The post Firefighters Respond to Brush Fire Off Farren Road in Goleta appeared first on edhat.

GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) – Fire crews are on scene for a vegetation fire on Farren Road in Goleta, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

The fire first broke out around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Farren Road is currently closed at Verda Del Padre, according to the SBCSO.

Citizens are asked to avoid the area to clear room for emergency crews. More information on this fire will be provided as it becomes available for acreage and possible evacuations.

The post Crews tackle vegetation fire on Farren Road in Goleta appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Evan Perez, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department’s anticipated criminal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro is a prosecution more than 30 years in the works, with federal prosecutors in Miami first drafting an indictment against him in the 1990s.

After three decades, criminal charges expected to be announced Wednesday at an event in Miami focus on the 94-year-old Castro’s role — years before his presidency — as defense minister and alleged role in ordering the 1996 shoot down of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Cuban-American group Brothers to the Rescue, according to people briefed on the matter.

Four people, three of them Americans, were killed in the attack by two Cuban MiG fighters in international airspace. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to attend a ceremony honoring the victims of the shoot-down on a day that Cuban exiles celebrate as Cuba’s independence day, according to people familiar with the plans.

The original draft indictment, however, was built on the momentum of the successful prosecution of Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian leader convicted in 1992 of racketeering and drug trafficking.

“On the heels of the Noriega case, we frankly redoubled the efforts to move this case forward,” Guy Lewis, a former US Attorney in Miami, said of the early efforts in a telephone interview.

Years later, Lewis wrote a seven-page memo laying out a possible case against Castro that in recent months made its way to top Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The memo was originally prepared in 2016 and later sent to then Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But no case materialized — until now.

George Fowler, whose family fled Cuba when he was 9-years-old and is a longtime attorney representing the Cuban American National Foundation lobbying group, says he wrote to President Donald Trump and included Lewis’ memo to make the case for taking action against Castro.

“I’ve been trying to get the Castros indicted since I was 9-years-old,” Fowler said in an interview with CNN.

Lewis, who helped prosecute Noriega, says some of the investigation to prepare for the Noriega prosecution helped develop evidence that Castro, brother of then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and others in the Cuban government took millions in payments from Colombian cartel leaders to protect their shipments.

Those efforts to bring charges came to a halt after the Miami Herald reported on the indictment draft, Lewis recalls from the time.

A new effort took root after the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, as the FBI intensified its investigation of the Cuban intelligence spy ring that stretched from military installations in Miami and Tampa, to infiltrations of the Brothers to the Rescue group and even the offices of members of Congress.

The spy ring known as La Red Avispa, or Wasp Network, had planted Cuban intelligence officers inside Miami’s anti-Castro Cuban community, including the Brothers to the Rescue, which began as a group of airborne spotters who identified Cuban refugees who needed rescue at sea.

In a 2000 trial, five members of the Cuban spy ring, including its leader Gerardo Hernandez, were found guilty of espionage and other charges. A separate US indictment included murder and other charges against the Cuban MiG pilots and a Cuban general who allegedly ordered the unarmed civilian planes to be shot down.

Hernandez, then serving a life sentence in a US prison, was among a group that was returned to Cuba as part of a prisoner exchange in 2014, sparking outrage in south Florida, home of the largest Cuban-American community.

“My reaction was anger,” Lewis says. “It was like spitting in the face of these families and the memory of these men. Three US citizens who were murdered in cold blood.”

While the effort to charge Castro appeared to fi

CNN

By Eric Bradner, Arit John, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s retribution campaign steamrolled another Republican rival on Tuesday, with a Trump-backed challenger ousting one of the president’s leading intra-party antagonists, Rep. Thomas Massie, in a Kentucky primary.

Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein’s win over Massie continued a May political payback tour that has seen Trump take down five Indiana state senators who voted against his redistricting push two weeks ago, and two-term Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, on Saturday.

It was one of two key races on Kentucky’s primary ballots in which Trump demonstrated his lasting influence with Republican voters.

Kentucky’s polls were the most closely watched on a day in which Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Oregon and Pennsylvania were also holding primaries.

Here are takeaways from Tuesday’s contests:

Trump topples ‘terrible’ Massie

Trump has vowed retribution against a number of Republicans over slights real and perceived. But years of battles over spending, the Jeffrey Epstein files, the United States’ support for Israel and more led the president to take Massie’s primary particularly personally.

“Thomas Massie is a terrible congressman. He’s been a terrible congressman from day one. Dealing with him is just horrible. I don’t think he’s a Republican. I think he’s actually, I think he’s actually a Democrat,” Trump said Tuesday.

The president personally visited Kentucky in March, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a highly unusual trip to the district on Monday to campaign alongside Gallrein and urge voters to send Trump “reinforcements” in Congress, where the GOP is seeking to hold onto its narrow majority in November’s midterm elections.

In Kentucky’s 4th District, which has routinely elected Massie by about 30 percentage points, voters took Trump’s side on Tuesday.

Massie’s loss is a reminder for Republicans in Washington and statehouses across the country that even with Trump’s approval rating slipping into the mid-30s and one of his most reliable demographics turning on the president, he is the party’s leader, he holds the power to force those who don’t follow him to pay a steep political price and he is eager to wield it.

The race was one of the most expensive primaries in history, with $19 million being spent on advertising supporting Gallrein and $14 million on pro-Massie ads.

How Trump lifted Barr to nomination for McConnell’s seat

Retiring

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) When a 54 ft. sailboat name Wet Vette ran aground on Santa Rosa Island around 2 p.m. Thursday , the boat caught fire.

Without cell service the solo sailor on board from Long Beach managed to get a short video of the burning sailboat deck and mast.

"Wow, said the sailor, who wishes to remain anonymous, "That is a hot fire, I hope it doesn't start this Island on fire that wouldn't be good."

He then used marine flares to draw attention in hopes of being rescued.

The fire response began hours before a local boater reported seeing the flairs and the shipwrecked sailor.

A coast guard helicopter flew the man to Pt. Mugu on Friday

On Sunday, when it appeared the fire was threatening access to housing, Santa Barbara County Fire transported 11 National Park Service workers to the Oxnard Airport.

Despite reports about the sailboat catching fire and his burning flairs, U.S. Wildland Fire Service Public Information Officer Ana Beatriz Cholo, said the cause is still under investigation

"I can tell you that 16,942 acres were burned. It is 26 percent contained and we were approved sea water today, so we were able to use a Scooper with sea water and we also used retardant so we could protect high value structures, that was good news," said Beatriz Cholo, " We also inserted another hot shot crew so this is a module with 10 specialized firefighters that are out there fighting the fire."

There are also hot shots from Arroyo Grande and firefighters from the Chumash Fire Department fighting the fire.

Many of their fire trucks are parked in the Ventura Harbor.

"There are more than 75 people right now on the island engaged in fighting this fire, challenges as you can image remain logistics," said Beatriz Cholo.

That is where Island Packers comes in.

Island Packers Office Manager Karissa Smathers said they have been ferrying crews and equipment.

"We are taking firefighters, we have been taking them the past few days out to the islands," said Smathers.

They are also booking Memorial Day weekend trips to the other Islands.

"We are still running trips as scheduled to Anacapa and Santa Cruz," said Smathers.

The fire remains active on the north side where at least three structures have burned.

 "The good news is the south point light house remains intact, so we are pleased about that, " said Beatriz Cholo.

At the Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at the Channel Islands National Park in the Ventura Harbor Center people can learn about the second largest island on topographical maps.

They can also watch a film narrated by Academy Award winning actor Kevin Costner.

Costner describes Santa Rosa's beauty and its rare grove of endangered Torry Pines.

On clear says they can see the Channel Islands from the observation deck.

Calvan Richardson said he has visited most of the Islands and hopes crews can save Santa Rosa.

The Island features also features Chumash, ranching, and military history, Island Fox, sculpted sandstone walls of Lobo Canyon, sand dunes, beaches, seals and sea lion rookeries.

Your News Channel will have more on the Santa Rosa Fire tonight on the news.

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