Valdez Al

The Coast Guard laid off nearly half its personnel in Valdez, Alaska, last year, Coast Guard officials confirmed Friday. It was one of a series of cutbacks that congressional investigators believe may have left the agency spread too thin to handle accidents such as the current disastrous oil spill at Valdez.

The Coast Guard laid off nearly half its personnel in Valdez, Alaska, last year, Coast Guard officials confirmed Friday. It was one of a series of cutbacks that congressional investigators believe may have left the agency spread too thin to handle accidents such as the current disastrous oil spill at Valdez.

Teresa Skeels held hands on Saturday, the hands of more than 100 immigrants who attended a daylong workshop in Santa Paula, hoping to become U.S. citizens. She grasped the fingers of Magdalena Castro of Somis, pressed them onto a black ink pad and rolled the fingerprints onto an Immigration and Naturalization Service form.