Except for that whole Donald Trump indictment thing, August so far aligns with its journalistic reputation as a slow news month, yielding a Newsmakers TV lineup featuring UFOs and peyote, as well as Fiesta -- Santa Barbara's own annual contribution to News of the Weird,
On this week's edition, SB Independent staff writer Callie Fausey not only recounts the testimony of former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, to a House committee investigating UFOs (now properly called UAPs, for those keeping score at home, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), about his sighting in 2003 of a bizarre, red object over Vandenberg, but also reprises her reporting on the effort to legalize plant-based psychedelics within Santa Barbara city limits.
And that's before she delves into what's behind the abrupt, mysterious departure of Santa Barbara High School Principal Elise Simmons about 12 minutes before school starts.
KEYT’s Lily Dallow also returns to the show, going behind-the-scenes about her best-in-class coverage of this year’s Fiesta, featuring terrific multi-media storytelling about the life and times of parade Grand Marshal Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, the first Chumash elder to be so honored in the 99-year history of the event.
And Josh Molina is on hand to offer analysis, commentary, context, insight and snark, along with an update on how and why the City Council decided to spend $11 million on a redesign of the State Street underpass to serve as a (checks notes) whimsical gateway to the living hell that is downtown SB.
All this and more, right here, right now on Newsmakers TV.
JR
You can watch the new episode via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here. TVSB, Cox Cable Channel 17, broadcasts the show at 8 p.m. on weeknights and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, airs the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
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Images: News dog (Shuitterstock); New Yorker cartoon by Mads Horwath and Evan Lian.