“Santa Barbara” on The Daily Caller

A rare relationship between environmental groups and oil companies formed in response to the Coal Oil Point seepage off the Santa Barbara coast. (more)

A California surgeon who served on his local school board was found dead Tuesday, just days before his scheduled court appearance related to sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl. His lawyer has called it a suicide. (more)

SURF BEACH, Calif. (Oct. 22) — A surfer off the Santa Barbara coast was bitten by a shark today and has died, a fire department official said. (more)

California is not without its fair share of characters, and Douglas Hughes is no different. Mr. Hughes is running for the GOP nomination for governor against Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, although he lags far behind in both the polls and in fundraising. His ideas appear to be quite unique for instance: he wants to build a “triple fence” along California’s border with Mexico, let immigrants have a green card reward system, and wants the state of California to sell drugs to addicts for half price. While these are a crucial part of his platform for governor, one idea is getting Mr. Hughes national attention: creating “Pedophile Island.” As the Hughes campaign website says: (more)

On April 5, there was an explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia; 29 lives were lost. Fifteen days later, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico; 11 lives were lost. These two human and environmental tragedies share more than just the month of April. They both, sadly, provide important headlines that pull back the curtain on the extent of our national energy appetite. And they should be a stark wake-up call for the large numbers among us who take for granted our access to reliable and affordable energy as to the complexity of our nation’s energy DNA. (more)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday withdrew his support of a plan to expand oil drilling off the California coast, citing the massive oil spill that resulted from a drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. (more)

Researchers have combined stolen web browser history data with membership of social networking groups to identify large numbers of users who would otherwise be anonymous, it was revealed this week. (more)

On Tuesday Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Michael Mullen will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss repealing the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy and changing the law that prevents gay people from serving openly in the military. But polls show a majority of service members are still against allowing gays to serve openly. (more)