The President’s next act

How can it be that with Washington simmering in scandals, with Republicans (not to mention talk-show hosts) using the "I" word (impeachment) with abandon, with calls to bring back Ken Starr (of Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky fame), President Obama's job approval rating is holding steady at around 50 percent, thank you very much?

Loose screws on Achy-Breaky Bay Bridge

Gov. Jerry Brown recently stepped in it when a reporter asked him about the Bay Bridge. In March, 32 of 96 key rods in the under-construction eastern span cracked after they were tightened. Dao Guv -- who, as Oakland's mayor, helped delay construction of the new span to win a tony, world-class design -- gave the wrong answer: "(Scatological stuff) happens."

Manteca Police planning DUI checkpoint

The Avoid the 10 DUI Task Force is deploying officers this holiday weekend at DUI/Drivers License Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols countywide to arrest impaired drivers and to keep the public aware of the dangers of driving while impaired by alcohol and drugs.

Google to add Galapagos Islands to Street View

Sears reports bigger-than-expected 1Q loss

Applications for unemployment aid fall to 340K

Gap back in style as quarter profits jumps 43 percent

Woman, 87, loses to Trump in civil case

Nixon library hosts reunion for Vietnam POWs

Defense releases photos, texts of Trayvon Martin

Governor moves out of office over TV dispute

Non-citizens could serve as poll workers in California elections

Nation news briefs

NO SIGN KILLING OF 2 KIDS WAS PLANNED: WEST POINT, Utah (AP) - A teenager was arrested Thursday in the deaths of his two younger brothers, ages 4 and 10, at the family home in a Utah subdivision of new houses and tidy lawns, police said.

Boy Scouts OK accepting openly gay boys

YouTube sensation: Philadelphia bicyclist has a cat is his co-pilot

Diving great Louganis to marry in fall

NEW YORK (AP) - Former Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis plans to get married this fall. People magazine says the 53-year-old Louganis will marry paralegal Johnny Chaillot. The four-time gold medalist is the only man to win consecutive Olympic titles in springboard and platform diving - in 1984 at Los Angeles and 1988 at Seoul. After his diving career ended, Louganis revealed he was gay in 1994 and announced he was HIV-positive a year later. ...

Bieber behind wheel as car hits man in Hollywood

Firm seeks FAA OK for roller coaster

RIDES

Firm seeks FAA OK for roller coaster

RIDES

Taco Bell jumps on protein craze with test

NEW YORK (AP) - Taco Bell plans to test a "Power Protein" menu that it's hoping will eventually be hit with its core audience - young men. The chain says it will start testing the menu July 25 at about 40 locations in Dayton, Ohio. The burritos and bowls will have double portions of chicken or steak, and toppings such as corn, guacamole and reduced fat sour cream. They'll be made with existing ingredients, including ...

Starbucks to post calorie counts

Yahoo discloses number of data requests

SUNNYVALE (AP) - Yahoo is the latest company to disclose how many requests for user data it has received from U.S. government agencies, putting the number between 12,000 and 13,000 in the six months that ended on May 31.

Chrysler agrees to recall of Jeeps at risk of fire

FBI digging at ex-home of famed NY mobster

IRS worker: No political bias against tea party

Feds fire, demote employees over killing, rape

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Federal probation officers in upstate New York have been fired or demoted after a man they were monitoring was charged with slipping out of his electronic bracelet, raping a 10-year-old girl and killing her mother during a carjacking at a New York mall. The changes at the federal probation office in Syracuse were detailed in a letter from U.S. courts administrators to Rep. Dan Maffei, who had written to the courts ...

Odd News

DRIVER SAYS HE WAS SPEEDING SO HE COULD DRY CAR: BLACK DIAMOND, Alberta (AP) - He was drying off his freshly washed car.

18 mayors want Congress to limit use of food stamps to buy soda

USFS may not refill Incline Lake after all

RENO, Nev. (AP) - The U.S. Forest Service is leaning toward abandoning plans to restore a small lake overlooking Lake Tahoe to the way it was when the rich and famous vacationed at the private enclave a half century ago and instead let it return to a natural wetland. The federal government bought Incline Lake for $43.5 million in a land deal five years ago with the intention of repairing a small dam built in ...

Nation news briefs

FORMER PA. TEACHER CHARGED FOR CLASSROOM PIERCINGS: DILLSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A former teacher in central Pennsylvania is facing charges after police say she allowed a student to perform body piercings in class.