CAMPUS
Chancellor Henry Yang announced that professor emeritus Joseph Polchinski passed away on Feb. 2. Polchinski taught in the physics department, joining the faculty in 1992 and serving as a permanent member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. “Through his bold ideas, unique insights, and rigorous pursuit of the deepest and most challenging questions, he left an indelible mark on all who were fortunate enough to learn from him and collaborate with him,” Yang wrote in a memo.
In a match against Hawai’i on Feb. 3, the UCSB women’s basketball team earned a 71-61 victory over the Rainbow Warriors, less than a month after the men’s teams played following a false missile warning. The same night, men’s basketball won a match against CSUN, 75-51. The men’s volleyball team split wins with Brigham Young University, and the Big West Conference named the team’s Keenan Sanders, player of the week.
ISLA VISTA
Two small fires broke out in Isla Vista over the last week. The first one occurred on Thursday at the Isla Vista Public Parking Lot at 881 Embarcadero del Mar, where some vegetation was set on fire. According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Dispatch, a structure fire broke out at 6564 Del Playa Drive just after 5 p.m. on Sunday. Several engines responded to the second one. No one was seriously hurt in either case.
COUNTY
Tonic, a popular nightclub with Isla Vista and Santa Barbara residents alike, closed down last week. A ‘for lease’ sign listing the property as 6,500-square-feet has appeared on the building, according to KEYT. The station said that it was one of the largest nightclubs on the South Coast. Two other businesses, Macy’s and Panera Bread, near the former nightclub have closed down in recent years.
Two suspects were arrested on Thursday evening following a break-in on the 200 block of Gould Lane in Montecito. The homeowner reported strange noises from a bedroom inside the home and confronted one suspect who fled. Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies patrolling the area in the wake of the mudslide found 25-year-old Frank James Showell of Lancaster fleeing from the area in a vehicle. Shortly after, deputies found 29-year-old Donyae Dixon of Los Angeles hiding in bushes along the road. Both are being held on $50,000 bail at the county jail.
NATIONAL
A series of ups and downs has sent the stock market all over the charts in recent days. On Monday, the Dow Jones spiraled 1,175 points, dropping another 567 points on Tuesday morning before gaining 567 back and closing at 24,912.77. This zeroes out the gains from the beginning of 2018, but economists say that overall, the Dow has gone up 24 percent over the last 12 months.
The House of Representatives has proposed a stopgap bill to prevent another government shutdown, which was set for Feb. 8. This new plan would increase military spending for the next seven months and provide funding for the government over the next six weeks. As of press time, the stopgap bill had yet to pass through the Senate floor. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would “love to see a shutdown” if legislators fail to address border security issues.