Los Angeles beaches closed because of tar balls

El Segundo Beach, Los Angeles. Image by Brenna / CC BY 2.0

Several miles of beaches in Los Angeles have been closed because of tar balls washing up on the sand. Officials aren’t sure where the oil-based balls came from, but have closed sections of El Segundo, Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo beaches because it’s thought that the balls could cause a health risk to humans. The incident happened just a week after the oil spill in Santa Barbara, northwest along the coast, but authorities don’t think the two events are related. Read more: laweekly.com