TV Santa Barbara

The Santa Barbara City Council’s refusal to endorse a controversial redevelopment plan for the Paseo Nuevo shopping center has left the hugely consequential land use issue in limbo, and on this week’s edition of Newsmakers TV, Josh Molina and Ryan P. Cruz break down what comes next, as Christina McDermott reprises her reporting on the latest injuries inflicted on local communities by the Trump Administration. Plus: Jerry rants about what’s ultimately behind the mob boss president’s immigration policies.

On this week’s edition, Josh Molina and Ryan Cruz preview and handicap the vote for next week's City Council showdown decision on that controversial development plan for the Paseo Nuevo shopping center, while Callie Fausey reports “the threat is real” amid the Trump Administration’s move to open new areas off the coast of Central California to oil drilling. Plus: $8.3 million in public housing for new UCSB chancellor, an 18-story building proposed in Carp and Josh’s inside report on City Hall's attack on the massage therapy industry.

As City Council prepares to vote on a new plan for Paseo Nuevo, City Administrator Kelly McAdoo, State Street Master Planner Tess Harris and two of their key consultants join Josh Molina, Nick Welsh and the genial host for an in-depth and detailed conversation about the finances, housing and design impacts and implications of the project, Santa Barbara’s most complex and consequential land use issue of this century.

In a special bonus edition of Newsmakers TV, City Council member Kristen Sneddon announced she will seek election as Santa Barbara’s mayor, setting the stage for an intriguing generational challenge to incumbent Randy Rowse that will be shaped by conflicts over rent control, the future of downtown and how the city should accommodate ever-increasing demand for more housing and greater density.

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse returns for a new “Ask the Mayor” episode, addressing questions from Josh Molina and the genial host about the controversial proposal to build housing at Paseo Nuevo; the new plan for the Sears site at La Cumbre Plaza; the state of State Street; the latest push for rent control; and a spate of bad news about the city budget. Plus: an update on his 2026 re-election plans.

Christina McDermott leads off this week’s edition of Newsmakers TV with breaking news, reporting that federal food stamp benefits appear to have restored, even as non-profits and other community groups were jumping into the breach to help thousands of local residents cut off by Donald Trump’s government shutdown. Nick Welsh also joins the genial host, recounting the latest remarkable turn in the Sable Offshore oil saga, while Josh Molina sorts through the complex, simmering feud over the future of State Street. Plus: new clues about the mysterious developers behind the outrageous plan for an eight-story tower behind the Mission.

On this week’s episode, it’s a special tour of the Halloween hellscape the Trump Administration is creating in Santa Barbara, as Christina McDermott, Ryan P. Cruz, Nick Welsh and Josh Molina join the genial host for a conversation about cuts to food stamps and housing aid, neighborhood terror and political clashes stemming from immigration raids, and the mob boss president’s hand in next Tuesday’s special election and the ongoing fight over offshore oil. Plus: Ryan’s search for ghosts and the never-ending horrors of what to do about State Street.

It’s a big week on the housing beat, as Newsmakers TV’s All-Star Panel of Top Local Journalists features Christina McDermott, Josh Molina, Ryan P. Cruz and Nick Welsh breaking down all the latest about that monstrosity project proposed for the Mission, the City Council’s latest misadventures with rent control, and the icy response city planners had to the first-look development at Paseo Nuevo. Plus: a big court ruling on the Sable Oil pipeline, local impacts of the federal government shutdown and a shock new budget report out of City Hall.

Rep. Salud Carbajal checks in with Newsmakers to discuss the ongoing shutdown of the federal government. He breaks down the key health care issue that Democrats are pressing in the conflict, talks about some of the real-life, day-to-day impacts of the government being closed, and expresses deep concern over some recent actions Donald Trump’s “fascist administration.”

Our All Star Panel of National Political Pundits returns, as veteran journalist Carla Marinucci, author Dan Morain and media strategist Bill Carrick join the genial host for a deep dive into Proposition 50, Gavin Newsom’s not-so-secret bid for president, and Donald Trump’s destruction of the East Wing of the White House, among other matters, including the governor’s race, what’s up with Nancy Pelosi and fond farewells to two giants of California politics.