••• The city’s Architectural Board of Review sent the proposed design for the new police headquarters downtown back to the drawing board. One member complained that there’s “no room for the inevitable expansion.” Why would you not build as big as you can now? Was the city supposed to look for a bigger site and then not use it all? —Noozhawk
••• The county Board of Supervisors plan to “write a letter to the governor asking him to give places of worship in Santa Barbara the same rules that retail shops like grocery stores get.” Just keep your masks on and don’t sing, OK? —Independent
••• “Santa Barbara’s City Council authorized a chain of events that will eventually result in the installation of 16 Tesla battery packs” at the Cater Water Treatment Plant. “Tesla offered to provide the batteries to City Hall as part of a program sponsored by the California Public Utilities Commission to reduce the risk of fire in areas prone to combustion. The Cater plant, located in the wildland urban interface, qualifies as a high-fire-risk infrastructure. The council’s vote will authorize Tesla to submit a $3 million bill to the PUC.” —Independent
••• Santa Barbara’s plan to replace parking kiosk workers with automated license-plate readers moved forward. “It will take about a year to transition away from kiosk workers to the automated system. The city plans to offer some employees other part-time jobs at the city or hire them to roam the parking lots to help people.” —Noozhawk
••• “The Montecito Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously supported a development plan to keep debris nets in Montecito creeks for three additional years, which could protect the community against future debris flows in burn areas while the fire-scarred vegetation within the watershed recovers.” —Noozhawk
••• The UCSB staff member who recently died at Campus Point wasn’t pushed off the bluff, as initially reported. Instead, he apparently had a heart attack after a confrontation with someone. —Independent
••• “The much-anticipated Olive Mill Road roundabout moved closer to becoming a reality this Tuesday as the county supervisors voted unanimously to reject an environmental appeal of the project filed by Cars Are Basic [….] Once the roundabout is cleared for takeoff, construction is estimated to cost $5.5 million and last at least 14 months.” —Independent
••• “Santa Barbara residents can expect to hear a sonic boom this Saturday when Team Vandenberg and SpaceX are scheduled to launch the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite at 9:17 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base.” —Independent
••• This isn’t local, per se, but it bears repeating: “Scientists who initially warned about contaminated surfaces now say that the virus spreads primarily through inhaled droplets, and that there is little to no evidence that deep cleaning mitigates the threat indoors. […] Hand washing with soap and water for 20 seconds—or sanitizer in the absence of soap—is still encouraged to stop the virus’s spread.” —New York Times
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