Rising star reporter Jade Martinez-Pogue joins the Newsmakers TV gang this week with a full update on how Santa Barbara County appears to be winning the war against Covid-19, as the number of cases continues to decrease while availability of vaccines rises.
A 2020 graduate of UCSB, Jade has been tracking the pandemic for Noozhawk since last summer, and offers a clear and authoritative update of the most recent trends to be found amid a confusing passel of state and local statistics; public health officials are feeling confident -- but for two caveats: the ongoing threat of variants of the virus, only a tiny number of which so far have been found in the county, and the possibility of a resurgence in infections, driven by spring break social interactions, as restrictions loosen up.
The news is less favorable on the local economy front, where Josh Molina reports that thousands of workers are still hurting in the hard-hit travel, tourism and dining industries, as unemployment increased 59 percent in the county year-to-year, with more than 16,000 people out of work in January.
Then Nick Welsh checks in on this week's big City Hall brawl over the controversial Sola Street Bike Lane (Sorry, the (all rise) Westside Community Paseos Project, harrumph, harrumph - ) as city transportation officials stomped the citizen Historic Landmarks Commission for the third time in recent months over an issue involving bicycles and the bureaucracy's apparent determination to paint every street in town neon green.
More: the panel talks about the politics swirling around the region's open seat on the Coastal Commission, state-mandated housing numbers and two big recent legal decisions, one of them costing taxpayers some $6 million.
It's all here, right now on Newsmakers TV.
JR
Watch this week's show via YouTube below or by clicking through on this link. The podcast version is here.
Comments