County 12-24

Friends of the Bridge, a civic group against the proposed Cold Spring Bridge suicide barrier, filed a report with Federal Recovery Board this week, alleging that Caltrans and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments are attempting to illegally divert $1.5 million away from federal roadway projects to fund the project. According to the report, the two agencies under fire have supposedly been aware since May 2008 that the suicide barrier is not a legitimate project for use of either state or federal traffic safety-related funding.

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The number of unemployed Santa Barbarans jumped by 200 this month, bringing the countywide average to 8.9 percent, up from November’s 8.8 percent. By contrast, the figure was 7.1 percent last December. Construction posted the biggest job losses in Santa Barbara over the past year with 1,100 positions gone; leisure and hospitality lost 500, as did professional and business services. The most recent unemployment figure for California is 12.3 percent (down from 12.5 percent the month before), which is a decrease in the number of unemployed by 10,200.