Inspired by the Old West
UCSB beats UC Davis baseball
Lompoc Pops Orchestra plans special concert - B1
Saturday’s victory marks third straight win in a row for Gauchos - A3
Our 166th Year
75¢
M O N DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 2 2
From health care to ecology
‘Coda’ wins Oscar for best picture
Sen. Monique Limón talks about her legislative priorities
By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
“Coda,” the story of a deaf family, won the Oscar for best picture Sunday night during an Academy Awards show that was full of scripted entertainment, momentous history and some unscripted drama. The Oscar for best actor went to a tearful Will Smith for “King Richard,” and the Oscar for best actress was earned by a jubilant Jessica Chastain for starring as a televangelist in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” A Santa Barbara County connection appeared during the broadcast when Bill Murray came on the stage during the “in memoriam” segment and praised Montecito filmmaker Ivan Reitman, who directed Mr. Murray in the original “Ghostbusters” movies. Mr. Reitman died Feb. 12. “When Ivan Reitman was 10 years old, his parents gave him a sleeping pill, wrapped him in a blanket, and put him beneath the deck of a boat to escape Czechoslovakia,” Mr. Murray said while an on-stage choir sang songs such as “Spirit in the Sky.” “He made some movies. Some really good movies. He married a pretty girl and raised some children, and they make movies too. Ivan, I love your work.” Mr. Smith won the Oscar for best actor for playing tennis stars Serena and Venus WIilliams’ father, Richard, in “King Richard.” And he used his speech to apologize for
earlier walking up to presenter Chris Rock, and slapping him hard in the face before the Dolby Theater audience. Mr. Rock had just made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith for looking like the title character of “G.I. Jane.” Ms. Pinkett Smith’s appearance is because of alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that she has discussed publicly. The moment between Mr. Smith and Mr. Rock left the Dolby Theater in stunned silence. After returning to his seat, Mr. Smith cussed at Mr. Rock. The live broadcast at that point was muted, but Mr. Smith’s words were clear to anyone watching the ABC telecast as he told Mr. Rock not to make jokes about his wife. Later, it was a different emotional moment when Mr. Smith accepted his Oscar. With tears streaming down his face, Mr. Smith referred to the moment with Mr. Rock, and said, “I want to apologize to The Academy; I want to apologize to all of my fellow nominees. I hope the Academy invites me back.” “Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya (Sidney) and Demi (Singleton), the two actresses that played Venus and Serena (Williams). I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people, and to be a river to my people.” Please see OSCARS on A2
NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTOS
State Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, seen here speaking in front of the Santa Barbara City College Food Pantry in 2019, has focused on a variety of social issues in the Legislature. “I understand the issues that impact students and families really extend beyond a classroom,” she told the News-Press.
By KAITLYN SCHALLHORN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
In the legislature, Sen. Monique Limón isn’t focused on just one policy area. Her priorities run the gamut, from health care to pay equity to the environment and much more. Sen. Limón’s multifaceted approach to politics is indicative of her time working in education. She is the former assistant director for the McNair Scholars Program at UCSB and served multiple terms on the Santa Barbara Unified School District board. She’s mentored a bevy of UCSB and Santa Barbara City College students, getting to intimately understand their needs and those of their families. “I understand the issues that impact students and families really extend beyond a classroom,” Sen. Limón, D-Santa Barbara, told the News-Press. “Everything that is happening in a community shows up in the classroom, and that is where my interest in different policy areas started.” One legislative priority for Sen. Limón — an issue that’s been of great importance for many years for her — is Alzheimer’s and dementia care. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed her bill establishing a “first in the nation” new program giving Medi-Cal providers (California’s Medicaid program) training and incentives to conduct cognitive health tests for Alzheimer’s detection and diagnosis.
Sen. Limón said she wants to continue to enable community health providers to increase outreach and education about early detection of Alzheimer’s. She is particularly passionate about helping with Alzheimer’s education and detection after experiencing her grandmother Genoveva Gil’s battle with the disease. Ms. Gil passed away in 2019. Another recently successful bill from Sen. Limón gave the California Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, the authority to spend $5 million per year to plug abandoned and deserted oil wells. This is “an issue that really so many constituents email me about: the fact that we have to do a better job of plugging and properly abandoning our deserted oil wells in the district,” she said. “We’re looking at the mechanisms to safely do that in order to eliminate and reduce some pollutants that go into the air.” And Sen. Limón is also championing pay equity legislation. Her SB 1162 would require companies to publicly report salary data broken down by ethnicity, race and sex for potential employees to review. “SB 1162 will help identify the gender and race-based pay disparities by requiring pay transparency at every stage of the employment process, from hiring, to promotion, and Please see LIMÓN on A2
FOLLOW US ON
6
66833 00050
3
Grocery workers authorize strike By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
Sen. Monique Limón speaks at a reproductive rights rally in December in De la Guerra Plaza in Santa Barbara. She has focused on other issues as well, and they vary from early detection of Alzheimer’s to pay equity.
Workers at Vons, Albertsons, Pavilions and Ralphs stores on the Central Coast and throughout Southern California have authorized a strike in case an agreement isn’t reached on a new contract. The old contract expired March 6, and talks are set to resume Wednesday. Negotiations began Jan. 28. The United Food and Commercial Workers union has been seeking a $5 a hour raise during the three-year contract, as well as more hours for workers and increased staffing. The answer isn’t a strike, according to Albertsons, which owns Vons and Pavilions. “No one wins in a strike — not our associates, not our company, not our communities and not the union,” Albertsons said in a statement. “The outcome of the strike authorization vote does not change anything related to this process. We remain committed to negotiating a contract that is fair to all parties.” The Los Angeles Times reported Ralphs saying the strike authorization vote creates “unnecessary concern for our associates and communities at a time when we should be
coming together in good faith bargaining to find solutions and compromise. At Ralphs, we remain focused on settling a deal with the UFCW.” Previously, a strike was authorized in 2019, but an agreement was reached without a walkout. Last week workers “overwhelmingly” voted “yes” to authorize an unfair labor practice strike, should one become necessary, according to a news release from the UFCW, which represents more than 47,000 employees. “The companies are not playing fair by violating our rights and federal labor laws. After all the hard work we’ve done through the COVID pandemic serving customers so they can feed their families, we deserve to be able to feed ours,” said Rachel Fournier, a Bargaining Committee member and a cashier at Ralphs in Los Angeles. “While Kroger made more than $4 billion in profits last year, many employees are struggling to make ends meet. This has to change. It is time for the grocery corporations to do better and come back to the bargaining table with an adequate contract proposal that respects our work.” email: dmason@newspress.com.
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 4-6-14-28-35 Meganumber: 4
Sunday’s DAILY 4: 3-0-0-8
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 3-13-42-51-58 Meganumber: 17
Sunday’s FANTASY 5: 2-9-12-20-37
Sunday’s DAILY DERBY: 11-10-05 Time: 1:40.78
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 2-10-50-59-61 Meganumber: 6
Sudoku................... B3 Sports . .................... A3 Weather................. A4
Sunday’s DAILY 3: 5-1-3 / Sunday’s Midday 1-1-3