News in Brief: Oct. 4 to Oct. 10

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Shomik Mukherjee
News Editor

CAMPUS

The self-identified Chican@/Latin@ student support group El Congreso de UCSB led a photo campaign across the University of California, Santa Barbara campus on Monday to condemn Columbus Day celebrations. Students posed with short statements they had written on posters, like “this is occupied territory” and “Columbus didn’t discover America. He invaded it.”  El Congreso’s campaign labeled the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus a “murderer” and re-dubbed the public holiday as “Indigenous Resistance Day.” The group wrote on its Facebook event page that it sought to raise awareness and acknowledge “the fact that we are on Chumash lands,” referring to the original native settlements upon which the university now exists.

Radio personality Ira Glass spoke on Saturday at the Granada Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara for an event hosted by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Glass is the host of This American Life, a widely-acclaimed public radio program and weekly podcast. He spoke about crafting stories for radio and reflected on a three-decade-long career in radio broadcasting. The Arts & Lectures event cost only $20 for UCSB students to attend.

ISLA VISTA

Los Angeles-based pop singer Billie Eilish entertained locals onstage at People’s Park for Isla Vista First Friday, a regular event hosted by the Associated Students Program Board of UCSB. The concert is part of an ongoing effort by A.S. to incorporate more of I.V. into its UC-related activities. Diana Puente, the I.V. advisor for A.S., invited the chairs of A.S. organizations to attend an Oct. 11 meeting to discuss their I.V.-related goals for the 2016-17 school year.

COUNTY

The Santa Barbara mayoral race is in full swing, with less than a month remaining until the Nov. 7 election to replace Helene Schneider, who has served since 2009. Five candidates remain in the race: Hal Conklin, Frank Hotchkiss, Angel Martinez, Cathy Murillo, and Bendy White. Conklin, Murillo, and White are democrats, while Hotchkiss is a republican and Martinez an independent. The local Democratic Party reportedly endorsed Murillo, but prominent Santa Barbara democrats, including former Rep. Lois Capps and First District Supervisor Das Williams, deviated from party lines to endorse Conklin for the seat. Meanwhile, The Chamber of Commerce of the Santa Barbara Region chose Martinez as their endorsement.

NATIONAL

A vicious wildfire in Northern California’s wine country has burned more than 100,000 acres and left at least 15 dead and over 150 missing, while another Southern California wildfire has torched 7,500 acres and forced more than 5,000 home evacuations in Anaheim and Santa Ana (as of press time). The two fires are ongoing. The severity of the wine country fire prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to write a five-page letter on Monday to President Donald J. Trump requesting emergency aid.