There's good news and bad news looming for Santa Barbara's unwell, infirm and ailing, amid all the hoopla over the "strategic partnership" between embattled Sansum Clinic and medical care behemoth Sutter Health.
Nick Welsh goes behind the happy talk and corporate-speak on this week's edition of Newsmakers TV, to sketch out what Sansum care customers can expect , as a practical matter, from this merger of unequals, and forecasts shorter waits for appointments, coupled with shorter visits with the doctors who effectuate them, and, fingers crossed, relief from shortages of medical professionals of all stripes that now afflict outpatient care in Santa Barbara.
Josh Molina returns anew to decode the mystifying actions of SB's very fine district-elected city council in regards to State Street, namely the recent wrongheaded decision, by a one-vote margin, to keep nine blocks of downtown's main thoroughfare closed to traffic until the long-range (checks notes) "Create State" planning project wraps up in, oh say, 2075, as well as council's whipsaw decree that restaurants henceforth will be compelled to comply with actual design guidelines in constructing outdoor dining facilities (unless a couple more restaurant owners complain, in which case they'll change their minds in another week or so).
And author and literacy advocate Cheri Rae joins the gang to explicate the why and wherefores of the federally-recognized Dyslexia Awareness Month, and break down some of the considerable complexities of how it contributes to the chronic challenges of teaching reading and achieving literacy - all of which may point to some of the reasons that underlie the significant decline of enrollment in the Santa Barbara Unified School District, as a growing number of parents seek alternatives to the public schools.
Our all-star panel also takes an early look at the election challenge of Carpinteria City Councilmember Roy Lee to Supervisor Das Williams, who's desperately trying to cling to his office, to avoid having to get a real job for the first time in his life, by inserting his rictus grin into every media photograph that's taken of any group of people larger than two.
Plus: Cheri rolls her eyes at the touchdown dance by SBUSD officials over new, marginally improved test scores as Josh delivers his seal of approval to the new partnership between the district and the Housing Authority, while the genial host and Nick get into a snarl and snark fest over, well, pretty much everything.
All this and more, right here, right now on Newsmakers TV.
You can watch the show on YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here. TVSB, Cox Cable Channel 17, airs the show at 8 p.m. every weeknight and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m.