Dear Doonesbury

We heard that Garry Trudeau, who created the politically oriented comic strip Doonesbury in 1970, doesn’t do interviews. So when The Independent was contacted by UCSB Arts & Lectures with the opportunity to interview the only comic strip writer to ever win a Pulitzer Prize, we jumped at the chance. The prescribed format? A short introduction by the writer and a few questions. The result? Read on.

City Flip-Flops on Veronica Meadows Development

The Santa Barbara City Council executed a drastic about-face Tuesday night, voting in concept to allow developer Mark Lee to build up to 26 units on vacant land running along Las Positas Road across from Elings Park, rather than the 15 units the councilmembers had insisted upon this March.

Legalizing Abu Ghraib

When Americans first saw photos of Abu Ghraib prisoners-hooded, naked, terrified-few doubted they were looking at portraits of torture. On that day in the spring of 2004, Senator Lindsey Graham told the nation that the American soldiers responsible for such outrage would be brought to justice. Not just the sergeants and privates, he promised, but those at the top who failed in their duty to prevent it. So far, however, no senior officer has been charged.

LAND and SEA

The Day Fire – so named because it started on Labor Day – was finally contained on Monday. The conflagration, which was sparked by

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

As he pledged to do last Tuesday, County Supervisor Salud Carbajal drove to the Los Angeles offices of Conquest Student

ANIMAL NATURE

Last week, the Santa Barbara Zoo was presented with the Edward H. Bean Award for significant achievement in their giant

The Creek Runneth Again

County Supes Scrap Mitigation and Rule in Favor of Steelheads

Despite being yanked from last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting agenda amidst a flurry of emails from the involved parties, an appeal by the Land Trust for Santa Barbara was unanimously approved by county supervisors this week.

State Supremes Hold Rare S.B. Hearings

High Court Deliberates Over Goleta Housing Project

The California State Supreme Court made a rare ceremonial and working visit to the Santa Barbara Courthouse this week, operating out of the picture-perfect Mural Room. Justices started the day taking questions from county high school students-most from Santa Ynez and Santa Maria-before they got down to the serious business of dissecting legal arguments.

MEDIA MADNESS

The News-Press has challenged the validity of last week’s union vote, demanding that the NCRB investigate coercive tactics by the

Quote of the Week

‘I’ve just gone through the most frustrating period in all of my years of public service.’

-County Supervisor Brooks Firestone, alluding to the fallout from the recently scrapped plans to build a new bridge over Gaviota Creek.

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