California

It was the first thorough exploration of the cold, oxygen-rich waters north of Bodega Head, a small promontory that lies along the California's Sonoma coast just 70 miles north of San Francisco. Submarine canyons, such as Bodega Canyon, extend from the continental shelf to the deep sea – making their exploration a difficult but worthwhile endeavour. The canyons are important because they act as a refuge for important species of fish and provide a habitat for sensitive species of deep-water corals and sponges.

A new study in the journal Plos One has revealed blue whales assemble for long periods in the busy shipping lanes off California, raising concerns about collisions between vessels and the endangered cetaceans.

“It’s an unhappy coincidence,” said study leader Ladd Irvine, a marine mammal ecologist at Oregon State University. “The blue whales need to find the densest food supply. There’s a limited number of those dense places, and it seems as though two of the main regular spots are crossed by the shipping lanes.”

AB 376 was authored by Assemblymembers Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). AB 376 passed the Assembly by a vote of 65 to 8 on May 23rd and the Senate on September 6th with a vote of 25 to 9. Both of the votes were bipartisan. We thank Assemblymen Fong and Huffman for fighting so long and hard for this bill.

The searchers were looking for another missing plane when they came upon the wreckage of a Lockheed T-33A jet trainer

The Air Force accident report identifies the pilots as Lt. Richard Martin Theiler and Lt. Paul Dale Smith. Theiler had 1,244 hours of flying experience, and Smith had 430.

Computer expert Gary Fabian is the founder of a group of unpaid volunteer enthusiasts who discovered a missing World War I German U-boat off the California coast in 2003.