Santa Maria Energy won approval from the Board of Supervisors to extract oil from 136 wells in the Orcutt Hills. Yet, you'd think the project had been denied.

The company got its project. The number of wells was not reduced. The amount of oil they could extract was not changed. They weren't even required to do no harm. They were, however, required to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions further than they wanted, which meant they would make less profit. They still stand to make millions of dollars mining a non-renewable local natural resource. A denial, no doubt, would have cost them millions.

More than 550 volunteers gathered recently before the break of dawn to seek out and interview homeless folks.

Common Ground Santa Barbara County brought together volunteers from more than 100 organizations to count people living on the streets throughout the county, and to identify those who are most at risk of premature death due to homelessness.

Several members of the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SB CAN) were involved in the Vulnerability Index Survey and Point in Time Count. Teams headed out from logistics centers throughout the county to find people where they spent the night before dispersing for the day.