Goodbye, Macy's, hello housing - Santa Barbara News-Press

Good morning, Santa Barbara ☀️

Here’s what we have for you today:

Macy’s set for demolition as 680-unit housing project in La Cumbre Plaza moves forward
Santa Barbara proposes new rules on massage businesses, aims to combat human trafficking
Santa Barbara Education Foundation raises funds for local reading initiatives at annual ‘Love of Literacy’ luncheon
Denise Alvarado resigns as Santa Barbara Unified Executive Director of Elementary Education

News-Press interviewed by NBC News

We were pleased that NBC News Now reached out to the Santa Barbara News-Press for an interview about the Santa Barbara Half Marathon drama. For mysterious reasons, more than two dozen runners fell ill on Sunday, and had to be hospitalized. NBC reached out to our reporter Angel Corzo, who covered the breaking news story on Sunday.

Corzo did the interview from the newsroom and explained the News-Press reporting on the issue that has attracted national headlines. Check out more below.

Joshua Molina

News-Press Editor

Stories you should know about

Nvidia, a powerhouse in AI revolution, faces uncertain future after CEO’s affair with alleged Chinese spy (Los Angeles Times)
In a first, L.A.’s three citywide elected offices will all be held by Asian Americans (Los Angeles Times)
Hegseth decries “slander” as he seeks to fend off impeachment drive (New York Times)

The marathon mystery

The international media jumped on the mystery over why more than two dozen runners fell ill after running in the Santa Barbara Half Marathon. There are still more questions than answers. Here are some of the stories from around the world.

At least 19 runners hospitalized after suffering “unusual symptoms” during Santa Barbara Half Marathon (People)
Police investigate after 25 half-marathon runners hospitalized (ESPN)
Multiple California half-marathon runners hospitalized with “unusual symptoms” (NBC News Now)

The end of Macy’s

I spent most of my evening Monday night watching the Architectural Board of Review hearing and the approval of the La Cumbre Plaza housing project set to go at the old Macy’s building and surrounding parking lot. The hearing lasted 7 hours.

It’s a transformational project, with 680 units. Much controversy still surrounds the project, with many people raising concerns about the impact on traffic, schools and overall quality of life in the outer State Street area. Here’s what I know: We need the housing, but we also need Macy’s. It’s one of the last big department stores in the city and its loss means another reason to drive to Oxnard or Camarillo to shop, or, heaven forbid, buy online.

I love Macy’s around the holidays too, and the little kid in me still loves to ride the escalator. Other than Target there aren’t a lot of affordable places in town for me to buy work or casual clothes. I realize housing is needed more than I need a department store to shop in, but two things can be true. Santa Barbara needs to do more to build housing, but it also needs to attract and keep large retailers—or we will keep spending money outside of the city, or worse, on Amazon.

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