Affordable housing to open for local farmworkers
DP alum McCann ready for White Sox action
Guadalupe Court tenants to pay approximately 30 percent of their monthly income - A3
Major League All-Star catcher resumes workouts this week in Chicago - A6
Our 165th Year
75¢
W E DN E S DAY, J U LY 1, 2 0 2 0
Quest for a quasar UCSB part of discovery of universe’s second most distant quasar
SB, Montecito start water pact Santa Barbara enters 50-year supply agreement with Montecito district By CHRISTIAN WHITTLE NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara City Council voted Tuesday to enter into a 50year water supply agreement with the Montecito Water District. Under the terms, the city will deliver 1,430 acre-feet of water annually to the MWD. Both parties have been negotiating an agreement in connection with the 2017 restart of the city’s Charles E. Meyer desalination facility since plans to restart the facility began in 2015. The MWD approved the agreement during a special meeting last week. In 2019, city staff brought a term sheet to the city council and the Montecito board laying out the major elements of the agreement. It was approved by both groups, and the official agreement was approved unanimously, with council member Meagan Harmon absent. Tuesday’s pact was consistent with that term sheet, said Joshua Haggmark, water resource manager. “It took us longer than I thought to pull all the details together in there, but we were able to remain consistent with what city council and the Montecito board had approved,” Mr. Haggmark told the council. Core principles of the terms include an agreement that Santa Barbara will operate the facility and deliver the water and will share the cost with MWD without
INTERNATIONAL GEMINI OBSERVATORY/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. MARENFELD
This is an artist’s depiction of the quasar discovered 700 million years away. It emits light as matter gets sucked into the supermassive black hole. NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Last spring, researchers discovered the second most distant quasar in the universe, opening up a new wave of questions surrounding black hole formation and the timeline of the creation of the universe. In a publication submitted June 24, 2020, the team of astronomers announced this discovery of a luminous quasar powered by a supermassive black hole twice as massive as the current quasar redshift record holder and about a billion times the mass of the sun. This giant’s scientific name is J1007+2115 at z = 7.515, but the researchers named it “Pōniuā’ena.” That’s a native Hawaiian name meaning “unseen spinning source of creation, surrounded with brilliance.” The scientists, one of whom teaches physics at UCSB, utilized telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory and Gemini Observatory
UCSB discusses other outer space discoveries in Friday’s News-Press.
on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, some of the most expensive and powerful telescopes in the world. UCSB professor and cosmologist Joseph Hennawi coordinated and executed the observations in collaboration with the team, in a search he said has been ongoing for a decade. A quasar by definition is a galaxy. But the massive amount of light emitted from it is matter falling into a supermassive black hole. They’re some of the brightest objects in the universe that shine for consistent periods of time. When the scientists observed this quasar at Please see quasar on A10
By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
UCSB professor Joseph Hennawi was part of a research team that discovered the second most distant quasar known, which opens many doors to space discovery and learning more about the timeline of the creation of the universe.
Restaurants prepare for Fourth of July crowds By PAUL GONZALEZ NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
While Santa Barbara County bars will be closed over the Fourth of July weekend, local restaurants are preparing for an influx of out-of-town guests. Visitors from all over the state and across the country have been vacationing in Santa Barbara
6
66833 00050
3
since the city pulled back the COVD-19-related restaurant closures in late May on guidance from the county Public Health Department. On Monday, Los Angeles County closed its beaches for the holiday weekend. Business owners speculate the closures amplify the out-of-town traffic. On Tuesday morning, Santa
Carl Reiner left his comic legacy Montecito star Carol Burnett praises actor, writer and director
MORE FROM OUTER SPACE
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK
granting any ownership to the district. The agreement is also a “take or pay agreement,” meaning the district pays whether they need the water or not. The pricing reflects the full cost of financing and operating the plant, and does not include any subsidies. The agreement also protects Santa Barbara’s water supply. “We’re not giving away something that we currently need or can’t fill with additional expansion of the plant in the future,” said Mr. Haggmark. Emergency provisions were included to protect the city’s customers in case of a critical water emergency, such as infrastructure damage or a severe drought. “The city would be relieved of some deliveries, and what we would be doing is a ‘share the pain’ approach in which we would be basically sharing that water so that both of our communities are getting the same per capita water usage,” said Mr. Haggmark. The council authorized an $18.9 million increase in appropriations and estimated revenue in the city’s water capital fund, which is funded by a settlement of claims against Southern California Edison for losses sustained by the water utility from the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris flow. The council also approved a conveyance pipeline project and authorized the public works Please see COUNCIL on A2
Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo said she received messages from the public urging her to follow suit. “We are getting a lot of emails and phone calls from people who want us to close the beaches,” Ms. Murillo said. “Any kind of beach closure would have to include city beaches and county beaches. I am also watching Ventura County to
see what they are doing,” She added that the city of Santa Barbara canceled its annual Fourth of July fireworks show and is discouraging locals and visitors from gathering in large groups at the beach. “We will have city crews out there patrolling. These workers include park rangers, lifeguards, Please see FOURTH on A2
Carl Reiner could make just about anything funny. Even being bald. On “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66), Mr. Reiner was wonderfully temperamental as fictional TV star Alan Brady, whose toupee-wearing secret gets out in one episode thanks to a slip by Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore). In the end, Alan forgives her as Mr. Reiner showed his knack for blending a hard exterior with a soft heart and comedy with a touch of drama. The Bronx native, who was born March 20, 1922, left the world his legacy as an actor who stood out on Sid Caesar’s “Your Shows of Shows” in TV’s golden age and later made a studio audience laugh on Montecito star Carol Burnett’s variety show. Mr. Reiner, a producer, writer, actor and director, died Monday at age 98 in his home in Beverly Hills. “Last night my dad passed away,” his son, actor and director Rob Reiner, wrote in a tweet Tuesday. “As I write this my heart
COURTESY PHOTO
Carl Reiner, an actor, writer and producer, created “The Dick Van Dyke Show”
is hurting. He was my guiding light.” Carl Reiner was well-respected in Hollywood, and Ms. Burnett praised him for his talent. “Carl did it all,” Ms. Burnett told the News-Press Tuesday. “Versatile beyond belief, he was a consummate comedic actor, a Please see REINER on A5
ins ide
LOTTERY
Comics................. A8 Local................. A 2-8 Obituaries........... A10
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 27-32-35-46-47 Meganumber: 12
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 7-4-4-5
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 9-16-29-37-53 Meganumber: 11
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 2-15-17-19-36
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 07-01-10 Time: 1:44.66
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 9-36-49-56-62 Meganumber: 8
Soduku................. A7 Weather.............. A10
Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 4-7-6 / Midday 0-5-5