As California’s public school population steadily declines, Santa Barbara Unified School District teachers welcomed their youthful scholars back this week with a concerted campaign to reduce the brain rot inflicted by tech devices.
Julianna Lozada covered back-to-school proceedings for the News-Press and joins the gang on a new episode of Newsmakers TV to reprise her reporting on the biggest challenges and initiatives facing the district — at a time when two of five school board seats are on the ballot, raising the stakes over education controversies and for the tenure of Superintendent Hilda Maldonado.
Nick Welsh, always a ray of sunshine on the local news beat, discusses his good-news story detailing how Santa Barbara is outpacing other counties around the state in providing crucial, publicly funded child care services, and also breaks down the fond farewell accorded the county’s outgoing Chief Executive Officer Mona Miyasato, who is departing amid a flood of other retirements by administrators representing decades of experience and institutional knowledge.
Josh Molina, who has been industriously interviewing the 876 candidates running for Santa Barbara mayor and city council, joins the Angry Poodle and the genial host for a spirited round of heavyweight punditry, just over two months before Election Day.
Plus: Nick’s mysterious disappearance from the Zoom shot; Josh’s unseemly bid to steal clicks from Newsmakers by using an actual professional podcast studio; Jerry’s unprecedented streak of not ranting about rent control or e-bikes reaches two.
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
Check out the latest episode via YouTube below or by clicking this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on SoundCloud. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.