cal coast news

A program to reduce the number of whales hit by ships, and improve air quality at the same time is preparing to kick off its fourth year of operation.

The program gets ships to voluntarily slow their speed in exchange for cash compensation.

A South Coast city has successfully completed its search for a new City Manager.

The Oxnard City Council hired Alexander Nguyen for the post.  Nguyen has worked in municipal government for more than two decades.  Most recently, he was Riverside’s Assistant City Manager.

A longtime law enforcement officer in Southern California has taken on a major new role with Santa Barbara County.

County Undersheriff Barney Melekian has been named the county’s new Assistant County Executive Officer for Public Safety.

In the wake of the deadly Thomas brush fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, one South Coast city is expanding efforts to crack down on illegal fireworks.

The Ventura City Council approved what’s known as a Fireworks Social Host ordinance. It means that not only can someone who uses illegal fireworks be prosecuted, but someone who hosts or organizes a gathering on property where fireworks are used can be held responsible.

Researchers discovered a litter of four mountain lion kittens in eastern Ventura County.

The kittens were discovered in the Simi Hills, a critical habitat area for mountain lions between the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges.

He wasn’t moonwalking like Michael Jackson, but an elephant which once lived at the late pop singer’s ranch in Santa Barbara County was definitely putting on some moves over the weekend.

“Ali” the bull elephant took advantage of a gate which was accidently left open in his enclosure at the Jacksonville, Florida zoo Sunday.

A highway in Ventura County was shut down for hours by a tractor-trailer rig fire, causing some big traffic tieups.

A big rig carrying roofing materials caught fire on Highway 118 near Somis just before one Friday afternoon. The highway had to be closed near Mesa School Road. Firefighters knocked down the fire in about a half hour.

No one was hurt. There’s no word yet on the cause of the fire. It led to some big traffic backups in the area. The highway finally reopened at about 5 p.m.

Officials with a state program say they’ve completed cleanup of debris from more than 600 properties in Ventura County impacted by the Thomas Fire.

CalRecycle officials say they’ve removed more than 270,000 tons of debris from just over 670 properties.

A fire at a South Coast elementary school is now being called arson, and a boy has been arrested.

A fire alarm went off just after seven a.m. Monday at Cypress Elementary School, in Newbury Park.  Ventura County firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the roof of the school’s auditorium.