Art exhibit
Spirit of St. Louis
‘Elements’ on display at Carpinteria Arts Center through April 3 - B1
Artist’s works range from St. Louis Arch to dining room table - B4
Our 166th Year
75¢
MON DAY, F E BRUA RY 2 8 , 2 02 2
Teen Star Santa Barbara back after 2021 hiatus
Russia faces stiff resistance from Ukraine By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Melody Hilario, center and below, reacts after learning she is the winner of this year’s Teen Star Santa Barbara at the Granada Theatre on Sunday.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
On Sunday, Teen Star Santa Barbara took place live at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara. Teen Star had to take a hiatus in 2021 due to the Covid-10 Pandemic. Melody Hilario, 13, a student at Lompoc Valley Middle School, won the competition. After the opening number, the Teen Star finalists were introduced. The judges panel consisted of Randy Jackson, Leslie Lembo and Eric Stein. Tariqh Akoni, guitarist and musical director for Josh Groban, was one of the mentors. Ben Margulies, a songwriter and producer, was the other. Each contestant got to spend a day being coached by Mr. Marguiles and Mr. Akoni. Something unique about Teen Star is that the audience gets to participate by voting for each contestant. The judges talked about what they look for in Teen Star as opposed to when they are older. Mr. Jackson said he looks for uniqueness in song choice, Ms. Lembo said she looks for authenticity and Mr. Stein said he looks for how the performer impacts the audience. After performances by the contestants, finalists Grace Hu, a Dos Pueblos High School sophomore, Melody Hilario, a seventh-grader from Lompoc Valley Middle School and Bridget Divine, a Santa Barbara High School senior advanced to the final round. In an unusual event for Teen Star, a fourth contestant performed during the finalist round, Sophia Hernandez of Bishop Diego High School.
Local company credits product’s purity By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Santa Barbara area-based Ophora Water Technologies won the Gold award Saturday for the best-tasting purified bottled water at the 32nd annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting. The contest has been called the “Oscars of water,” and Ken Guoin, president and co-founder of Ophora Water Technologies, explained what makes his water great. “We are all about purity,” Mr. Guoin told the News-Press Sunday after the victory was announced. “What has put us on the map is our water is nano-purified. We have four patents on a process that restores water the way it used to be, nano-pure and highly oxygenated.” Mr. Guoin has been in the water industry for 35 years. The water tasting took place at the Country Inn in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The event has been described as “the world’s most prestigious water tasting” by BuzzFeed and the Week.
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The event includes tasting of purified waters, non-carbonated bottled waters and sparkling waters. Handcrafted glass water drops, created by West Virginia’s Appalachian Glass, were presented as awards. Known as the “Oscars of water,” the event has featured more than 720 distinct waters during the past 32 years. A total of 59 countries have been represented, including the U.S., Greece, New Zealand, Tajikistan, Korea, Indonesia and St. Kitts and Nevis. Winners are determined by a distinguished panel of media judges. Judges include representatives from the Insider’s Guide to Spas, Wonderland Entertainment and the West Virginia Department of Tourism, as well as journalists and freelance writers whose work appears in the Washington Post, Smithsonian and Woman’s World Magazines, among others, as well as podcasts and blogs. “The impact of winning this event is extraordinary for a bottler. Many have experienced Please see WATER on A2
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email: kzehnder@newspress.com
Ophora Water wins at ‘Oscars for water’
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
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On Sunday, Ukrainians maintained control of their major cities. “They have not achieved what they intended on day four,” a U.S. Senior defense official told NPR reporters on Sunday. However, this situation could easily reverse with Russia taking the upperhand, as Russia has only committed about two-thirds of its forces ranging from 150,000 to 190,000 service members. Ukrainian and Russian representatives have agreed to talks in Belarus on Monday. “Since the first hours of the invasion, Russian troops have been hitting civilian infrastructure. They consciously chose tactics to destroy people and everything that makes life just normal,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, according to a report by NPR. According to Ukraine’s interior ministry, at least 352 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, including 14 children, and another 1,684 people have been wounded. Russia reported that some military members have been killed but numbers have not been released, according to a report by NPR. The UN is set to hold its 11th emergency session in New York City in more than 70 years. The session is to allow its 193 members to debate and vote on a resolution which would call for Russia’s immediate withdrawal of troops from Ukraine.
“The council members who supported this resolution recognize that this is no ordinary moment,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at Sunday’s Security Council meeting, according to a report by Bloomberg. The Russian ruble has fallen nearly 30% against the U.S. dollar, reported Bloomberg on Saturday. On Monday, President Joe Biden plans to meet with allies on Monday morning in Washington concerning the crisis. Social media has allowed influencers and users to now become eyewitnesses and warfare experts tweeting tips to Ukrainian fighters, this has become dubbed the “TikTok War,” according to a report by CNN, Business. However, TikTok is not the only platform that is being used by influencers and users Instagram and Twitter are also used to provide information. However, the onslaught of words and images fuels a confusing media environment contributing to an atmosphere of rampant disinformation, reported CNN Business. “Each one of these TikTok videos is a tiny little snapshot of a tiny little moment of time, often without any other overlaying context … And so you really would have to spend an enormous time with some real background to begin to piece together the TikTok jigsaw puzzle,” David French, a senior editor at the Dispatch, told CNN Business.
Sudoku................. B3 Sports ................A3-4 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 2-4-6-30-41 Mega: 26
Sunday’s DAILY 4: 2-6-7-8
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 15-31-40-56-66 Mega: 4
Sunday’s FANTASY 5: 5-16-27-33-35
Sunday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-05-06 Time: 1:48.10
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 15-32-36-48-64 Meganumber: 19
Sunday’s DAILY 3: 9-8-6 / Midday 7-8-8