Santa Barbara County News and Events

Hot Wednesday, rain expected next week

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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - Temperatures this week reach their highest on Wednesday with most areas in the low 80s.

Onshore winds return Thursday but only minimal cooling is expected with another toasty day on tap.

It will be gusty at times with a wind advisory issued for Ventura County and a high surf advisory.

We will stay in the 70s through the Super Bowl weekend with rain to follow.

Rain chances begin on Monday though is more likely for Tuesday and Wednesday with under half an inch expected so far and cooler temperatures in the 60s.

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Judge appears likely to side with Mark Kelly in case challenging Pentagon’s efforts to punish him over ‘illegal orders’ video

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By Devan Cole, Austin Culpepper, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge appears likely to side with Mark Kelly in the Democratic senator’s case alleging the Pentagon is violating his First Amendment rights through its effort to punish him over his urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders.

During a high-stakes hearing in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Senior US District Judge Richard Leon seemed troubled by the Trump administration’s suggestion that he take the unprecedented step of expanding existing loopholes to First Amendment protections for active-duty service members to also cover retirees such as Kelly.

“You’re asking me to do something the Supreme Court or the DC Circuit has never done,” Leon told a Justice Department lawyer defending the Pentagon’s efforts. “That’s a bit of a stretch.”

Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said he would likely issue a decision on Kelly’s request for a court order blocking the Pentagon’s efforts by February 11.

The hearing was the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s campaign to use the levers of government to punish high-profile critics of the president. In several other cases involving Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies, federal judges have stymied the president’s retribution crusade, killing criminal cases brought against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James and ruling against the president’s efforts to hamstring the work of Mark Zaid, a notable whistleblower attorney.

Kelly’s case, brought last month, came just after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would pursue administrative action against the senator, including reducing his last military rank, which would lower the pay he receives as a retired Navy captain, and issuing a letter of censure.

Hegseth and Trump have publicly attacked Kelly over a video posted in November by the Arizona lawmaker – and five other Democrats with a history of military service – urging service members not to obey unlawful orders that could be issued by the Trump administration.

“When viewed in totality, your pattern of conduct demonstrates specific intent to counsel servicemembers to refuse lawful orders. This pattern demonstrates that you were not providing abstract legal education about the duty to refuse patently illegal orders. You were specifically counseling servicemembers to refuse particular operations that you have characterized as illegal,” Hegseth wrote to Kelly last month in the censure letter.

But lawyers for the senator argue the Pentagon’s actions run afoul of his First Amendment rights and that his comments are protected by the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, which states that a sitting member of Congress is protected from certain inquiries and procedures that originate outside of Congress. Additionally, they say the moves violate his due process rights, describing them as “foreordained decisionmaking.”

CNN’s Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

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La rutina del español Tomás Guarino peligra en los Juegos Olímpicos, pues los Minions tienen derechos de autor

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Por Scottie Andrew, CNN

Los Minions podrían llegar a Milán después de todo.

Tras una crisis de último minuto por problemas de licencias musicales, el patinador español Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté podría finalmente presentar una rutina inspirada en los Minions, los personajes animados que hablan en un idioma inventado, en los Juegos Olímpicos de Invierno, afirmó su entrenador Edoardo De Bernardis. Sin embargo, aún enfrenta algunos obstáculos relacionados con derechos de autor antes de poder patinar con seguridad usando su vestuario de Minion.

Sabaté ha presentado el programa de los Minions a lo largo de la temporada de patinaje artístico 2025-2026. No obstante, el lunes, Sabaté dijo que se enteró de que la música de su rutina de los Minions no había sido autorizada para su uso en la competencia olímpica.

Tenía previsto patinar con un popurrí de canciones que incluía la versión de los Minions de la famosa fanfarria de Universal Pictures y una canción de Pharrell que aparecía en “Mi Villano Favorito 3”. Algunas de las canciones del popurrí han sido autorizadas para su uso, tras la indignación pública por la posible “desminionización” del evento, pero aún quedan algunos obstáculos legales por superar.

A pesar de que las pruebas de patinaje artístico comienzan el viernes, Sabaté y su equipo aún no saben si podrá patinar como un Minion. “Estaba y sigue estando muy preocupado”, dijo De Bernardis en un correo electrónico. “No hay tiempo para crear algo nuevo y sólido”.

No es habitual que un deportista se entere tan cerca del inicio de los Juegos Olímpicos de que la música de su rutina no ha sido autorizada. Pero los problemas de derechos de autor han acechado al patinaje sobre hielo desde que en 2022 se presentó una demanda contra dos atletas olímpicos estadounidenses por patinar con una canción sin permiso. Estos son los primeros Juegos de Invierno tras esa demanda, y los patinadores aún no tienen claro por qué algunas canciones no están permitidas.

“No es algo en lo que los patinadores artísticos hayan tenido que pensar realmente durante las muchas, muchas décadas que lleva existiendo el patinaje artístico”, dijo Jackie Wong, analista de patinaje artístico que ha asistido a los entrenamientos en Milán. “Nadie tiene una respuesta clara y real a esto. El número de entrenadores, coreógrafos y patinadores con los que he hablado… todos parecen tener una historia diferente sobre lo que se supone que deben hacer”.

La semana pasada, Sabaté se enteró de que su popurrí no estaba autorizado debido a “problemas de derechos de autor”, a pesar de que había enviado su música a través del sistema de la Unión Internacional de Patinaje meses antes y había competido con el programa durante toda la temporada.

“Descubrir esto el viernes pasado, tan cerca de la competición más importante de mi vida, fue increíblemente decepcionante”, escribió Sabaté en una historia de Instagram. “No obstante, afrontaré este reto con valentía y haré todo lo posible para sacar lo mejor de la situación”.

De Bernardis dijo que Sabaté no recibió una “respuesta clara y definitiva” sobre el uso de la música de los Minions hasta tres días antes de partir hacia Milán. El titular de los derechos de autor también “tenía un problema con el concepto de su vestuario”, dijo De Bernardis.

El martes, según el entrenador, Sabaté recibió la sorpresa de que se le autorizaba a utilizar algunas, pero no todas, las canciones de su popurrí. Todavía está esperando saber si se le autoriza el resto.

“Se trata de un nuevo procedimiento para obtener la licencia”, explicó De Bernardis.

CNN se ha puesto en contacto con Sabaté y el Comité Olímpico Español para recabar sus comentarios, así como con Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment (el estudio

NFL kickers have gotten so good. What if we upped the ante?

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By Hannah Keyser, CNN

San Jose, California (CNN) — Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers holds the record for the most points scored in a season without a touchdown and the highest field goal percentage in a season (that is: 100% perfection).

In the offseason, he practices his accuracy by trying to hit the bright yellow poles that form the goal posts from 50 yards away.

“Usually, I’ll hit a few,” he told CNN Sports this week. But come game time, when it matters, “hopefully not.”

Andy Borregales, the Patriots rookie kicker, practices hitting the uprights before every game, in a similar accuracy drill, estimating that he makes contact about one-third of the time. Sometimes he succeeds at it even when he’s not trying to, like in a game.

“But those aren’t on purpose,” Borregales said.

Of course not. Under the current National Football League rules, a doink that bounces outside the posts is worth nothing. An agonizingly minuscule miss that can change the entire complexion of a game. A critical gaffe manifests as a visual goof that counts the same as if you were Charlie Brown kicking at a football whisked away at the last second by Lucy. Which is to say: zero points.

But, what if it was worth more? What if hitting the uprights was extra compared to getting the ball through the goalposts?

“I’ve never heard that one before,” Myers said.

“It’s a fantastic question,” said Seahawks special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh.

“You know what? I like it,” said Patriots special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer. “It would make the kicking game drastically different.”

NFL kickers are better than ever. They might be, according to some fans who don’t live in Baltimore, too good.

They’re more accurate than ever because of increasingly specialized training. They’re able to kick the ball further, inspiring teams to go for field goals from greater distances more frequently. New rules around the balls — teams are able to prepare and practice with the same balls kickers use in-game — are amplifying these trends.

“That’s why kickers can hit 65, 70 yards now. They’ve done it their whole life. And we have the balls all season now,” Springer said. “They’ve broken them in, they’ve got a good feel for them. So they’re more confident.”

The result is “changing football.”

You see it in the comment section of NFL stories and on social media – fans grumbling that too many games are reduced to teams trading field goals back and forth. The action you imagine when you picture football is largely reduced to a precursor to a predictable kick. Stunted drives that barely make much headway downfield are sufficient to switch over to special teams.

Sure, you could try to handicap the kickers in some capacity – narrowing the goalposts, for instance – but what if instead they upped the ante and incentivize

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