By ADAM FOXMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - Found partly sunken in leafy ground at a secluded makeshift camp near Oxnard, Calif., the unidentified man's skeleton was surrounded by what was likely everything he owned.

For six years, none of the roughly 50 found items led authorities to the man's identity. The mystery persisted as his dental X-rays and DNA profile provided no match.

The next time a wildfire breaks out in Southern California, local firefighters will have some new tools at their disposal.
The U.S. Forest Service has just picked up two new Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, known as MAFFS 2s, which will be used by the local Air National Guard. Six more units are expected to be ready for the agencies' annual firefighting training in May.

Among the many demographic groups in play this election season, there is one that politicians aren't courting: jail inmates. But more than a few have the right -- and the inclination -- to vote.

Despite the rains that drenched many parts of California early this winter, authorities predict that the coming fire season will arrive early, with all the ingredients necessary for intense wildfires.