This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the Wednesday edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting. 

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from Rancho del Cielo.

For 8 years … Rancho del Cielo has been a partner to public radio in the Malibu.

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Malibu Awakened By Mag 4.2 Quake, But No Severe Shaking Reported

A pair of pretty good-sized earthquakes rocked Malibu overnight … rousing people as far down the coast as San Diego County.

The magnitude 4.6 primary quake … at 2 a-m … was followed by three aftershocks within the next 40 minutes. 

The biggest aftershock was magnitude 3.5 just three minutes after there main quake.

There was a magnitude 2.8 about 2:22 a.m. and magnitude 2.6 at 2:38 a.m.

Lots of people were awakened… No damage reported.

By mid afternoon, not one person had reported more than a strong jolt – and no damage.

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Man Shot On Santa Monica Street After Car Crash

A man was shot in his shoulder following a two-car crash in downtown Santa Monica yesterday afternoon.

It appears from witness accounts that the two drivers knew each other.

About six gunshots were heard just after the crash … next to an outdoor cafe at Broadway at Sixth Street.

Aerial video showed SUV had veered into the drivers door of another SUV.

Witnesses said the two cars collided … and then one driver got out and shot into the other car. Santa Monica said the suspect was arrested and a handgun was recovered at the scene.

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PCH Goes Under Water in Orange County, And Locally, Road Getting Splashed By Waves At Big Sand Dune

A one mile section of Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County went under water yesterday.

High tides and moderate winds pushed water across the road and into the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

That area floods … but usually in rainstorms … not salt water.

Up near Malibu … yesterday’s high tide again soaked a section of Pacific Coast Highway with significant ocean water … sand and seaweed. 

This is the stretch of PCH between the giant sand dune at Thornhill Broome Beach … and Big Sycamore Cove. 

Caltrans crews were out scraping the sand off the highway yesterday. 

This is just west of where the state is installing a vertical steel and concrete wall … under the highway … to shore it up east of Big Sycamore Beach.

The highway protection was improved with a large rock revetment last year.

But a revetment will not stop water going over the top.

The protective beach sand is long gone … and may not return.

Malibu’s highway link to the west appears to be in peril. 

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Norm Haney’s Hotel Conversion Near Nobu Goes Before Coastal Comm Feb 8

Developer Norm Haney’s proposal to convert an office building into a luxury hotel … and replace a defunct gas station with a grand hotel entrance … goes to the California Coastal Commission in February.

Haney calls it the Sea View Hotel … although he is trying to sell the deal to a hotel operator that will probably change that.

His concept is to take the 30-year old office building … remodel It into a small luxury hotel .. and access it from the property currently occupied by the remnants of a Shell gas station that closed decades ago.

This squalor is across the street from Nobu.

If built … the hotel has the capacity to replace much of the tax money now collected by the city for short term rentals in residential neighborhoods… Money that might be lost if the city reduces the number of bed and breakfast venues.

Haney’s proposal is backed by most factions on Malibu factuoiuse local scene… we’ve heard only one person speak against it in multiple public hearings here.

It goes before the Coastal Commission at its Internet only meeting … February 8th.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Brewing Company.

Malibu Brewing Company is a locally owned craft brewery, proudly supporting our community, and local public radio. 

The tap room at Trancas Country Market is open…

And the Malibu Brewing Company is serving its Oktoberfest fest beer … a traditional lager with notes of toffee … moderate malt flavors and delicate hops.

A chef prepared menu to enjoy on the patio or inside.

Malibu Brewing Company Malibu California

 

Recent Pali High Grad Swept To His Death In Pacifica

Police in the northern California city of Pacifica now say it was a recent palisades high school graduate who is washed away by a huge wave and drowned.

Hamzah Alsaudi, 22, was swept out to sea while swimming at a beach in Pacifica, south of San Francisco, on January 19.

Alsaudi, a senior at San Francisco State University, was swimming with two friends at Esplanade Beach in Pacifica when he was struck by a “large wave and pulled farther away from the shore.”

Alsaudi was born in Iraq and lived in Baghdad until he was 4, when his family eventually emigrated to the United States. 

He was a champion wrestler at Palisades High and Cerritos College for a season before transferring to San Francisco State.

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Support for Radio Malibu KBUU comes from the Mark and Grether Real Estate Group.

Combining the talents of Tony Mark and Russell Grether…

The Mark and Grether Group offers concierge-level service… personalized attention… to buyers and sellers… landlords and tenants … here in Malibu.

The Mark and Grether Group… a top producing team with 35 years of experience… and over $1 billion worth of real estate sold in least… from Malibu’s coastline to the canyons.

Metro Hearing Tomorrow On Proposed Subway Under 405, Or Maybe Monorail Above It

Remember when Metro spent years on widening the 405 freeway in Sepulveda Pass???

We have no numbers to confirm it .. but it certainly looked lot us like a large amount of traffic shifted to Pacific Coast Highway to get around the obstacles on the 405. 

Commuter patterns across the Santa Monica Mountains affect quality of life in Malibu. 

And now … a subway may be built between the San Fernando Valley and the Westside. 

Metro is holding hearings … including one tomorrow night on the computers.

It’s the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project … they are evaluating six options.

Three involved a monorail up the Sepulveda Pass and over the 405.

Three include a traditional subway under the mountains. 

The subway might stretch all the way up Van Nuys Boulevard to the north … 

There is money to build it as far south as the Expo Line at the 10 freeway ,… but it is pointed towards LAX. 

The hearing … on whether to build a subway or a monorail … and where to build it … is tomorrow on the computers.

Details on the KBUU Newswire.

https://www.metro.net/calendar/sepulveda-transit-corridor-project-community-open-house-2-in-person/

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Support for KBUU radio comes from Saguaro Technology.

Based in Malibu … Saguaro Technology offers software development and other engineering services across the entire product life cycle… and across several industries.

Life sciences, automation, robotics.

Saguaro Technology engineers work side-by-side with the client to extend engineering teams… to create and launch products faster… and more cost effectively.

Saguaro Technology can be reached at saguarotech.net

Santa Monica Begins 6 Year Plan To Convert Airport Into Park And Housing

Santa Monica is beginning to make plans for turning its airport back into a park.

Last night .. the Santa Monica city council began the formal process … to listen to community members and been to make plans.

Santa Monica Airport opened 100 years ago.

But Los Angeles and Santa Monica grew around it … the Douglas Aircraft factory moved out in 1967 … and small quiet prop planes got replaced by loud business jets … for the most part. 

After years of fatal crashes … noise complaints … pollution and noise … voters approved closing the airport back in 2014 by a 60 percent vote.

Already … the length of the runway has been chopped to make it impossible for many small jets to land there. 

By the end of 2028 … the FAA will allow the airport to be closed for good.

City manager David White told the city council last night … a great park will take great planning. 

And the state is going to require Santa Monica to provide affordable housing to be built on surplus public property.

NEWSCART A73886 AIRPORT DAVID WHITE

“It’s super important to know that right around the same time that we are gearing up to take action on the airport in 2028 a number of highly-consequential legally-required regulatory documents are due to the state… including seventh cycle  housing element for the period of 2029 to 2038.

“And also the Surplus Land Act … which is ever-evolving at the state level … to identify and program under utilized land for the purpose of providing affordable housing,”

In other words… do not expect all of the airport to become a park.

It being Santa Monica … there are thousands of different opinions on which way to go.

The city manager says a planning firm should be hired now … to come up with proposals in about 2026.

NEWSCART A73885 AIRPORT DAVID WHITE

“Through years of outreach, legal posturing and budget decisions, the City Council has now set the stage for the next he next phase of work to begin .. which is outreach to engage the community on planning not just the non-aviation lands but the full campus.

“There’s been several questions in the community about why are we doing this now, the airport is not closing for another five years?

“Why spend all this time and this money when there are other fires raging through the city?

“In some other communities the planning process move very quickly … and in others it has taken a long time.”

Santa Monica is now going to start looking for an urban planning firm to begin working with the community to come up with a plan for the Santa Monica Airport … due to close at the end of 2028.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from Sea N Soul Surf, at Zuma Beach Plaza

A coffee barista … the locals’ place to find entry level surfboards for a grom … or a handshaped blade for a pro. 

Sea N Soul Surf… clothing, coffee and boards for the Malibu lifestyle … under Spruzzo’s …across from Zuma Beach.

 

Nice Today, Big Santa Ana Predicted Late Tonight Into Friday

AFTERNOON UPDATE: 

Batten down the hatches… A major Santa Anna is in the works for tonight.

Santa Anas – stronger than earlier this week – are expected to intensify across Malibu tonight.

Winds will be more from the east … but will curve in the mountains and canyons to the south.

Peak wind gusts of 25 miles an hour are likely this evening … increasing to peak gusts of 45 miles per hour by sunrise Thursday.

That’s at the beaches.  The windiest canyon locations could see gusts to 55 miles per hour.

Southern California Edison is not calling out any potential intentional power outages.

Tomorrow, Thursday, will be windy all day. Winds will finally start subsiding tomorrow night.

Friday will be nice … but a major cool-down and clouds are due Saturday … and maybe some rain Sunday.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

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You can hear the news live every morning until 9:30 on KBUU.

FM 99.1 in western Malibu.  Also: streaming at www.radiomalibu.net

Between 10 and 2 … you can hear the newscast playback loop on KBU2. That’s on FM 99.1 HD2 in your car, or streaming at s7.viastreaming.net/6500

If humanly possible, the KBUU NewsScript is usually published at around midday at www.radiomalibu.net