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Video: National Guard drops water on the wildfire in Lake County, California over the weekend. Video by Storyful Editor

nytimes.com - August 3rd, 2015 - Christine Hauser

National Guard forces dropped water along the edges of a raging wildfire over the weekend as more than 2,000 firefighters in Northern California tried to contain a blaze that has already scorched 60,000 acres.

The wildfire, nicknamed the Rocky Fire, started on Wednesday. It is the largest in the drought-parched state, where more than 9,000 firefighters are struggling to contain it and 20 other active wildfires, some caused by lightning strikes, according to a statewide summary published on Sunday.

The Rocky Fire has now spread to three counties — Colusa, Lake and Yolo — and prompted the mandatory evacuation of about 12,000 people.

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Andrew Blankstein and Kevin Monahan - Friday, 29 Aug 2014 | 8:45 AM ET - NBC News

The beach is so central to California's identity that the right of surfers and sun lovers to access the sand is guaranteed in the state Constitution.

But now so many local landowners want to block public access to their chunks of the coveted coastline that there are several hundred alleged violations pending before state officials, including a highly charged case in which Vinod Khosla, a green energy billionaire with ties to President Obama, is fighting surfers over access to a beach south of San Francisco.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101957304#.

A jogger runs by a sprinkler that is partially watering a sidewalk in Golden Gate Park on July 15, 2014 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

cbsnews.com - AP - July 16, 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Reservoirs are running dry, the Capitol's lawn has turned brown, and farmers have left hundreds of thousands of acres unplanted.

Even so, many Californians aren't taking the drought seriously. State water regulators are trying to change that by imposing fines up to $500 a day for wasting water.

The State Water Resources Control Board acted Tuesday amid warnings that conditions could get worse if it doesn't rain this winter.

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The California Air Resources Board wants cities to compete in fighting climate change by signing up residents to log actions they are taking to cut carbon emissions. Above, bicyclists during a morning commute on Market Street in San Francisco. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

latimes.com - by Tony Barboza - January 30, 2014

The California Air Resources Board thinks a little friendly competition might inspire Californians to scale back their driving, cut electricity use and take other steps to reduce carbon emissions.

The agency on Thursday announced a second round of the CoolCalifornia City Challenge, where cities compete to see how much they can cut their emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.

On the line is $100,000 in prize money that will go to cities based on how many people they sign up and how many points they earn in an online tracking system.

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