Crunching the numbers
Westmont and its success College officials discuss Montecito institution’s strengths - A5
Our 165th Year
UCSB baseball is well represented in the world of big league analytics - A10
T U E S DAY, SE P T E M BE R 29, 2 0 2 0
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SB city and county firefighters continue to implement prevention practices
Verdicts on pick for Supreme Court
Proactive, not reactive
Local opinions on Amy Coney Barrett nomination split along party lines By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court has become an issue divided along party lines going into the 2020 general election. Democrats are demanding the recently departed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat not be filled until after the election, and Republicans are calling for the seat to be filled before Nov. 3. By and large, this partisan split over Judge Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court is apparent in the opinions of local Democrats and Republicans. In an interview with the NewsPress, David Atkins, the California Democratic Party Region 10 director and the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee south vice chair, said the Supreme Court nominee
harbors “extremist views about the law.” “She would be to the right of even (the late Justice) Antonin Scalia, and according to her record, she would roll back protections for workers, roll back environmental protections and almost certainly undue Roe v. Wade,” he said. Concerns over some of these issues were echoed in a statement from Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, who called Judge Barrett’s judicial record “troubling.” He added that the Supreme Court nomination should wait until after the election. “The majority of Americans believe we should wait until after the election to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat, and I agree. The Affordable Care Act, Roe v. Wade, workplace rights, and the integrity of our democracy are all on the line,” he said. Please see barrett on A4
NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
A plane with fire retardant proceeds above Toro Canyon during the Thomas Fire in 2017. A wildland specialist said the fire cleared out a good amount of fuel for wildfires, but firefighters continue to clear vegetation to prevent any large wildfires from entering the county.
A Santa Barbara city firefighter hoses down a fire at a Montecito house during the Tea Fire in 2008. City and county firefighters have implemented defensible space evaluations for neighborhood homes to ensure they are as safe as possible amid fire season.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Through power outages, vegetation management, defensible space evaluations, forest closures, public workshops and increasingly rapid first responses, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and Santa Barbara City Fire Department have each worked day in and day out to prevent wildland fires and protect local county residents. There are currently 27 major wildfires in California with more than 18,000 firefighters on the front lines. Red Flag Warnings remain in place over much of Northern California, according to Cal Fire as of Monday, and since the beginning of 2020, there have been more than 8,100 wildfires
COURTESY PHOTOS STEVE MALONE / NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
A Ventura County Sheriff’s Office helicopter dumps water on the Jesusita Fire in 2009 in Santa Barbara. Amber Anderson, a city wildland specialist, said the previous fires in the county have proven that the bureau’s field treatment was effective in reducing the spread and stopping both the Tea and Jesusita fires.
that have burned more than 3.7 million acres in the state. While Santa Barbara County has avoided a large incident yet this year, memories of all-toorecent wildfires in the county linger, such as the 2019 Cave Fire in Los Padres National Forest; the 2018 Holiday Fire; the Jan. 9, 2018, Montecito mudslides that resulted from a high-intensity wildfire, the 2017 Thomas Fire burning 281,000 acres; the 2009 Jesusita Fire that blackened
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nearly 9,000 acres and the 2008 Tea Fire destroying 210 homes, to name a few. “We’ve had so many largescale fires in Santa Barbara County that, yes, we are very lucky so far this year that we have not had any major ones,” said Daniel Bertucelli, PIO for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. You never know when or how a fire is going to start.”
Mr. Bertucelli told the NewsPress that the county has the past fires to thank for burning fuel in the fields. A lot of the front country fields have burned within the last one to five years, which means the majority of the fields are no longer 30 to 40 years old. However, even more so to thank, he said, is the city and county fire departments providing “good, effective emergency response to the fires.” Please see fires on A10
From top left, Dr. Helen Rhee, Dr. Lisa DeBoer, Dr. Marilyn McEntyre and Dr. Paul Willis
Westmont professors discuss pandemics By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Although the word “unprecedented” seems stuck on repeat this year, four Westmont professors know pandemics are nothing new in human history. This is discussed in a pre-
recorded lecture published online at 10 a.m. today at westmont.edu/ library. “These are really difficult days, and everyday it seems to be getting more difficult, but these challenges are pretty typical in human history,” art Please see WESTMONT on A2
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Comics................. A8 Classified............... A9 Life.................... A5-6
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 3-12-15-36-43 Meganumber: 25
Monday’s DAILY 4: 3-2-3-3
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 20-36-37-48-67 Meganumber: 16
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 2-4-20-21-23
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 08-05-04 Time: 1:46.81
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 11-21-27-36-62 Meganumber: 24
Obituaries........... A10 Soduku................. A7 Weather.............. A10
Monday’s DAILY 3: 8-4-0 / Sunday’s Midday 2-5-3