Short supplies keep gas prices rising in California

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California gas prices continued surging Friday, adding another 17 cents per gallon on average, and the increases are expected to continue for at least several more days, ensuring long lines and short tempers at pumps around the state.

Energy Commission says gas prices should fall

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California Energy Commission has determined that the state has plenty of gasoline to meet consumer demand and says prices at the pump should start to fall next week.

Texas teen describes slayings of mom, sister to 911 operator

ALEDO, Texas (AP) - A chilling recording of a 911 call captured a 17-year-old Texas boy telling the operator in a calm, monotone voice that he had just shot his mother and sister multiple times.

State news briefs

STATIONS ASKED TO PULL BROWN'S TAX INITIATIVE ADS: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown's November tax proposal are asking California television and radio stations to stop running ads they say make false claims.

Drivers who dropped insurance would see rate hike under Prop 33

Principal's notes say teacher blindfolded girl

SAN JOSE (AP) - Notes taken by a former principal accused of failing to report suspected sexual abuse at her California elementary school reveal that a teacher who was later charged with molesting children in class blindfolded a second-grade girl and put something in her mouth, a newspaper reported. The notes of onetime O.B. Whaley Elementary School principal Lyn Vijayendran indicate she ...

Giants, 49ers, yachts, fests: SF braces for crowds

Teen is latest Scout to run afoul of gay ban

MORAGA AP) - A San Francisco Bay area teenager has become the latest Boy Scout to be kicked out of his troop because of the organization's national policy of excluding gay members and adult troop leaders. Ryan Andresen's mother, Karen Andresen, launched an online petition this week to get the master of her son's Moraga-based troop to sign-off on a project that ...

Proposition 33 at a glance

Bay Area briefs

SF archbishop jokes about recent DUI arrest

Anger remains over teen's fatal shooting

Navy hovercraft lands on SF beach

Bay Area briefs

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Lower enrollment is forcing a 23-campus Northern California school district to eliminate 18 teaching positions. Seven weeks into the school year, San Jose's Alum Rock Union School District says it's also moving some students to different classrooms and schools and it's creating 25 combination classes. The district, which relies heavily on state funding, ...

State news briefs

HOMELESS GETTING CHECKS FOR POLICE RAID LOSSES: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Homeless people are getting checks for property destroyed during Sacramento police raids on illegal campsites.

Calif. agrees to study protections for gray wolf

Calif. agrees to study protections for gray wolf

Feds propose expansion of San Luis Reservoir

LOS BANOS (AP) - Federal officials have proposed a $360 million expansion and seismic upgrade for one of California's largest reservoirs that serves as a key water source for Central Valley farmers. The expansion proposal by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would increase the height of the 305-foot-high earthen dam at the San Luis Reservoir by 20 feet, creating another 130,000 acre-feet of storage capacity. The reservoir, which lies between Gilroy and Los Banos, can ...

Swimmer nabs monster lobster off coast

HUNTINGTON BEACH (AP) - Joseph Ali says onlookers thought he was drunk when he dove into the nighttime waters around a Southern California pier. But he came away with a monster of a lobster and the catch of a lifetime. Ali tells the Orange County Register he was closing his father's business, Zack's Pier Plaza in Huntington Beach, on Monday when he saw the ocean was calm and decided to dive for dinner. He was ...

Judge orders removal of San Diego war cross

SAN DIEGO (AP) - A federal judge in San Diego says a 43-foot war memorial cross must be removed from the top of a mountain in 90 days because it violates the principle of separation of church and state. U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Thursday that it's time for the long-running case to end. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2011 that the cross atop Mount Soledad violated the Constitution. After ...

Population growth rate highest in years

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's population grew by the highest rate in nearly a decade over the last year, swelling the state's ranks to more than 38.2 million, new population figures released Thursday showed. The state added 332,000 people between July 1, 2012 and July 1 of this year, a growth rate of 0.9 percent that is the highest since 2003-04, before the recession, the state Department of Finance reported. Demographic experts said the increase highlights ...

1 dead, 2 injured in blast near Merced

MERCED (AP) - Sheriff's deputies say one worker was killed and two others seriously injured in a fuel tank explosion on a ranch near Merced. Merced County deputies say the explosion occurred a little before 4 p.m. Wednesday on the edge of an orchard near a farm home. The men were employed by a company contracted to do work in the area. Sheriff's Deputy Delray Shelton says the injured men suffered burns and were flown ...

SJ County Jail project in hunt for $33.3 million

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Fifteen counties are in line to split $500 million in state-issued bonds to upgrade jails and build classrooms for inmate rehabilitation programs. The Board of State and Community Corrections announced Thursday that it will vote on allocating the money next month. A committee recommended the 15 counties from among 36 proposals. For the first time, the counties had to detail how part of the money would be used for efforts to keep ...

News from around the Bay Area

CAR DEALER TO BE SENTENCED FOR $1 MILLION FRAUD: SUNNYVALE (AP) - A luxury used car dealer in Northern California faces prison time after pleading no contest to defrauding customers of more than $1 million in cash and cars.

Gold crucifix stolen from body of former Mantecan

OAKDALE (AP) - Authorities in Oakdale said they are searching for a man who is a person of interest in the theft of a gold crucifix necklace from a dead man's body that later turned up at a pawn shop. The necklace belonged to 51-year-old Melvin Luiz, a Stanislaus County man and former Manteca resident who suddenly died from natural causes on Nov. 16, a day after he retired from the dairy industry his family ...

Driver arrested in fatal I-580 crash

LIVERMORE . (AP) - A driver who rear-ended another driver on Interstate 580 in Livermore has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Creel says the collision happened just after 10 a.m. Thursday when 53-year-old Primitivo Garcia failed to slow his Hummer for traffic and rear-ended a Jeep, causing the Jeep to burst into flames in the westbound lanes near North Livermore Avenue. The ...

Judges extend deadline for inmate reduction

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A panel of federal judges on Wednesday extended California's deadline to cut its prison population until April 18, while ordering that negotiations continue over how best to reduce inmate crowding.

News from around California

SUSPECT BROUGHT INFANT CHILD ALONG FOR BURGLARY: DIXON (AP) - Authorities say a Northern California burglary suspect apparently couldn't find a baby sitter. The man brought his infant child along while he and a partner burglarized a shop.

News from across the Bay

OAKLAND SETTLES WITH VET HURT IN OCCUPY PROTEST: OAKLAND (AP) - The city of Oakland has agreed to settle a claim by an Iraq War veteran who was beaten by a police officer during an Occupy Oakland protest two years ago.

Livermore golf coach facing molestation charges

LIVERMORE (AP) - A popular golf coach in Livermore has been charged with child molestation after allegedly sexually assaulting multiple boys during a three-year period, authorities said.

Sheriff: Deputy who shot teen followed procedures

SANTA ROSA (AP) - A preliminary review by a Northern California sheriff's office shows a deputy who shot and killed a 13-year-old boy did not violate department procedure governing the use of deadly force, sheriff's officials said. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office reviewed the October shooting of Andy Lopez by Deputy Erick Gelhaus based on an initial briefing by Santa Rosa police, who are looking into whether criminal charges are warranted against Gelhaus, the Press ...

News from around the Bay Area

MAN, 72, ACCUSED OF VIEWING PORN AT RESTAURANT: MENIFEE (AP) - A 72-year-old Southern California man was arrested after allegedly using free Wi-Fi at a restaurant to view child porn on his laptop, authorities said.