Cary Matsuoka, the previous superintendent of the Santa Barbara Unified School District, was shown the door in 2020, after bungling communications with parents and the larger community over a series of lamentable incidents at schools.
Now, his successor, Hilda Maldonado, is facing sharp criticism for the district's mishandling of an appalling event involving an attack on an SB junior high student by fellow students who flung the N-word at him while reenacting the murder of George Floyd by kneeling on his neck.
Noozhawk's Josh Molina and the Indy's Jun Starkey join Newsmakers TV this week and recount how Maldonado and the district were caught flat-footed and failed the test of transparency, as the matter became public only when the victim's mother, backed by a group of supporters, described the shocking details of the affair during public comment at Tuesday's school board meeting.
And Melinda Burns returns to discuss her recent and ongoing reporting about the cannabis industry; piling fact upon fact upon fact, among other things, she has drawn a clear picture of the county's biggest political scandal, hiding in plain sight, as a majority of the Board of Supervisors has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of marijuana growers.
The gang also presents a Covid update; a look at the bizarre story of a UCSB student government leader who planted secret cameras in the bathrooms of other students, and some first-hand recollections and reflections of the David Attias case, as the killer seeks freedom 21 years after he mowed down a crowd in IV with his car, killed four people and injuring many more.
Plus: snark, cheap shots and bon mots, all here, right now on Newsmakers TV. Check out the show via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here.