Free Republic

A son of Lt. Gen. John Kelly, commander of the New Orleans-based Marine Forces Reserve, has been killed in fighting in Afghanistan, according to the Marine Corps. Second Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, of Tallahassee, Fla., died Tuesday after he was struck by an improvised explosive device, also called a roadside bomb, while on a foot patrol in Helmand Province, according to a Defense Department statement released Wednesday, the Marine Corps' 235th birthday. The Defense Department also announced the death of a north Louisiana Marine who also was killed Tuesday in Helmand Province. It was the younger Kelly's third combat...

A network of reserves to protect California's rich array of marine wildlife moved closer to becoming a reality on Tuesday after a state panel selected a plan to put large swaths of coastal waters off-limits to fishing. The Fish and Game Commission voted at a packed meeting in Monterey to ban both commercial and recreational fishing across more than 200 square miles between Santa Barbara and Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco. The plan still must undergo a final environmental review before it goes into effect. The new protected areas likely would not become official until at least...

After six years of political debate and scientific study, California is poised Tuesday to become the first state in the nation to create a broad network of "no fishing" zones off its coast... The idea is simple, and based on one of the leading new trends in marine biology. Provide fish a rest from hooks and nets, scientists say, in certain key spots known as "marine protected areas" and they will grow bigger and more numerous. The hope is that they'll eventually restock kelp forests, rocky underwater canyons and the rest of the ocean along the state's coastline. The California...