A key section of Highway 101 on the South Coast is open again, after being closed for about two hours by a big rig traffic accident.

A jackknifed semi shut down southbound lanes of the highway at Santa Claus Lane in Carpinteria.  The accident happened just after 1:30 Monday afternoon.  Surface streets were jammed in the area as people tried to avoid the crash scene.

The northbound 101 remained open during the closure.  The southbound lanes of the highway reopened at around 3:30.

The new coronavirus case count on the Central and South Coasts continues to remain on the low side. Just released figures for the three day period from Saturday through today show 276 additional cases in the region.

Ventura County had 131 new cases, Santa Barbara County, and San Luis Obispo County 64 over the three day period.  In fact, San Luis Obispo County only reported five new cases Monday.

One of the top African American executives in Hollywood, Channing Dungey, was named chairman of the Warner Bros. Television Group on Monday.

She will replace Peter Roth who is stepping down early next year after running the television group for more than two decades.

Dungey previously served in executive roles at ABC and most recently Netflix where she was the streaming giant's Vice President Original Content and Head of Drama.

A Ventura County woman is facing multiple charges after detectives say she embezzled more than $900,000 from a businessman.

Ventura County Sheriff’s detectives say Neydi Veronica Garcia managed the personal, and businesses finances for the Camarillo businessman.  Investigators say in March of 2017, the Camarillo woman began embezzling money from his business accounts as well as the victim’s personal finances.

A NASA spacecraft, if all goes well, will soon touch down briefly on a skyscraper-sized asteroid 200 million miles away, in order to collect a small amount of rock and dust that can then be returned to Earth.

The probe, called OSIRIS-REx, is about as big as a 15-passenger van, and it needs to land for just 5 to 10 seconds on specific spot inside a boulder-strewn crater. The maneuver on Tuesday will be tricky and fraught with peril, as the spacecraft tries to reach a safe area that's only the size of a few parking spaces.

President Donald Trump has signed into law a bipartisan bill to create a new three-digit number for mental health emergencies. The Federal Communications Commission had already picked 988 as the number for this hotline and aims to have it up and running by July 2022. The new law paves the way to make that a reality.

"We are thrilled, because this is a game changer," says Robert Gebbia, CEO of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico will stay closed to nonessential travel for at least another month.

Bill Blair, Canada's public safety minister, tweeted on Monday, "We are extending non-essential travel restrictions with the United States until November 21st, 2020. Our decisions will continue to be based on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe."

A big rig crash has closed a section of Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County.

A jackknifed big rig shut down southbound lanes of the highway at Santa Claus Lane in Carpinteria.  The accident happened just after 1:30 Monday afternoon.  Surface streets are also jammed in the area, as people try to avoid the crash scene.