TV Panel Returns: Disaster, Politics, SBCC

Lizzie Rodriguez, sharp-tongued community activist and SB Fire and Police Commissioner, joins the cast this week for the first episode of a new season of Newsmakers TV.

Amid community heartache over the deadly Conception dive boat disaster, Lizzie, Josh Molina, Delaney Smith and Nick Welsh join Jerry for a segment of personal reflections and behind-the-scene glimpses of how the published news got made about the catastrophe, against a backdrop of images from the Indy’s Paul Wellman and the indefatigable Mike Eliason from Santa Barbara County's fire department.

The panel discusses how the Democratic Party’s Labor Day celebration, originally planned for politicking and big announcements, turned somber, then describes the Wild West political landscape of 2019-20 -- from Laura Capps’s challenge to Supervisor Das Williams and conservative stalwart Andy Caldwell’s throwdown against Rep. Salud Carbajal to Mayor Cathy’s sudden interest in a state legislative seat and big races in city council districts on the Mesa and the Eastside – before Delaney picks up the saga of turmoil at City College, where fall classes began this week, right where she left off with it last spring.

It’s all here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.