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The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a small plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean in Northern California and a woman's body was found in the sea near the wreckage. An FAA spokesperson told USA TODAY a single-engine Cozy Mark IV crashed into water on Sunday near Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. Aviation officials said the crash took place about 7:30 p.m. and two people were on board the plane. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reported the aircraft took off from the East Bay and shortly after, authorities responded to reports of "a small...

An airplane crashed into the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean after 'flying erratically' near an airport south of San Francisco Sunday evening, authorities said. Sgt. Philip Hallworth of San Mateo County Sheriff´s Office said crews were searching for the plane that went down in Half Moon Bay around 7:15 p.m.. Officials have recovered some wreckage, reports ABC San Francisco, but there is still no word on possible survivors. It's not clear how many people were on board at the time of the crash. The crash occurred a few miles from the Half Moon Bay Airport on the Cabrillo Highway,...

Cal Fire responded to reports of a man being bitten by a shark at Gray Whale Cove just north of Half Moon Bay. At around 9:15 a.m. local time, first responders found a male surfer in his thirties with severe injuries to his right leg. They confirmed that the victim was indeed bitten by a shark. Paramedics used advanced life support measures to stop the bleeding. The victim was admitted to San Francisco General Hospital but has now been released. The San Mateo Sheriff's Department estimates that the great white shark was between 6 to 8 feet long based on...

One week after a state appeals court ruled that Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla cannot continue blocking public access to Martins Beach on the coast south of Half Moon Bay, the gate remains padlocked with no-trespassing signs.**snip** But despite Khosla’s apparent defiance of the court in the high-profile case that could affect the public’s ability to visit other beaches across California, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is making clear that it considers the scenic stretch of coastline open. full title -Sheriff says visitors to Martins Beach won’t be arrested if they go around gates locked by billionaire Vinod Khosla

Some of the professionals avoided the tiring and dangerous paddle out, using jet skis to reach the swells. "There were some solid waves," surfer Travis Eayn said. From the cliff at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, photographer tried to predict which waves surfers would dare to ride. There was one injury reported Thursday when a surfer suffered a dislocated shoulder. The high surf advisory is in effect until 10 a.m. Friday.

With the best of conditions under sunny skies, the Mavericks Invitational, the so-called Super Bowl of surfing, was won by South African Grant "Twiggy" Baker. Baker also won the title in 2006 and reclaimed the title on Friday afternoon, with Hawaiian Shane Dorian coming in second in his first Mavericks contest and Ryan Augenstein of Santa Cruz coming in third. Raw Video of Mavericks 2014 Fellow Californians Tyler Fox of Aptos, Greg Long of San Clemente and Anthony Tashnick of Santa Cruz rounded out the six surfers who made the finals. The competition kicked off Friday morning off the coast...

An amateur video of a Geiger counter showing what appear to be high radiation levels at a Coastside beach has drawn the attention of local, state and federal public health officials. Since being posted last week, the short video has galvanized public concerns that radioactive material could be landing on the local coastline after traveling from Japan as a result of the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Government officials say they are looking into the video shot on Dec. 23 and performing their own sampling of the beaches, but they have found no indication so far that radiation...

HALF MOON BAY -- Between budget losses and lawsuit payments, Half Moon Bay's financials have become so dire that if a local sales tax measure doesn't pass this November, officials say they may have to disincorporate. City leaders have been using the "D" word for a few weeks now as they try to persuade voters to pass Measure K, a one-cent sales tax increase that would help the city balance its budget with an extra infusion of $1.4 million per year for the next seven years. Dissolving Half Moon Bay -- handing the city's budget, operations and services to San...

The city of Half Moon Bay found itself in serious financial trouble last year after U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the city had to pay a local developer $37 million - $41 million with legal fees added. The judgment amounted to close to four times the city's annual budget, or more than $3,000 per resident in this city of fewer than 13,000. Bankruptcy loomed. Walker found that a city drain project inadvertently had created wetlands on developer Charles "Chop" Keenan's property. When Half Moon Bay later cited those same wetlands as grounds to stop Keenan from developing...

SACRAMENTO — A bill that would erase Half Moon Bay's lawsuit debt to a developer in return for the construction of a major subdivision on land containing wetlands overcame a major hurdle on Wednesday, narrowly winning approval from the Assembly's Local Government Committee. The panel, headed by Assemblywoman Anna Caballero D-Salinas, voted 4-2 to send the controversial proposal, AB1991, to the Appropriations Committee for cursory approval before it moves to the Assembly floor for a vote. A coalition of environmental groups has fought the bill at every turn, concerned about the precedent it could set. It fears that the bill,...

The Half Moon Bay City Council was poised late Tuesday to hire a team of appellate lawyers and a financial adviser to help it address a potentially ruinous federal court order that the city pay $36.8 million to a developer in a property dispute. The council planned to hire Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a San Francisco law firm that specializes in public finance and corporate law, and Piper Jaffray, a financial firm that has worked with cities across the state. They will work with the council on what to do about a court judgment that is more than three times...

Half Moon Bay is wrestling with unpleasant options for responding to a court ruling that officials say threatens the "very existence of our city government" - a $36.8 million judgment against the city for turning a proposed housing development site into wetlands. Under the worst-case scenario, officials say, Half Moon Bay would become the first Bay Area city forced to dissolve, and the coastal town's land would become an unincorporated part of San Mateo County. Members of the City Council say that's unlikely, and they plan to vote at a public meeting tonight to retain an appellate law firm and...

The record was shattered today in the Half Moon Bay World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, with the winning gourd weighing in at 1,524 pounds. The grower, Thad Starr, takes home the first prize of $9,144 or $6 per pound. The 40-year-old from Pleasant Hill, Ore., beat more than 70 competitors, including three-time winner Joel Holland, who came in second with a 1,384-pound pumpkin.