Quake hits Santa Barbara area: A magnitude 4.6 earthquake
centered in the Pacific ocean rattled Santa Barbara residents awake
Sunday morning but apparently caused no injuries or damage, police
reported. The quake struck at 1:47 a.m., according to officials
with the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Institute of
Technology. It was centered 10 miles west of Isla Vista, where the
University of California, Santa Barbara, is located.
“˜”˜We have no reports of any damage so
far,” said Terry Staten, a records supervisor with the
Santa Barbara Police Department. Several residents along the coast
and in downtown Santa Barbara reported being jolted awake. Up the
California coast, a magnitude 3.3 quake hit in Monterey County at
9:32 a.m. about 21 miles northwest of the San Simeon area. The
temblor was not related to the earlier quake, said Stephanie Hanna,
the western regional spokeswoman for the USGS.
Compiled from Bruin reports and wire services.
Gas prices rise quickly U.S. gasoline prices
rose by slightly more than 10 cents per gallon in the past two
weeks, the biggest jump since last August, an industry analyst said
Sunday. The weighted national average for all three grades of
gasoline was just over $1.96 per gallon on Friday, according to
Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the biweekly Lundberg Survey, which
regularly polls 8,000 gas stations across the United States. Tight
gasoline supplies and rising demand at a time when seasonal
environmental regulations cause a price adjustment are responsible
for the 10-cent price rise, Lundberg said. “˜”˜Those
regulations have both a cost and supply impact on
refiners,” said Lundberg. “˜”˜We get less
gasoline out at a higher cost just when we need more of it.
Meanwhile, tighter regulations make it tougher for importers to
bring in additional supplies.” The average price of
gasoline has broken record highs for two months straight, though
the average price remains about 90 cents a gallon lower compared to
the peak price in March 1981 when adjusted for inflation, Lundberg
said. Crude oil prices reached a 13-year high of $40 a barrel on
Friday, the highest since Oct. 11, 1990, in the run-up to the 1991
Gulf war. Prices for crude oil and for gas at the pump are unlikely
to decline anytime soon, Lundberg said. The national weighted
average price at self-serve pumps on Friday, including taxes, was
about $1.93 for regular, $2.02 for mid-grade and $2.11 for premium.
San Diego had the highest average price of any city, with
self-serve regular selling for an average of $2.25. The average for
self-serve regular in California was $2.21.
Program reduces teen pregnancies SAN FRANCISCO
“”mdash; California’s teen birth rate has dropped by more than
40 percent over the last decade, attributed to a state program that
provides information on abstinence and birth control. The
state’s teen birth rate fell from 11th nationwide in 1991 to
21st in 2002, according to the California Wellness Foundation,
which runs a statewide teen pregnancy initiative.
California’s decline in teen birth rates surpassed all other
states except Alaska, said Claire Brindis of the Center for
Reproductive Health Research at UC San Francisco. The teen birth
rate fell from 73 to 41.1 per 1,000 teens between 15 and 19,
Brindis said, citing the Department of Health Services.
Reports from Bruin wire services.