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

NYPD: Merchant held for ransom, tortured for month

FDA panel backs Merck insomnia drug

Home sales tick up to highest in 3 ½ years

Jennifer Lopez to open cellphone stores

HP's 2Q offers hope even as 2-year revenue slump deepens

Tesla uses stock, note sale to repay federal government

Man shot to death while questioned in Boston probe

Damage: Thousands of homes, $1.5-$2B

50 hurt when Indiana school buses crash

NORTH WEBSTER, Ind. (AP) - A school bus slammed into the back of another one Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving four buses in northern Indiana, leaving about 50 middle and high students with non-serious injuries and one driver seriously injured. The crash injured 55 people, including three of the four bus drivers, Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Chad Hill ...

Side Briefs

NEARLY ALL US STATES SEE HEFTY DROP IN TEEN BIRTHS: NEW YORK (AP) - The nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report.

Broke no laws, IRS official says, then takes 5th

OC seeks state permission to charge for rescues

SANTA ANA (AP) - Orange County wants state permission to charge reckless people for the cost of rescuing them. The Orange County Register says county supervisors voted Tuesday to propose state legislation and Assemblyman Don Wagner has agreed to carry a bill. It would permit counties and cities to recover rescue costs for people who put themselves in ...

OC seeks state permission to charge for rescues

SANTA ANA (AP) - Orange County wants state permission to charge reckless people for the cost of rescuing them. The Orange County Register says county supervisors voted Tuesday to propose state legislation and Assemblyman Don Wagner has agreed to carry a bill. It would permit counties and cities to recover rescue costs for people who put themselves in ...

Injured volunteer seeks payment from lost hiker

SANTA ANA (AP) - A volunteer searcher who broke his back while looking for a teenager who was lost in Orange County wilderness says he deserves restitution if the teen is convicted on drug charges. Nick Papageorge, 20, said after Nic Cendoya's arraignment was postponed Wednesday that his medical bills could total $350,000, City News Service reported. Papageorge ...

6 plead not guilty in school embezzlement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Six current and former San Francisco school district employees have pleaded not guilty to charges that they embezzled $15 million in grant money from the school system. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the six women entered the pleas on Tuesday during their first court appearance. Prosecutors say they diverted federal and state grant ...

Driver impaled by metal rod on I-580 near Livermore.

LIVERMORE (AP) - The California Highway Patrol is looking for witnesses, as it investigates the death of a man who was impaled by a metal rod while driving on Interstate 580 around Livermore. The incident occurred around 8:11 a.m. Wednesday. The CHP says the 2 to 3-foot long rod went through the windshield of the westbound Volvo station wagon, penetrating the driver's ...