Newsmakers TV returns with a fast-moving, half-hour gabfest featuring news, analysis and reported commentary about the latest in Santa Barbara policy and politics.
Delaney Smith, the Independent’s new education beat reporter, leads off with an update about the conflict over the controversial GATE program, the latest challenge for embattled Superintendent Cary Matsuoka, who faces a showdown school board vote on his contract later this month.
Indy Executive Editor Nick Welsh, whose singular coverage of homelessness helps set the agenda for local policy makers, reports on a new pilot program that teams law enforcement officers with mental health workers in responding to troubled individuals on the streets.
Next, Josh Molina provides the latest on the spirited campaigns for city council seats on the Eastside and the Mesa, and describes the early shape of the race for the 37th Assembly District seat being vacated by Monique Limon, who’s so far cleared the field in her bid to replace termed-out state Senator Hannah Beth Jackson.
Then Dale Francisco, Santa Barbara's most thoughtful conservative, has original reporting on what the city charter says – and, more crucially, doesn’t say – about a replacement for Mayor Cathy Murillo, should she prevail in the 2020 contest for the aforementioned Assembly seat with a full year left in her current term.
Forecast: Passionate political drama on the horizon. Mayor Randy Rowse? Really? Watch this space.
It’s all here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.