It’s not easy being downstream.

Much of Southern California relies on water piped from Northern California and the Colorado River. Dry years and a judicial action to protect endangered fish up north are acting as a dam to slow the flow southward, where voluntary water use reductions are touted as a way to stave off mandatory restrictions.

Plans for Atascadero’s 3,500-acre Eagle Ranch area could help the city soar to new heights.

At times, it seemed like Sen. Barack Obama was talking to a group of some 150 guests at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on June 24, touting incentives to entrepreneurs who create zero-emission vehicles and replace the federal government’s vehicle fleet with fuel-efficient cars.