Making a list about life
Many hiring freezes reported in study
One-man show explores what makes living worthwhile - B1
Survey says 63% of small businesses polled couldn’ t afford to hire more staff - A3
Our 167th Year
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T H U R S DAY, S E P T. 8 , 2 0 2 2
Search continues for missing hiker Efforts proceed through nightfall Wednesday to find man missing since Sunday By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
A drone is used to assist in the search for Tim Sgrignoli.
Day Four ended in the search for a missing hiker from Ventura without finding him. But officials said search-andrescue teams were continuing their efforts through nightfall Wednesday with the help of search dogs and nighttime drones. “There are no new developments,” Cmdr. Erik Raney of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office told the News-Press. “We continued searching in the identifiable areas of probability” where Tim Sgrignoli, 29, might be found. Volunteer search-and-rescue teams from Santa Barbara, Ventura,
San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles and Orange counties, along with K-9 live scent and cadaver search dogs, helicopters and drones, have participated in the search for Mr. Sgrignoli, who’s been missing since Sunday from a trail near the Gaviota peak. “Today was pretty hot so the use of K-9s was limited and sporadic,” he said. About 35 personnel participated Wednesday, along with a few dogs. But more, fresher dogs were expected to be brought in Wednesday night to continue the search, which has been hampered by the excessive heat and rugged terrain around Trespass Trail near Gaviota peak, said Cmdr. Raney,
North County Operations Division commander with the sheriff’s office. Mr. Sgrignoli, an experienced hiker and outdoorsman, left his girlfriend near the Trespass Trail Sunday afternoon after she succumbed to the triple-digit heat. He gave her his water and cellphone and told her to call 9-1-1 if there were any problems while he left to find their car below so he could summon supplies and help. He has not been seen since. A Santa Barbara County Fire Department helicopter hoisted his girlfriend to safety and took her to Station 38, where she was treated for mild heat exhaustion. Her name has not been released because rescue personnel treated her for medical
Missile test at Vandenberg
purposes. But she and Mr. Sgrignoli’s family, along with their friends, have been at the scene daily, providing support for the search-and-rescue volunteers. “They’ve been very supportive,” Cmdr. Raney said. “We are in close contact with them. It’s been a great collaborative effort.” He said Mr. Sgrignoli might have taken a shortcut back to the car and gotten lost, or suffered heat exhaustion, too, or fallen and injured himself. Although he’s been missing for four days without water, Cmdr. Raney said search-and-rescue workers have not given up their
Miscommunication blamed for blackouts By MADISON HIRNEISEN CENTER SQUARE STAFF REPORTER
U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS RYAN QUIJAS
An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launches during an operational test at 1:13 a.m. Wednesday at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Library remains open during construction By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Construction continues at the Central Library, 40 E. Anapamu St., but the main level of the Santa Barbara library will remain open for holds, pick up and browsing collections of physical library materials, including children’s
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and teen books, fiction, nonfiction, Spanish, DVDs and special collections. Since Sept. 6, regular hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. On Thursdays, the library will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Seating, public Wi-Fi, printing and computer access are still unavailable.
The expanded hours at Eastside Library will remain in effect, and Library on the Go van stops will continue. During this time, three simultaneous construction projects at Central Library are under way. Please see LIBRARY on A2
Please see SEARCH on A2
(The Center Square) — California’s power grid operator blamed miscommunication with utility operators for some residents experiencing “unnecessary” rolling blackouts amid Tuesday night’s heat. Officials from the California Independent System Operator confirmed Wednesday that despite reaching record-level power demand, operators did not need to order rolling blackouts Tuesday evening. However, CAISO did confirm that a handful of utility operators moved ahead with rolling outages anyway, saying “miscommunication” led some providers to believe outages had been requested. “We did not need, nor was it our intention to signal the need for rotating outages,” President and CEO of CAISO Elliot Mainzer told reporters Wednesday. “We’ll work with (utility operators) to make sure there is no miscommunication at all tonight.” Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, CAISO issued a level three Energy Emergency Alert, which warns utility providers to prepare to trigger rolling blackouts, though it does not officially order outages to begin. Some providers, including Palo Alto Utilities and Alameda Municipal Power, went ahead with initiating some rolling outages even though CAISO did not order rolling blackouts. The city of Healdsburg also announced on Facebook that it was directed by CAISO to begin rolling power outages but called them off shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Healdsburg city officials could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the outages. Alameda Municipal Power released a statement Wednesday explaining that shortly after CAISO’s level three power emergency, the Northern California Power Agency instructed them to begin “load shedding operations.” As a result, about 1,400 customers were without power
for an hour Tuesday evening. “In conjunction with NCPA working with the CAISO, we are working to clarify procedures to ensure unnecessary outages do not occur moving forward,” Alameda Municipal Power said in a statement. NCPA is a conglomerate of 12 utility districts in Northern California. Palo Alto, Healdsburg and Alameda are member utilities. NCPA didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The operators that issued rolling outages called them off shortly after it had begun. However, outages unrelated to the rolling blackouts left thousands of Californians without power Tuesday night due to the extreme heat. The state sent out an emergency notification to millions of Californians Tuesday evening, warning them to conserve energy immediately to avoid rolling blackouts. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Wednesday that the notifications were sent to 27 million Californians. Mr. Mainzer said the notification, which Gov. Newsom ordered, resulted in a “significant amount of load reduction” of about 2,000 megawatts within a half hour. “That significant response from California consumers to the Wireless Emergency Alert allowed us to restore our operating reserves and took us back from the edge of broader grid disturbance,” Mr. Mainzer told reporters. CAISO issued a Flex Alert for the eighth consecutive day on Wednesday, urging residents to conserve energy between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. to reduce stress on the grid. Mr. Mainzer said Wednesday’s peak demand forecast was projected to reach 51,243 megawatts. High temperatures of over 100 are expected in many inland areas of the state through Friday, and officials are still asking Californians to be prepared to conserve energy to reduce the chance of outages.
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 24-25-28-39-44 Meganumber: 26
Wednesday’s DAILY 4: 2-1-9-8
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 6-17-46-59-68 Meganumber: 2
Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 12-17-25-29-32
Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 12-04-05 Time: 1:48.20
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 3-16-30-33-36 Meganumber: 20
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A4
Wednesday’s DAILY 3: 8-4-1 / Wednesday’s Midday 3-1-4