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Five SoCal Must-Reads: Trouble at the Salton Sea and More

By Zach Behrens
November 29, 2011
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Detail in San Luis Obispo's 'Bubblegum Alley' | Photo by Zach Behrens/KCET
Detail in San Luis Obispo's 'Bubblegum Alley' | Photo by Zach Behrens/KCET

  • California's largest body of water, the Salton Sea, is not faring well, and the state only has $6.5 million in uncommitted funds to address major problems. On Monday, a state Assembly subcommittee held a meeting on site, the Imperial Valley Press reports (h/t Aquafornia).
  • "Are any of the small cities in Los Angeles County not havens of crazy or worse?" asks Kevin Roderick at LA Observed after a revealing and scandalous city council meeting in city of San Fernando, population 25,000.
  • After 3.5 years and 32 hours of public testimony and city council meetings, Whittier leaders last night approved an oil drilling operation in the Whittier Hills. City coffers could garner "$7.5 million to as much as $115.4 million annually," says the Whittier Daily News.
  • It's not just man-made causes contributing to the polluted Ballona Creek in L.A. County, but the La Brea Tar Pits, too, reports the Los Angeles Times.
  • Kern County hospitals can close emergency rooms to ambulance traffic when overwhelmed, forcing patients to hospitals they rather not be at. But the policy may soon be reversed, according to the Bakersfield Californian.
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