CAMPUS
UCSB’s sports teams shined over the weekend, picking up wins in away games. Women’s tennis shut out Tulane 4-0 on Sunday. Women’s water polo left the Hoosier Invitational with a 4-1 record, and men’s golf took second place at the Waves Challenge on Saturday, behind Pepperdine University. The Gauchos women’s basketball fell to UC Davis 69-63 on Saturday afternoon. Gauchos playing at home also faced losses, where men and women’s swim teams fell to regional rival Cal Poly.
ISLA VISTA
The Isla Vista Community Services District is making its second run at a utility-use tax, according to Noozhawk. On Monday, the IVCSD voted 6-0 to put the Improved Isla Vista and Infrastructure Funding Plan on the June ballot, with board director George Thurlow abstaining. When organizers first put the measure on the June 2016 ballot, it fell approximately five percent short of the two-thirds necessary approval. This updated measure, placing an eight percent tax on utilities, would generate an estimated $642,000 in annual revenue for community improvement projects.
COUNTY
Consumers looking for a seafood meal in the coming weeks might have to put a halt on locally-sourced fish. The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department issued a warning on Jan. 30 advising the public to avoid consuming raw fish and shellfish from local beaches where bacterial levels have spiked as the county continues to dump debris and mud from the Montecito mudslide into nearby waters. The public should “cook all locally caught seafood thoroughly before consumption.”
Montecito residents living in declared “disaster zones” were finally allowed to return to their homes with proof of ID over the weekend, following the county’s announcement on Jan. 28. Contractors working on reparations in the area are also allowed into the area, as long as identification, reason for entry, and destination address are provided.
NATIONAL
The deadline to sign up for health insurance offered through Covered California is 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 31. State residents who start the application process before the deadline can finish before 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 2. According to Lauren Cross, a representative for millennial advocacy organization Young Invincibles, 80 percent of 18-34 year-olds in California were eligible for health insurance subsidies through Covered California.
In a departure from his usual rhetoric, Donald Trump delivered a State of the Union bipartisan in tone, his first since assuming the presidency a year ago. In excerpts released early Tuesday, his address emphasized unity and strength in America. Santa Maria first responder David Dahlberg, who saved 62 children and staff members from a summer camp in the path of the 2017 Whittier Fire, attended as a guest of the president.