In a week when Covid-19 remained the North Star of local news, the Newsmakers' journalist panel breaks down how the pandemic locally is affecting schools, homelessness and employment -- and discusses the latest in the confusing and confounding debate over masks.
Nick Welsh, the Angry Poodle his ownself, returns from a mysterious special assignment, rejoining Delaney Smith, Josh Molina and Jerry for inside analysis and behind-the-scenes commentary on Santa Barbara's top news stories, as the gang focuses this week on efforts by the suits and the new superintendent of the Santa Barbara Unified School District to upgrade and enhance its Distance Learning systems, after Governor Newsom included all SB county schools in his far-flung education shutdown order.
The panel also looks at the economic side of the pandemic, as a federal $600 supplement in unemployment benefits comes to end, and local experts forecast an impending increase of those who will be made homeless by the financial disaster that the coronavirus has wreaked.
In non-virus news, a new shakeup at City Hall to try to manage the mess at the Community Development Department; a big settlement in a lawsuit aimed at overcrowding at the County Jail; and a majority of the City Council stiffs homeowners seeking relief for an arboreal nuisance.
JR
It's all here, right now -- if it's Friday, it's Newsmakers TV....(and the podcast version is here).