Published on June 25, 2008

Trying to get a large building project approved on the Gaviota Coast is a complex and unpopular process. Just ask Orange County-based developer Matt Osgood (pictured), who has been playing the development approval chess game at his Naples property for almost 10 years now.

Published on June 25, 2008

Facelift: The never popular plan to develop Naples got a facelift this month, but it remains to be seen if the changes-such as 14 new inland house sites, like the one pictured above as indicated by the story pole-are simply smoke and mirrors by the developer or actual efforts to make a more public-pleasing project.

Published on June 25, 2008

SPOILERS: The Goleta City Council could throw a wrench in Measure A should it choose to put its own sales tax on November's ballot. County jurisdictions consider the passage of Measure A critical to solving transportation needs in the county.

Published on June 25, 2008

Ken Norton of Bodega Bay, holding an abalone he picked, was taken a week after four people died in pursuit of abalone.

Published on June 25, 2008

Sea Otters

Published on June 25, 2008

From the left, friend Jake, Paul Cronshaw, Glen Van Peski and Rik Christensen share a cold January morning near White Ledge with their UL packs prominently displayed.

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Processing farmed abalone.

Published on June 25, 2008

Abalone Farm

Published on June 25, 2008

How many abalone are left at San Miguel Island? That's the question research divers are trying to determine in surveys, one of which was scheduled for this summer.

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Fish & Game's Associate Biologist Derek Stein collected data during a 2006 survey at San Miguel Island.

Published on June 25, 2008

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper's Jessie Alstatt cautions against opening the fishery without research that shows the population is stable or growing.

Published on June 25, 2008

Department of Fish & Game's Senior Biologist Ian Taniguchi (foreground) and commercial divers Harry Liquornik (pointing) and Phil Sanders (standing) work onboard a research vessel to determine whether San Miguel Island has enough abalone to reopen the fishery.

Published on June 25, 2008

John Romo

Published on June 25, 2008

Angry Poodle

Published on June 25, 2008

Catherine Meagher

Published on June 25, 2008

ULA Circuit Pack - 32 ounces/$175

Published on June 25, 2008

Senator John McCain rushes off to the next stop

Published on June 25, 2008

Protesters outside the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History after the event

Published on June 25, 2008

Senator John McCain greets people in the crowd

Published on June 25, 2008

John McCain

Published on June 25, 2008

Presidential hopeful, Senator John McCain

Published on June 25, 2008

Mariposa Plus - 19-21 ounces/$155.

Published on June 25, 2008

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and UCSB Dean of the College of Engineering, Matthew Tirrell.

Published on June 25, 2008

Ex-CIA director James Woolsey (left) and Land Trust for Santa Barbara County Executive Director Michael Feeney

Published on June 25, 2008

Glen Van Peski models his lightest pack to date, the Murmur, which weighs in a 7.2 ounces.

Published on June 25, 2008

Land Trust for Santa Barbara County Executive Director Michael Feeney and Senator John McCain

Published on June 25, 2008

Senator John McCain and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Published on June 25, 2008

Protesters outside the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History during the event

Published on June 25, 2008

Campaign trail press corp

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Senator John McCain and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Protesters gathered outside the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History hours before McCain's arrival

Published on June 25, 2008

Hundreds of people gathered outside the SBMNH in hopes of getting inside to see McCain

Published on June 25, 2008

Ben Beede grows the snails in a facility along the coast near Goleta.

Published on June 25, 2008

Abalone Farm

Published on June 25, 2008

If you're eating abalone these days, it's probably coming from a farm.

Published on June 25, 2008

Former abalone diver Jim Marshall believes there is much hope for a new fishery there.

Published on June 25, 2008

San Miguel Island seems to be one of the last strongholds for abalone in Central and Southern California.

Published on June 25, 2008

How many abalone (pictured here) are left at San Miguel Island? That's the question research divers are trying to determine in surveys, one of which was scheduled for this summer.

Published on June 25, 2008

Eulah Laucks

Published on June 25, 2008

Published on June 25, 2008

Lake Cachuma

Published on June 25, 2008

UCSB chapter of the American Advertising Federation.

Published on June 25, 2008