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A longtime Santa Barbara County community leader who served as a County Supervisor for a decade has died.
Robert Kallman passed away this week.

He had been in hospice care due to a variety of health issues.

Kallman was a Santa Barbara County Supervisor from 1975, and went on to serve as a top environmental official for President Ronald Reagan, and President H.W. Bush.

He also served as one of the “El Presidentes” for Old Spanish Days, which is the South Coast’s largest community celebration. The Santa Barbara man was in the nursery business for many years.

Kallman was 87 years old.

The Santa Barbara Police Department has just released the name of a man shot to death last week in the city.

Detectives are releasing little information about the case, but now say that Kelly Mitchell Hunt of Ventura was the victim of the incident.

Officers were called to the 1000 block of Olive Street just after 7 p.m. on February 19th. They found a 21 year old man with multiple gunshot wounds on the ground. He was pronounced dead at a hospital less than an hour later.

No arrests have been made in the case. Investigators are seeking the public’s help, noting that Hunt wasn’t known to spend time in Santa Barbara, and they’re trying to figure out why he was in the city.

A Santa Barbara County woman has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of torturing her two year old daughter.

Prosecutors say Lorena Arenas held her child’s hands under scalding water to punisher her for playing with her makeup.
They say the Santa Maria woman then waited hours before taking the child to a hospital for treatment.

The burns were so severe, the little girl had to be taken to a burn treatment center in Los Angeles.

While Arenas received a life sentence for the April, 2010 crime, it came with the possibility of parole, which means with credit for time already served, the 26 year old woman could be released as soon as four years from now.

The child’s father testified against the woman, and under a plea deal served a short sentence for failing to immediately seek treatment for the little girl.

The child is in the process of being adopted.

A memorial service will take place on Friday in Santa Barbara for the man who managed Ventura County’s investments for nearly two decades.

Robert Hansen died last week, from complications from treatment of a brain tumor.

Hansen managed Santa Barbara County’s investment and retirement portfolio for five years, and then handled Ventura County’s for nearly 20 years. He reported Ventura County’s portfolio had earned more than 740 million dollars under his management.

Hansen retired last December, after being diagnosed with the tumor.

The memorial service will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, at the Santa Barbara Mission. Hansen was 67 years old.

It was an oil refinery in Ventura County for 30 years…but for more than 60 years, it’s been a toxic waste site.

The Environmental Protection Agency has spent decades trying to clean up the property on the northeastern outskirts of Fillmore.

A new study being presented to Fillmore residents looks at whether toxic chemicals in the soil, and groundwater may have led to an increase in the incidence of cancer in the community.

KCLU’s Lance Orozco reports that study, and an update on cleanup efforts will be the focus of a community meeting this week.

Click on link to listen to/download story: Fillmore EPA Cleanup Meeting

Ventura County’s only regular passenger flight service has been suspended, but the carrier is hoping to resume operations as soon as late next month.

MVP Airways began offering nonstop three day a week charter service from Oxnard Airport to Las Vegas last October.

The service reported strong ridership on its Friday night flights, but wasn’t as busy other days of the week.

Ventura County Airports Director Todd McNamee says MVP got into a dispute with the company which provided the aircraft, and suspended service from Oxnard in December.

The airports officials say MVP has told him they are trying to work out a deal with a new provider, and resume service from Oxnard to Las Vegas in a few weeks.

A construction crew accidentally ruptured a gas line in Montecito today, closing some streets for much of the day.

The accident happened just before 11 a.m., at the intersection of Butterfly, and High Road.

Southern California Gas Company crews were able to stop the leak in about an hour.

It took workers more than three hours to fully repair the damage, and reopen closed streets in the area. No one was hurt.

Ventura County library card holders can now download and read more than 100 magazines online, for free.

KCLU’s Lance Orozco has the story.

Click on link to listen to/download story: Ventura County Library System Vimio Magazines

A fugitive wanted by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department is behind bars again today, thanks to Facebook, and an alert citizen.

Department officials say Steven Kunes had a long criminal history which included forgery, grand theft, and burglary charges.

The Montecito man was arrested last year for passing bad checks, and after entering a guilty plea, received a five year sentence, and was approved for electronic monitoring.

Investigators say last August, he cut off the monitoring device, and mailed it to sheriff’s deputies. The Sheriff’s Department posted his wanted picture on its Facebook page.

On Sunday, someone saw him at a Carpinteria restaurant. Deputies were called to the scene, and the 56 year old man was rearrested.

A Ventura County boxer with 29 wins, and one world title is taking on perhaps his greatest challenge.

He’s going to be “Dancing With The Stars!”

Victor Ortiz will join a cast which includes Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones, Olympic skating legend Dorothy Hammill, comedian D.L. Hugley, and country music star Kellie Pickler.

The 26 year old boxer has a 29 win, four loss and two draw career boxing record, with 22 knockouts to his credit. His titles include the WBC World Welterweight championship. Ortiz trained for years in Oxnard, and lives in Ventura.

The new season of “Dancing With The Stars” begins March 18th on ABC