Santa Catalina

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Pilot Defied Orders to Not Fly at Night Before Fatal Crash

Plane went down on Santa Catalina Island, killing 5

(Newser) - The pilot of a small plane in a fatal crash on California's Santa Catalina Island last month was not supposed to be flying at night, and a new NTSB report provides some answers on what happened. The Beechcraft 95-B44 airplane crashed shortly after taking off about 8pm on October...

Off California Coast, a Vast Chemical Graveyard

Survey shows dumping site is bigger than the city of San Francisco, shocks scientists

(Newser) - Scientists who set out to map an underwater dumping ground for industrial waste off the California coast last month say they were stunned by what they found: endless waste barrels spread across a site larger than the city of San Francisco, some 3,000 feet under the sea. After a...

3 Killed as Boat Capsizes Off Catalina Island, Calif.

Four others were rescued

(Newser) - A boat that may have been hit by a wave capsized off the backside of Santa Catalina Island in California on Saturday, killing three people, authorities said. Four survivors were rescued after the 15-foot skiff overturned off of Salta Verde Point, the AP reports. Three were in critical condition when...

Epic Surf Wows California
 Epic Surf Wows California 

Epic Surf Wows California

Hurricane Marie's waves pound coast

(Newser) - Southern California is seeing the kind of epic surf usually associated with Hawaii or Tahiti. Beaches are thronged with wave riders, and crowds are coming to watch the action even as seaside communities try to stave off damage from the ocean onslaught. A third day of waves spawned by the...

Natalie Wood Death Now 'Undetermined'

Certificate no longer reads 'accident'

(Newser) - Nearly 31 years after actress Natalie Wood drowned while on a boat cruise off Catalina, the LA County Coroner has changed her death certificate from "accident" to "undetermined," reports TMZ . The investigation was re-opened last November after the boat's captain made comments that raised doubts about...

Calif. Buffalo Go on Birth Control

State thins Santa Catalina Island herd humanely

(Newser) - Southern California's only herd of wild buffalo has been put on birth control. A conservation authority seeking to protect unique plant life on Santa Catalina Island, where buffalo have roamed since 14 of them were shipped out for a silent film in 1925, has been corralling the animals and injecting...

Wildfire Sweeps Across Catalina
Wildfire Sweeps Across Catalina

Wildfire Sweeps Across Catalina

(Newser) - A fast-moving blaze has scorched hundreds of acres of Santa Catalina, a resort island 22 miles off the California coast. The LA Times reports thousands of tourists and residents of the historic city of Avalon were fleeing the oncoming flames yesterday. "I hope they can hold it off,"...

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