California lawmakers pass budget on $15.7B deficit so they can still get paid

Original 1972 space shuttle mock-up to emerge

DOWNEY (AP) - Just when it seemed all the space shuttles had been doled out to museums for display, it turns out there's one more - sort of. A full-size mock-up built in 1972 by the shuttle contractor Rockwell has for years been under wraps in a dark and empty warehouse in Downey, a southeast Los Angeles County city where the spacecraft ...

State news briefs

PARENTS FIGHT AT LA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Parents were recently caught brawling at a Los Angeles ceremony marking the end of preschool for their children.

LA County courts begin downsizing

Bay Area briefs

Fire near BART station suspicious AC OAKLAND (AP) - Authorities are trying to determine whether a fire near a Bay Area Rapid Transit station that shut down train service between San Francisco and Oakland was intentionally set. Investigators are looking for three young men who were seen moments before the fire at a low-income senior building under construction began early Thursday. A security ...

State news briefs

MAN FILES SUIT AGAINST TV NETWORK, BRISTOL PALIN: LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles man is suing the Lifetime Network and Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, claiming he was taped heckling her for a planned reality show without his knowledge or consent.

Armed robbers can’t get out of store as doors wouldn’t open, surrender to police

INGLEWOOD (AP) - Police on Thursday detained three men after a bungled robbery at a Southern California clothing store where both the suspected robbers and at least eight employees had trouble getting out of the building. Three men entered the Burlington Coat Factory building about 7:30 a.m. and at least one was armed, police said. The store hadn't opened yet and when ...

California home sales, prices jump in May

Dispute over $1.2B in CalWORKS puts Democrats at odds with Brown

Fraud alleged at acclaimed Oakland charter schools that has some of state’s highest scores

OAKLAND (AP) - A nationally recognized charter school organization in California could face a criminal investigation after a state audit found evidence of financial fraud, conflicts of interest and other illegal activities. The report released Wednesday detailed allegations of unscrupulous activity at Oakland-based American Indian Model Schools, which operates three public schools whose standardized test scores are among the state's highest. <p ...

Lawmaker calls proposed legislation catch and release for drunk drivers

Bicyclist to be charged in death of SF pedestrian

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco prosecutors plan to charge a bicyclist who fatally struck a 71-year-old man in a San Francisco crosswalk with felony vehicular manslaughter. District Attorney George Gascon said Thursday his office plans to file the charge against Chris Bucchere early next week. Bucchere, 36, is expected to turn himself in in the next few ...

Bay Area briefs

POLICE SAY COUPLE KILLED SUSPECTED PIMP SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco couple faces murder charges for allegedly killing a man last week they suspected of pimping their teenage daughter. Barry Gilton and his girlfriend Lupe Mercado appeared in court Wednesday on murder and other charges for the shooting death of 22-year-old Calvin Sneed. Both are being held on $2 million bail. ...

NASA launches telescope to seek out black holes

Lake detected near equator of Saturn's Titan

Firm: Bay Bridge bolts made to exact specs

OAKLAND (AP) - An executive with an Ohio manufacturer has said steel bolts used on a troubled new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge were made exactly to specifications. Experts have spent the past two months trying to determine why 32 of 96 bolts broke after they were tightened in March. A report released on May 7 by Caltrans suggests the bridge design team ordered a type of steel that under some conditions could ...

Sherman Oaks teen takes supermodel to prom

SANTA MONICA (AP) - A Southern California teen turned heads at his prom when he showed up with a Sports Illustrated model as his date. Nina Agdal agreed to step in as Jake Davidson's date Thursday night after he got turned down for prom by supermodel Kate Upton. The Sherman Oaks teen appeared in a YouTube video that was viewed more than 2.5 million times asking Upton to be his date. After Upton declined because ...

SoCal school's ex-PTA head charged with theft

JURUPA VALLEY (AP) - The former president of a local Southern California PTA has been charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing $20,000 raised from children's candy bar sales. Patricia Gledhill pleaded not guilty earlier this month to two felony counts. Gledhill was PTA president last year for Stone Avenue Elementary School in Jurupa (huh-ROO'-puh) Valley. According to court records, Gledhill told authorities she took fundraising money to pay for food, rent, and the cost ...

State news briefs

SHUTTLE IS MAJOR DRAW AT CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER: LOS ANGELES (AP) - There was always been a special connection between space shuttle Endeavour and California, where it was built.

Damage reported from magnitude-5.7 quake

Court denies 2nd hearing on Medi-Cal rate cut

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday denied a second request by California doctors, pharmacists and hospitals seeking to undo the state's 10 percent provider rate cut for treating the poor.

PG&E calls $2.25B fine for deadly blast excessive

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The utility responsible for a deadly pipeline explosion in Northern California said Friday that the record $2.25 billion in fines being sought by state regulators is illegally excessive, but did not offer a specific dollar figure it considers reasonable. In a 103-page filing submitted just before the close of business, Pacific Gas & Electric said that it agrees with the California Public Utilities Commission's finding that a financial penalty is appropriate ...

Plastic ocean debris bill dies in committee

Bill would treat e-cigarettes like other tobacco

State Senate election might be headed to runoff in 16th district

LA sanitation ends plans for dump near Joshua Tree

Bill would prohibit ticket-buying software

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Music and sports fans would have one less obstacle in buying tickets to popular events under a bill advancing through the California Legislature. Legislation by Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento would prohibit the use of robotic ticket-buying software. Supporters of AB329 say scalpers use the software to bombard online box offices and then resell tickets at higher prices. Lawmakers previously deleted a provision that would have allowed transfers of paperless event ...

Professor assigns students to make ad for his campaign

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco State University professor considering a run for Oakland mayor is drawing scrutiny for a class assignment that asked students to create a political campaign ad and gave them the option of developing it for him. Joe Tuman said he would use the ad if it were good, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday. But ethics experts said any such use of the students' work could run afoul ...

Bay Area briefs

SWALLOWS LAWSUIT MAY DELAY PETALUMA BRIDGE WORK : PETALUMA (AP) - A lawsuit accuses state and federal regulators of causing the death of dozens of migratory cliff swallows by placing nets on a Sonoma County bridge during a highway widening project.

State releases health reform plans, pricing