By MARK MUCKENFUSS, The Press-Enterprise

Earth scientists in California hope to put together a comprehensive model of earthquake activity along the West Coast for the past 10,000 to 30,000 years.

A $4.6 million National Science Foundation grant will help fund a five-year study headed by the University of California, Riverside and include work at five other universities and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Catherine Salmon may be the best friend a middle child ever had.

Salmon, 42, is a psychology professor at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., and the author of "The Power of Middle Children," a book about the traits exhibited by those who fall in the center of the sibling order.

In 1991, when Marlene Zuk visited Hawaii, she did what every visitor to the islands wants to do.

"I said, 'I'll see if there are any crickets there that I can dissect for parasites,' " she said. "Doesn't everyone?"

PASADENA, Calif. - Before it happened, seismologists didn't believe the faults off of Sendai, Japan, were capable of generating anything much larger than a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. But the March 11 quake that spawned a disastrous tsunami measured 9.0.

SENDAI, Japan - Sixty miles south of Sendai, troubles continue at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

SENDAI, Japan - Cars are strewn around like toys. A month after the quake, crews were still searching the cars and afterward marking them with a red X. Temporary graveyards have been established to hold bodies in coffins for up to two years. And people who do not normally work as undertakers have been drafted into service.

It was one of those heartwarming stories tailor made for something like the Hallmark Channel: A mother and daughter, reunited 29 years after the daughter was kidnapped by her father and spirited away to Canada.

It happened thanks to San Bernardino Police Chief Walter A. Shay and his detective work in 1909.

It's been a rough ride for people in the horse business over the past two years.

Scientists have known for years that an earthquake on one fault can trigger movement on nearby faults.

In 1992, the 7.3 Landers quake in California not only caused simultaneous movement on small faults nearby, but triggered a 6.5 aftershock two hours later in Big Bear Lake, 17 miles away.

Near-normal rainfall amounts during the winter and continued moisture through April and May have increased fire danger in Southern California's desert but may delay the wildfire season in other areas, experts say.

Fall could be a dangerous fire season, once all that rain-fed vegetation dries out completely, authorities said.