••• “Santa Barbara County Public Health officials confirmed two additional cases of coronavirus during a press conference Wednesday. This brings the total number of positive cases to 26 within the county. For the first time, the Public Health Department released the cities where the confirmed cases are located. […] Currently, there are 6 cases in Santa Maria, 5 cases in Orcutt, 10 cases in Santa Barbara, and 5 cases in the Montecito/Summerland/Carpinteria area. There are no confirmed cases in Goleta.” —Edhat
••• “Walmart, Albertsons, Kroger and Whole Foods are adding sneeze guards to checkout lanes” and also making other changes to improve safety of employees and patrons. —KEYT
••• “The Santa Barbara County Jail is increasingly discharging inmates early to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the people in custody. Sheriff Bill Brown said they are the least serious offenders. [One would hope!—Ed.] ‘The total is 30 inmates who have been released from our jail. That is roughly 3 percent.'” —KEYT
••• “‘Zoomers’ Ready to Do Grocery Shopping for Boomers During Pandemic [….] San Marcos High junior Danny Goldberg creates delivery business to serve elderly, those with compromised immune systems.” —Noozhawk (photo courtesy Zoomers to Boomers)
••• “The Santa Barbara Downtown Organization is looking for a new Executive Director, after receiving a letter this week from its current leader Carrie Kelly. Kelly will be taking an economic development position in Arizona.” Rough timing. She started in late 2018. —KEYT
••• “The Rincon Bluffs Preserve, a scenic oceanfront property zoned for a destination resort at the eastern edge of Carpinteria, is slated to be transferred this week to the city and managed forever as public open space. The city is expected to close escrow on Friday on the 22-acre preserve at the junction of Carpinteria Avenue and Highway 150, purchasing it for $945,000 from the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, a nonprofit preservationist group. With the Rincon Bluffs in hand […] the city hopes nearly to complete a five-mile public hiking and biking trail from the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve east through the city’s Tar Pits Park and Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve to the county’s Rincon Beach Park.” —Independent
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