Free Republic

Meghan Markle became physically closer to her family members when she and Prince Harry moved to California last year, but that doesn't mean there's room for reconciliation – so says a family source. In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stunned fans and their own families with their decision to step back as senior working members of the British royal family and move to North America to pursue independent work. It's been almost a year since the couple settled down at a property in Montecito, Calif., located in Santa Barbara County. Although Markle once again lives on the same...

The last time the Strogoff's saw Diamond was one day before the Montecito Mudslide destroyed their property and surrounding neighborhood. The family decided to evacuate their home when warnings came in about the impending storm. They left quickly and couldn't round up their two cats, Diamond and Huguette, in time. When they returned home a few days later to assess the damage to their property, their pets were nowhere to be found. The family had to relocate for a year until their property was repaired. They returned home in January 2019... On Monday, Noelle was talking to a worker who...

MONTECITO, Calif. - Family and friends are mourning the loss of Rebecca Riskin of Riskin Partners in Montecito. The 61-year-old is one of 17 people who died in the flooding and mudslides in Montecito. It has been reported that her dogs died, too. Riskin was a professional ballerina before she become known as the first lady of luxury real estate. She sold more than $2.17 billion dollars in real estate during her career and didn't talk about her celebrity clients.

Gore to young advocates: Battle industry lobbyists to turn the tide on climate By Ben Geman - 04/15/11 09:10 PM ET Al Gore told young green energy advocates Friday that progress on global warming must come from a strong grassroots movement that can counter the oil and coal lobbies, which he alleged have “paralyzed” governments. Gore – who compared action on global warming to the Civil Rights movement – was the keynote speaker at Power Shift 2011, a Washington, D.C. conference attended largely by college students. “It’s true that governments by and large have been politically paralyzed because the energy...

In a move that critics may cite as his own inconvenient truth, former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have added a house in secluded Montecito to their real estate holdings. The couple spent $8,875,000 on a gated ocean-view villa on 1 1/2 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, according to real estate sources familiar with the deal. The Italian-style house has high ceilings with beams in the public rooms, a family room, a wine cellar, terraces, six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms in more than 6,500 square feet of living space. Montecito has long...

Al Gore’s purchase of a near nine million dollar Montecito mansion with an almost comical carbon footprint (nine bathrooms!) probably means that he has given up on the global warming movement and decided to become a Hollywood producer (not that he ever made much of a distinction between two). Montecito is where the creme of the Hollywood creme go when Beverly Hills gets too crowded and nouveau riche. Among others, Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner, Christopher Lloyd, Dennis Franz and Oprah have homes there – and they don’t even have Nobel Prizes. (Douglas and Costner do have Oscars though.) No word...

Al recently cashed in some carbon credits ... and went on a Mediterranean diet, gobbling up a $9 billion Montecito-area property. Rumor has it he may help offset the economic crisis in Greece, too ... by purchasing all of ancient Athens. Here's what reducing your carbon footprint could look like, if you were funded by Marxist revolutionaries and bought an ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, six fireplaces, five bedrooms, and nine bathrooms. Conspicuously absent from the swimming pool are Al's pet polar bears.

Firefighters and a squadron of aircraft launched a desperate daylight attack Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed at least 100 homes and forced thousands to evacuate their homes in the longtime celebrity hideaway of Montecito. VIDEO HERE http://www.nbclosangeles.com/live/?aid=31997849&vid=30518544 Officials had no projection on the containment of the fast-moving brush fire that started Thursday evening in the foothills of Montecito, just south of Santa Barbara. Fanned by winds between 50 and 70 mph, the fire broke out in the Cold Springs area at about 6 p.m. Fire officials began an aggressive attack from the air at daybreak with...