It’s Big Tobacco vs Lance Armstrong

Bay Area briefs

City college may close some campuses SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Budget woes may force San Francisco City College to close or combine some of its campuses. City College, one of the nation's largest community colleges with 90,000 full- and part-time students, is facing a $14 million budget shortfall. The college has a $200 million operating budget. Board of Trustees ...

State news briefs

STOCKTON OFFICIAL SEEKS BANKRUPTCY AUTHORITY: STOCKTON (AP) - Stockton's city manager is requesting the authority to declare bankruptcy if the city is unable to reach a deal with its creditors by next month.

California approves new energy efficiency rules for homes, businesses starting in 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California officials on Thursday approved energy efficiency standards for new homes and commercial buildings that officials are describing as the toughest in the nation. Members of the California Energy Commission voted unanimously in favor of amended standards that will require improved windows, more efficient air conditioning and lighting systems, and other features intended to reduce energy consumption. <p ...

Panel cuts pay of governor, lawmakers

At the State Capitol

BILL WOULD END CAR IMPOUNDS FOR UNLICENSED DRIVERS: Illegal immigrants will no longer have to fear losing their vehicles during routine traffic stops if a bill passed by the Assembly becomes law.

California voters not hot for legalizing pot

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Legalizing marijuana is gaining traction in many places but apparently not in California, the state where the idea first took root. Half of California voters surveyed say they oppose broad legalization, while 46 support it, according to a University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday. The survey found opinions have not measurably changed since 2010, ...

Panel cuts pay of governor, lawmakers

Bay Area news briefs

Suspect killed during San Ramon robbery attempt

Border Patrol agents help boy hit by car in Mexico

JACUMBA (AP) - A 4-year-old boy injured in a car crash in Mexico was lifted over a fence to Border Patrol agents who performed life-saving measures, authorities said. The American boy was visiting relatives in Jacume, Mexico, a remote mountain village about 75 miles east of San Diego, when he was struck by a car Monday night, said Border Patrol spokesman Jerry ...

Ca. Nat. Guard worker gets 2½ years for $15M fraud

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A former manager for the California National Guard has been sentenced to 2&frac12; years in federal prison for arranging $15.2 million in bonuses and other payments to fellow guards who weren't eligible for them.

Raley’s workers move closer to strike as contract for some expires June 6

WEST SACRAMENTO . (AP) - Workers at one of Northern California's largest supermarket chains are moving closer to a possible strike after the supermarket declared an impasse in talks over a new contract. Local 5 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents the majority of Raley's supermarkets' 7,750 unionized workers, has already authorized a strike. Local 8 of ...

Paper: Group sex for porn movie shot on state owned LA Coliseum football field

LOS ANGELES (AP) - As stadiums went quiet around the country the weekend after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there was plenty of action on the field at historic Memorial Coliseum and little of it had to do with football. On Sept. 16, 2001, 40 minutes of group sex for a hardcore porn movie was filmed during a four-hour shoot under the ...

Bill creates state retirement for private workers

Judge rejects immediate end to prison oversight

BART may lift rush-hour bike ban

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Authorities have set the wheels in motion to allow bicycles on all commuter trains in the San Francisco Bay area. The San Francisco Chronicle says directors of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District voted Thursday to permit bikes on all trains for a five-month period, beginning in July. Currently, bikes are banned during rush hours. Two smaller previous tests found no problems with allowing bikes during rush hours. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: ...

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.