A brush fire charred more than 100 acres of land in eastern Santa Barbara County before being stopped Monday night.

The blaze was discovered at around 7 p.m. near the intersection of Highway 166 and Highway 33 east of Cuyama.  No structures were threatened.

Firefighters were able to stop the spread of the fire in about an hour, after it had grown to 130 acres.  They ended up not using all of the air tankers which had been initially ordered for the blaze.  There's no word on its cause.

Some Ventura County residents are among those across the country who’ve received mysterious packets of seeds from China.  County Agricultural officials are asking people not to open the packets, and to turn them in.

The Census Bureau is ending all counting efforts for the 2020 census on Sept. 30, a month shorter than previously announced, the bureau's director confirmed Monday in a statement. That includes critical door-knocking efforts and collecting responses online, over the phone and by mail.

The surge in new coronavirus cases continued over the weekend on the Central and South Coasts.

949 new cases were reported in the region from Friday through Monday, with Ventura County recording 533 additional cases, Santa Barbara County 297 and San Luis Obispo County 119.

The former king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, is leaving the country, he announced in a letter to his son, the current king, on Monday. He is being investigated for possible financial improprieties.

"A year ago, I expressed my will and desire to stop performing institutional activities. Now, guided by the conviction to perform the best service to the Spanish people, their institutions and you as King, I am communicating my thoughtful decision to move, at this time, outside of Spain," Carlos wrote to his successor King Felipe VI.

Religious organizations, having received as much as $10 billion in the first round of COVID-19 aid, hope to receive more funding under any new relief package.

Mississippi is heading for a title that no state would want: It is on track to overtake Florida to become the No. 1 state for new coronavirus infections per capita, according to researchers at Harvard.

The state already faces high levels of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and obesity.

The deadline is approaching for some small businesses on the South Coast hard hit by coronavirus to seek help though a community relief fund.

The Santa Barbara Better Together Fund is providing grants for struggling businesses in Goleta.

At least 36 crew members from a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Hurtigruten, the company that owns the ship. Several passengers have also tested positive in what the cruise line describes as an "outbreak" onboard the MS Roald Amundsen.

Four patients were admitted to a hospital in the northern Norwegian city of Tromso where the ship is now docked.