Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse checks in to offer his perspective on the two big issues that have consumed City Hall in recent weeks – the future of downtown development at the Paseo Nuevo shopping mall and the push by City Council’s liberal majority to impose a new set of strict rent control regulations on landlords and property owners. News-Press Editor Josh Molina joins the genial host to also interrogate the mayor about his 2026 re-election campaign.

The Santa Barbara News-Press this week named Josh Molina the first editor of the newly-launched, digital incarnation of the historic local news operation and, in his first extensive interview, he talks with Newsmakers TV about the vision for the new News-Press and its impacts on the media landscape, speaking emotionally about his deep roots in the community, long journey through a tumultuous period in the industry, and views on the importance of maintaining venerable values of credibility and fact-based reporting.

In a special Three Amigos episode of Newsmakers TV, Josh Molina and Nick Welsh join the genial host for droll stroll through the week’s top news stories in Santa Barbara, from the foggy future of Paseo Nuevo, simmering conflict over a homeless navigation center and private sector pushback on the city’s waterfront leasing policies, to the latest chapter in the endless story of the North County jail, a hopeful development in the saga of State Street’s future and a new twist in the tragic saga at UCSB.