Wendy Santamaria presented a memo requesting consideration of an ordinance.

City Administrator Kelly McAdoo proposed getting feedback instead on a proposed rent stabilization work plan that staff has been working on.

The issue has led to rallies and packed council meetings that pit renters against landlords.

Tuesday was no different.

The meeting agenda item started at 5 p.m. to allow 9-5 workers to attend.

It was standing room only, with dozens of people in an overflow room watching the meeting on television.

Some people want to see a compromise to help people who work in the city afford to live in the city.

Although no concrete decisions will be made this month renters and landlords shared their stories and signed up to publicly comment.

Trish Ainsworth has lived in Santa Barbara since the 1950s.

She said a grown child of her first landlord is now in control and has been raising her rent each year.

Like many renters she said she pays about $1,750 for her place a month, but only receives $2200 in social security.

Rick Lang is a landlord with several units but he is considering selling them.

Lang noticed prices go up when the city started talking about rent stabilization ideas.

Lang said more than half the money goes to the mortgage with the rest going to property taxes, repairs and other bills.

He said he is not getting rich.

Lang said there are always unintended consequences.

A city program could include a cap on rent increases and a rental registry.

Members of the nonprofit CAUSE sent spokespeople to the meeting from Ventura County.

Cause Associate Police Director Jennifer Hernandez said she would like to see a rent freeze until something final is done.

The city council agenda said goal is to have an ordinance the staff has worked on presented to the council for consideration by July 2026.

That's a lot of months of rent before a vote.

But people concerned about the high price of living in Santa Barbara said they have already waited for years and that an ordinance would be worth the wait

We will have more on the topic tonight on the news.

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FILLMORE, Calif. (KEYT) – Jose Zavala of Fillmore was sentenced to 100 years to life in state prison, the maximum sentence available, for the continuous sexual abuse of two children he knew through family.

On Nov. 10 of this year, Zavala was found guilty by a Ventura County jury of three counts of lewd acts on a child and one count of continuous sexual abuse as well as several special allegations including that he took advantage of a position of trust and that the survivors were particularly vulnerable.

Zavala molested two children, one was six and the other was ten when the abuse started in 2019, regularly over several years noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

He gained access to the children through a family relationship added the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

In 2023, both survivors shared the abuse with mandated reporters who then reached out to law enforcement detailed the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

"The imposition of the maximum sentence is warranted by the extreme and horrifying nature of
these crimes," said Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Kern who prosecuted the case. "It further sends an unmistakable message that abuse of this kind will not be tolerated in our community."

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By Kit Maher, Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was ordering a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving from Venezuela, ratcheting up pressure against leader Nicolás Maduro’s regime and suggesting an economic motive to the US’ military campaign in the region.

Punctuating the words “total and complete blockade” in capital letters in a Truth Social post, Trump pointed to the large collection of US military assets in the region, suggested more could be coming and took aim at Maduro’s regime by name. He also suggested Venezuela give up land, oil and assets to the United States, making clear that one aim of his military campaign is not just about countering the drug trade.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump said Tuesday night.

Combined with Trump’s threat of land strikes on Venezuelan soil, the move ratcheted up pressure on Caracas by going after its economic lifeline, which had already come under strain after new sanctions on the oil sector earlier this year and last week’s seizure of a tanker full of Venezuelan oil.

It also underscored Trump’s focus on the country’s oil, which he has said the US should have access to if Maduro is ousted. State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela controls the country’s petroleum industry. Houston-based Chevron is the only US firm drilling in Venezuela and pays a percentage of its output to PDVSA under a sanctions carve-out.

American companies had a much larger presence in Venezuela’s oil fields until the country put the sector under state control in the 1970s. Trump has made little secret his desire for the US to return to the country’s oil industry.

Venezuela’s oil reserves are the world’s largest but operate well below capacity due to international sanctions. Much of the country’s oil is sold to China.

The US government has imposed sanctions on Venezuela since 2005, and the first Trump administration in 2019 effectively blocked all crude exports to the United States from PDVSA. Then-President Joe Biden in 2022 granted Chevron a permit to operate in Venezuela as part of an effort to lower gas prices. Trump revoked that license in March but later reissued on condition that no proceeds go to the Maduro government.

In his Truth Social post, Trump accused “the illegitimate Maduro regime” of using stolen oil to “finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.”

The Trump administration has launched strikes at suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, and the president has said repeatedly strikes on land will come soon. Officials had largely framed the operation as being about countering the narcotics trade, but on Tuesday, Vanity Fair published interviews in which White House chief of staff Susie Wiles indicated the effort was about putting pressure on Maduro to step aside.

CNN has reached out to the White House and US Southern Command, responsible for military operations in most of Latin America and the Caribbean, for more information on the blockade.

Speaking before Trump’s announcement, Maduro praised Venezuela for having “proven to be a strong country” against the US pressure campaign.

“Venezuela has [spent] 25 weeks denouncing, confronting and defeating a campaign of multidimensional aggression, ranging from ps

Por Pablo A. García Escorihuela, CNN en Español

La postemporada de la NFL será muy particular. El invitado recurrente a la fiesta no aparecerá y eso hará que, como en el juego de las fiestas de niños, los quarterbacks empiecen a rotarse en las sillitas para ver quién de ellos reemplazará como la gran estrella de la postemporada al que siempre se robaba el show.

Patrick Mahomes y los Chiefs de Kansas City no estarán en los playoffs, y esto abre el panorama y el debate acerca de quiénes son los candidatos ideales para suplir al líder del ataque de la franquicia que dominó la NFL durante los últimos siete años.

1. Josh Allen y los Bills de Buffalo: La victima favorita de los Chiefs y Mahomes. Siempre que se cruzaron en los playoffs, terminaron cediendo ante ellos. Con Allen jugando nuevamente a un nivel extraordinario, esta podría ser la postemporada en la que finalmente den el golpe a la mesa, y los Bills puedan hacer ese viaje al Superbowl que les resultó tan esquivo en las últimas cuatro temporadas.

2. Matthew Stafford y los Rams de Los Ángeles: Stafford es hoy en día uno de los candidatos principales al Jugador Más Valioso de la temporada de la NFL y, también, un ganador en playoffs capaz de lucir sus habilidades en esta etapa clave de la temporada, con unos Rams que hasta ahora han dominado la NFC.

3. Justin Herbert y los Chargers de Los Ángeles: Herbert es un quarterback joven, con gran visión del juego y mucha creatividad para armar jugadas. Y al estar en la misma división de los Chiefs, de alguna forma es uno de los responsables de la debacle de los de Andy Reid este año. Podría ser su gran oportunidad para mostrarse en un escenario ideal para brillar ante la ausencia de Mahomes en el playoff.

4. Jalen Hurts y los Eagles de Filadelfia: Campeón del Super Bowl la temporada pasada, Hurts es el último en derrotar a Mahomes en un playoff. Antes de eso, solo lo había hecho caer un tal Tom Brady. De su capacidad, ya no quedan dudas. De las del equipo que lo rodea en esta campaña, sí. Pero si demuestra esa sangre fría y manejo de la postemporada anterior, el quarterback de los Eagles puede sentarse en el trono estelar de la liga de ahora en adelante.

5. Trevor Lawrence y los Jaguars de Jacksonville: Lawrence tiene arrojo, agallas y un gran brazo. Sus capacidades para leer y entender el juego bajo presión son de sobra conocidas. Pero su irregularidad lo golpea y lo deja por debajo del resto en la lista. Sin embargo, un gran playoff en esta temporada con unos sorprendentes Jaguars podría ser un gran mensaje para todos en la NFL.

Después, el panorama también está abierto a otras sorpresas. Hay casos especiales, como los de Bo Nix, Caleb Williams y Drake Maye, que siendo quarterbacks de segundo año podrían dar un gran golpe en estos playoffs, o los de Brock Purdy, Sam Darnold, Jordan Love o Jared Goff, que todavía tienen que ratificarse en la postemporada; o el caso especial del vaquero viejo que busca su último gran baile en este playoff: Aaron Rodgers.

The-CNN-Wire
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SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Maria police are investigating vandalism and theft at the Knights of Columbus Hall, which held toys for the city's Catholic Charities Christmas Toy distribution on Thursday.

One eyewitness said she noticed bikes knocked over, toy bags ripped open, kitchen and refrigerator doors open, a broken window and window bars pulled out, according to the CCSM.

The eyewitness later said she heard rustling near the offices before returning to her car to call a coworker and then the police on recommendation, according to the CCSM.

Five officers came to the scene and found no intruder despite a drone insertion. Thieves stole seven bikes, toys, clothes, shoes and new bags of blankets, according to the CCSM.

The community donated the items through Toys for Tots and a member of the non-profit said the yearly event is for families and children in need, according to the CCSM.

The CCSM reminds those who are able that donations will be accepted until Thursday at 1:00 p.m. when the distribution will still be held.

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