Hiding in plain sight, an extraordinary transformation of the space industry is emerging in Santa Barbara County - as private companies supplant the military in presiding over a rapidly multiplying number of launches, powered by reusable rockets that position mega-constellations of satellites in orbit.
Janene Scully, Noozhawk's North County Editor, and the only local journalist covering the Vandenberg Space Force Base beat, returns to Newsmakers TV this week for a look at the vast technological, economic and environmental implications of the now near-weekly missions, which most of us take note of only when they rattle the windows or scare the dog.
As Janene's reported, Elon Musk's SpaceX plans a combined 150 launches this year, from Vandenberg and a sister Florida site, as the company's Falcon rockets and Starlink satellites lower costs and increasingly dominate a market fueled by ever-growing demand for both commercial and military payloads.
Ryan P. Cruz checks in to talk about his must-read cover story in this week's Indy, which details how state government's frenzied demand for construction of new housing, which increasingly overrides local control of land use planning, has fast-tracked 18 projects, totaling some 5,000 units, using the so-called "Builder's Remedy" in the county and city.
And Josh Molina has the latest on that 642-unit, blockbuster apartment project planned for the Macy's site at La Cumbre Plaza, which not only will eradicate the city's once-sacrosanct 60-foot height limit, but also will add only a tiny percentage -- less than 10 percent -- of below-market units, construction of which is purportedly the most urgent purpose of the housing hysteria.
Plus: the gang goes around the horn on the biggest political races in advance of the March and November elections, with lots of analysis and commentary on the Third District supervisor's race and the three city council seats up this year.
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
JR
Check out our new episode via YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here. TVSB, Channel 17, broadcasts the show every weeknight at 8 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, airs the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Photo illustration of Elon Musk and Falcon rocket by Business Insider.
CARTOON OF THE WEEK
Cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein for The New Yorker.