Bank heist suspects hurl cash during LA chase

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Suspected bank robbers fleeing county sheriff's deputies hurled cash from a speeding SUV on Wednesday, drawing people into the streets until a pickup blocked their path and they had to surrender. In a bizarre scene followed by TV helicopters, a large crowd pressed in as deputies with guns drawn pulled two men from the SUV in South Los ...

St. Mary’s presents ‘The Grapes of Wrath’

STOCKTON - The award-winning St. Mary's High School Theatre Department will present the acclaimed 1990 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, The Grapes of Wrath, Oct. 6-14 at Stockton Civic Theatre. Adapted by Frank Galati from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by John Steinbeck, this epic production tells the ...

State tax collector criticized for opposing rural fire fee of $150

Brown signs California pension reform bill

State news briefs

FARMERS CRITICIZE HIGH-SPEED RAIL PLAN: SACRAMENTO (AP) - San Joaquin Valley farmers have told the California High-Speed Rail Authority that they are opposed to the planned transportation line.

Father accused of taking 2 kids speaks out

REDWOOD CITY (AP) - A California man accused of kidnapping his two children and taking them on a stolen yacht for three days said Tuesday that he knew he had "gone crazy" but never endangered them. During a jailhouse interview, Christopher Maffei told the San Francisco Chronicle that he stole a 41-foot sailing yacht from an Alameda marina on Sept. 4, but ...

State news briefs

GOVERNOR SAYS HE'S REDUCING DYSFUNCTION: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown says he's made significant progress in reducing decades of dysfunction in California government.

Bakersfield landlord to pay $2M in sex lawsuit

BAKERSFIELD (AP) - A landlord has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he traded housing benefits for sex and retaliated against women who refused his advances, federal officials said Tuesday. The settlement is the largest ever for a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the federal government under the Fair Housing Act, the U.S. Justice Department said. ...

8 infants exposed to TB at hospital

2-year colleges alter registration policy

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California's community colleges are reorienting their registration system to give priority to students who are focused on earning a degree or transferring to a four-year college. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the governing board of the 112-college system on Monday voted in favor of the plan, which will go into effect in 2014. <p style="line-height: 18pt; ...

Bay Area briefs

Gilroy fire chief resigns after alcohol sting GILROY, Calif. (AP) - A San Francisco Bay area fire chief has resigned after authorities say he provided alcohol to a decoy who was posing as minor as part of a sting operation. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/PZHLDX) that Interim Gilroy Fire Chief Roger Bloom apologized to city officials on Monday before tendering his resignation. ...

Heavy rain floods parts of south Coachella Valley

Parents decry crackdown on LA charters

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dozens of parents with children in charter schools on Tuesday protested a proposal before the Los Angeles Unified School Board to declare a moratorium on new charter schools and tighten oversight of existing ones. While ...

Library cards may be used as illegal immigrant ID for LA services, banks

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Illegal immigrants in California's largest city could use library cards to open bank accounts and access an array of city services under a plan being considered by city officials. Under the plan, anyone with proof of Los Angeles residency could get a library card, the Los Angeles Times. The idea is to provide a form of ID to ...

Experts say fake bomb used in Calif. bank robbery

MORENO VALLEY (AP) - Bomb squad experts concluded Tuesday that the suspicious box an armed bank robber left at a Moreno Valley bank was a fake bomb. The robbery occurred shortly after 8:30 a.m. at a Chase branch in Moreno Valley when two bank employees were arriving to work. The man, who wore a military-type mask with cargo pants and black boots, ...

Bill would honor Buffalo Soldiers' role in parks

Unattended campfire caused Mariposa fire

MARIPOSA (AP) - An unattended campfire near a main route into Yosemite National Park has grown into a blaze that has led to the evacuations of 800 homes and 1,500 people, officials said Tuesday. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials released the cause of the fire Tuesday, as 2,200 firefighters - up from more than 700 Monday - worked to gain the upper hand on it amid windy, dry conditions. No other details ...

State news briefs

SURFER SHOT AT AMID EX-LAPD COP HUNT FILES LAWSUIT: LOS ANGELES (AP) - A surfer who was shot at by police during the manhunt for rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner has filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles suburb and its police department.

Bay Area briefs

BOY, 6, KILLED BY RELATIVE'S DOG AT UNION CITY HOME: UNION CITY (AP) - A 6-year-old San Francisco Bay area boy died after he was attacked by a relative's dog, authorities said Tuesday.

Judge considers effect of fungus on inmates

Apple details nearly 500 government requests for user data over six months

CUPERTINO (AP) - Apple says it received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for customer data for the six months ended in May. The company, like some other businesses, had asked the U.S government to be able to share how many requests it received related to national security and how it handled them. Those requests were made as part of Prism, the recently revealed highly classified National Security Agency program that seizes ...

Bill would let cities decide on open records

Wildfire burning near Hwy 140 near Mariposa

MARIPOSA (AP) - A wind-whipped wildfire near the main route into Yosemite National Park in the Central Sierra foothills forced the evacuation of about 150 houses and threatened others, a state fire official said on Monday. More than 700 firefighters are battling the Carstens fire which began Sunday afternoon and has burned about 1 1/2 square miles or 900 acres, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said. With more than 140 ...

State news briefs

Bay Area briefs

KAYAKER MISSING AFTER FALLING INTO LIVERMORE LAKE: LIVERMORE (AP) - A 30-year-old man is missing after falling out of a kayak at a lake in Livermore.

Four lawsuits filed against Delta Plan

Port of LA unveils plan for marine research center

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles port officials on Monday unveiled plans to create a $500 million marine research center called AltaSea. The project, developed through a public-private partnership between the port and universities, will be built on a 100-year-old wharf on the San Pedro waterfront. Officials cited Los Angeles' urban environment as a reason to invest in research at the port, which had been looking to diversify its uses - in addition to cargo ...

Cancer killed serial killer Richard Ramirez

LA elementary teacher arrested in estranged wife's stabbing death

Legislature passes $96.3B budget