CARPINTERIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Carpinteria property owners are being asked to vote on new assessment fees to fund city landscaping and maintain coastal berms.

The city reports that costs have risen sharply while fees have remained the same for almost three decades.

Ballots, mailed following a City Council action in November, are still being accepted.

Votes will be tallied at a public hearing on March 9.

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By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — House Oversight Chair James Comer has agreed to the dates Bill and Hillary Clinton proposed for depositions in the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein probe, putting an end to the contempt of Congress proceedings that had been moving forward against them.

The former president is scheduled to appear on February 27 and the former Secretary of State to appear on February 26 under the terms that Comer had previously set.

Two sources had earlier told CNN that the Clintons agreed to appear for depositions on the panel’s terms, but also suggested they wanted public hearings.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, backed the Clinton’s request to testify publicly to the panel.

“They’ve also requested that the hearings be public hearings. They just made that request today. I strongly support that. I think the idea of moving that deposition from being a private to public, is good for the for the American people. And I support that,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

This story is breaking and has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Alison Main contributed to this report.

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By Natasha Bertrand, CNN

(CNN) — A US aircraft carrier shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively approached” the ship in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday hours before two gunboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize the ship, according to a US military spokesman.

The two incidents occurred days before US and Iranian officials are due to meet Friday for diplomatic negotiations meant to avert a military clash.

In the first incident on Tuesday, US forces shot down an Iranian drone “as the unmanned aircraft aggressively approached” the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which was transiting the Arabian Sea about 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman.

“The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” Hawkins said. An F-35C fighter jet from the Lincoln shot down the drone to protect the carrier and its personnel, he said.

“No American service members were harmed during the incident, and no U.S. equipment was damaged,” Hawkins said.

Hours later, two Iranian gunboats approached the M/V Stena Imperative — a chemical tanker operated by Americans flying under the US flag in the Strait of Hormuz — passing the ship three times at high speeds as an Iranian Mohajer drone also flew overhead, said Hawkins. During one of their passes, the Iranians threatened via radio call that they would board and seize the tanker. The tanker was in international waters, Hawkins said.

US military forces operating in the area responded when they learned of the Iranian threats. The USS McFaul destroyer escorted the tanker away from the area along with defensive air support from the US Air Force, Hawkins added. The situation de-escalated as a result.

Hawkins said the Iranian behavior was an example of the Iranians’ “unprofessionalism and aggressive behavior” that increases the risk of miscalculation for vessels operating in the area and said their “harassment” in international waters won’t be tolerated by the US.

The incidents come as President Donald Trump has been weighing a major strike on Iran amid stalled discussions about limiting that nation’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production.

In the last week the US military has accelerated a buildup of military hardware in the Middle East, deploying the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the region along with three guided-missile destroyers and the carrier air wing, which includes squadrons of F/A-18E Super Hornet fighters, F-35C Lightning II fighters, and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets.

The Navy also has three destroyers — the USS McFaul, the USS Delbert D. Black, and the USS Mitscher — in the region separate from the carrier strike group.

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