Santa Barbara County News and Events

Senate blocks massive funding bill, with critical talks underway to avoid government shutdown

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The US Capitol in Washington

By Morgan Rimmer, Ted Barrett, CNN

(CNN) — Bipartisan senators blocked a massive spending bill Thursday, as eleventh-hour talks continue to avoid a costly partial government shutdown that looms at the week’s end.

All Democrats, who are pushing to force changes to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies in the wake of Alex Pretti’s fatal encounter with federal agents in Minneapolis, voted not to advance the six-bill funding package.

Instead, they are demanding that Republicans and the White House agree to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, from the rest of the package so it can be renegotiated.

Seven conservatives joined Democrats in keeping the package from moving forward in a 45-55 vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune changed his vote to “no,” to be able to bring the package up for a later vote.

If the Senate cannot get all 100 senators to consent to splitting the DHS funding bill from the remainder of the package, as Democrats are demanding, then several significant agencies, including Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, will face a lapse in funding.

If a deal is reached, however, the bill would have to be approved by both chambers, meaning the narrowly divided House would have to return to Washington and final approval could be delayed until Monday.

As of Thursday morning, leaders from both parties and the White House were moving closer to a deal.

In the works, was a proposal that would provide funding for the rest of the agencies in the package through the end of September but only temporarily extend funding for DHS, allowing the sides to continue to negotiate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared hopeful ahead of the procedural vote, though he would not say whether he would back some of the proposal offers by Democrats.

“We’re getting closer. Hope it lands. My hope and expectation is that if the White House and Senate Dems work this out they will be able to produce the votes that are necessary to get it passed,” he said.

On Wednesday, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had laid out his caucus’ demands for changes to ICE tactics and protocols that they want to see included in any funding package for DHS: tighten the use of warrants and end roving patrols, enforce a code of conduct comparable to force policies for state and local law enforcement, and for ICE agents to remove their masks and wear body cameras.

However, even if there is a partial government shutdown and DHS is not funded, ICE will remain operational through funding that stems from President Donald Trump’s domestic policy package that was passed last summer.

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

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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Santa Barbara County Approves Major Reforms to Streamline Planning and Zoning Permits

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Ordinance Amendments Improve Customer Service and Reduce Processing Times The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on January 27, 2026, approved a comprehensive set of ordinance amendments designed to make […]

The post Santa Barbara County Approves Major Reforms to Streamline Planning and Zoning Permits appeared first on edhat.

Elon Musk apuesta a que el futuro de Tesla no tiene nada que ver con los autos

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Por Hadas Gold, CNN

Tesla dominó la industria de los vehículos eléctricos a mediados de la década de 2010 con autos elegantes y veloces que ayudaron a combatir la percepción pública de que estos vehículos estaban severamente limitados por su corta autonomía.

Ahora la compañía —y su controvertido director ejecutivo, Elon Musk— enfrentan una competencia más dura y vientos políticos en contra. Sus ventas de vehículos eléctricos cayeron un récord del 9 % en 2025, en medio de una rivalidad creciente con China y la expiración del crédito fiscal en EE.UU. para la compra de autos eléctricos.

Pero Musk ha estado conduciendo a la empresa hacia una apuesta audaz. Cree que el futuro de Tesla no dependerá de los autos, sino de robots humanoides.

En la llamada de resultados de Tesla del miércoles, Musk planteó un reemplazo literal de los autos por robots, al anunciar que la compañía dejará de producir los modelos S y X para fabricar más robots Optimus.

“Vamos a tomar el espacio de producción del Model S y el X en nuestra fábrica de Fremont y convertirlo en una fábrica de Optimus… con el objetivo a largo plazo de tener un millón de unidades al año de robots Optimus en el espacio actual de los S y X en Fremont”, dijo.

Es el sueño futurista por excelencia, propio de la ciencia ficción: Musk asegura que los robots Optimus harán de todo, desde limpiar tu casa hasta realizar cirugías.

Ha dicho que Optimus es la clave para eliminar la pobreza en el mundo, hacer opcional el trabajo humano y llegar a Marte. Y afirma que estarán a la venta a finales de 2027.

“Cada ser humano en la Tierra va a tener su propio R2-D2, C-3PO”, dijo Musk en noviembre, en referencia a los robots personales de Star Wars. “Pero en realidad, Optimus será mejor que eso”.

Pero los críticos sostienen que se trata de distracciones propias de un delirio futurista que apartan a Tesla de su negocio central de automóviles. Y muchas empresas, como Boston Dynamics y Figure, ya están profundamente involucradas en el negocio de los robots humanoides.

El propio éxito de Musk y su remuneración están directamente en juego. Tesla debe entregar un millón de robots Optimus en un plazo de 10 años para que Musk pueda concretar por completo un plan de compensación cercano al billón de dólares aprobado por los accionistas a finales del año pasado.

“Elon es un gran pensador y quiere empujar los límites de la imaginación de la gente”, dijo a CNN en una entrevista un exingeniero sénior de Tesla.

Pero los mercados de los vehículos eléctricos y de los robots son muy distintos, añadió el ingeniero. “Con los autos eléctricos, Tesla era prácticamente la única que trabajaba en este problema difícil. Ahora hay muchas compañías y una enorme competencia”.

Tesla presentó por primera vez su proyecto de robot humanoide en un evento en 2021, donde una figura plateada bailó al ritmo de música tecno en un escenario. En realidad era un actor con un traje de robot, incluso con un rostro que parecía una pantalla. “Obviamente, eso no es real”, dijo Musk cuando la figura disfrazada abandonó el escenario.

Solo unos meses después, en enero de 2022, Musk dijo que creía que Optimus podría ser “más significativo que el negocio de los vehículos” para Tesla con el tiempo.

Tesla afirma que Optimus ahora puede clasificar objetos, servir palomitas de maíz, sacar la basura y bailar. Realiza “algunas tareas básicas en la fábrica”, dijo Musk el miércoles: avances, pero todavía muy lejos de su visión futurista, incluso cuando predijo que Optimus podría generar eventualmente US$ 10 billones en ingresos.

Aun así, Musk ha fijado un calendario acelerado para Optimus. En el Foro Económico Mundial de enero dijo que el robot estará disponible para la venta a finales de 2027.

Es un objetivo ambicioso que, según los expertos, podría ser más difícil que las apuestas de Musk por lo

From ‘The Big Chill’ to ‘Inception,’ here are the 25 films added to the National Film Registry this year

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By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — While President Donald Trump is pushing Americans to see his wife’s documentary “Melania” which premieres this week, the Library of Congress is reminding us that the country’s cinematic history is vast and well worth celebrating.

The body on Thursday released its annual list of films added to the National Film Registry “due to their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.”

The Library named 25 films in total, dating from 1896 to 2014. The list includes classics from the ’80s and ’90’s, including “The Big Chill,” “The Karate Kid,” “Philadelphia” and “Before Sunrise,” as well as newer fare like “Inception” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

No one tell the president that the 1992 comedy “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” in which he famously makes a cameo, did not make the cut.

The Library of Congress National Film Registry was established by Congress when the National Film Preservation Act was passed in 1988. The selections for 2025 bring the number of titles in the registry to 925.

Wes Anderson, who directed “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” said the Library of Congress inspired his film’s visual style.

“When we were first starting to try to figure out, how do we tell this story… the architecture and the landscapes… they don’t exist anymore,” Anderson said in a statement to NPR. “We just went through the entire photocrom collection, which is a lot of images. And …we made our own versions of things, but much of what is in our film comes directly – with our little twist on it – from that collection, from the library, the Library of Congress.”

Trump has targeted the Library of Congress in his desire to overhaul the government.

In May 2025, he fired the long-serving Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who still had about a year and a half left in her 10-year term.

Later that year, the Supreme Court stopped Trump, at least temporarily, from replacing a top official at the Library of Congress, Shira Perlmutter, the director of the US Copyright Office.

The films added by the Library of Congress to the National Film Registry for 2025 are:

· The Tramp and the Dog (1896)

· The Oath of the Sword (1914)

· The Maid of McMillan (1916)

· The Lady (1925)

· Sparrows (1926)

· Ten Nights in a Barroom (1926)

· White Christmas (1954)

· High Society (1956)

· Brooklyn Bridge (1981)

· Say Amen, Somebody (1982)

· The Thing (1982)

· The Big Chill (1983)

· The Karate Kid (1984)

· Glory (1989)

· Philadelphia (1993)

· Before Sunrise (1995)

· Clueless (1995)

· The Truman Show (1998)

· Frida (2002)

· The Hours (2002)

· The Incredibles (2004)

· The Wrecking Crew (2008)

· Inception (2010)

· The Loving Story (2011)

· The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

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

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