Year: 2006

Mule Kick

Close Calls and Dem Victories Tag Election

Mirroring a nationwide trend, Santa Barbara County voters turned out in force this past Tuesday and largely voted in favor of Democratic candidates. Faced with a laundry list of local and state propositions, a gubernatorial race, the 2nd District supervisorial contest, Goleta and Carpinteria City Council races, and two seats up for grabs on the Santa Barbara School Board, nearly 122,000 county residents cast ballots (roughly 65 percent of registered voters), including more than 22,000 in the City of Santa Barbara.

LAND AND SEA

The draft Environmental Impact Report for the Tranquillion Ridge oil and gas development project – released this week – validates opponents’ longtime concerns by

American Maid

The Santa Barbara Symphony Joins Forces with Composer Joan Tower for Made in America

Nir Kabaretti will conduct three of the four pieces on the next program of the Santa Barbara Symphony, which takes place on Saturday and Sunday, November 11 and 12, in the Arlington. Kabaretti will lead the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the instrumental movements only, since there are no singers announced; probably the miraculous “Overture,” the “Scherzo,” and the “Wedding March”), the Divertissement of Jacques Ibert, and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, with its jaunty/jazzy outer movements and its dreamy, wistful center. The soloist for the Ravel will be the dazzling Music Academy alum, Orion Weiss.

Freedom and Exile

Introducing Dissident African Writers NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o and Chris Abani

Exiled Kenyan writer NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o’s voice has a musicality to it, a tonal rhythm that emanates from the sound of his native tongue, KÄ©kÅ©yÅ©. He wrote his latest novel, Wizard of the Crow, in KÄ©kÅ©yÅ©, making it the longest book ever written in a sub-Saharan African language. He then translated the book-titled MÅ©rogi wa Kagogo in KÄ©kÅ©yÅ©-into English.

ELECTIONS 2006

Basking in the glory of the Democratic tidal wave that swept the nation this week, Congressperson Lois Capps celebrates her victory Tuesday night at SOhO. Capps was joined in her jubilation by the Democratic candidate for the 2nd District seat, Janet Wolf. As of press time, Wolf appeared poised to take the election over Republican opponent Dan Secord. However, with fewer than 1,000 votes separating them and several absentee ballots still uncounted, both candidates shied away from specific declarations of defeat or victory Tuesday night. Top vote-getters Michael Bennett and Eric Onnen destroyed the incumbent slate in the Goleta City Council race.

LAW AND DISORDER

A lawsuit to prevent the City of Goleta from implementing its General Plan has been launched by the newly formed