State news briefs

Governor wants to bar bullet train injunctions

Gay marriage ban backers look to US Supreme Court for relief

Bike gunman shoots father, toddler in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A sign on the fence in front of his family's Hickory Street home reads Angel Mauro Cortez Nava, lists his date of birth and death, displays photos of him as a newborn and on a rocking horse and includes the words "We Love You." What it does not convey is the outrage the 14-month-old's killing has caused inside ...

Bay Area briefs

MORGAN HILL MAN ALLEGEDLY RAN DOG TO DEATH: MORGAN HILL (AP) - Morgan Hill police say a man was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after he ran two dogs to the point of heat exhaustion.

Disney's new diet for kids: No more junk food TV ads

Stanford professor wins $500K MIT invention prize

BOSTON (AP) - A Stanford University professor has won a $500,000 award from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology program in recognition of his inventions. In awarding the 2012 Lemelson-MIT Prize, university officials on Monday called Stephen Quake "a prolific inventor with a fearless ability to explore and work across disciplines." Quake invented a chip, similar to those in ...

State news briefs

LIVINGSTON TEACHER CHARGED WITH STUDENT SEX: LIVINGSTON (AP) - A California high school teacher has been charged with having a longtime sexual affair with a student.

County finds health-code violations on LA’s Skid Row; city must clean it up

California voters face revamped ballots, districts in today’s election

Ill state inmate dies hours before release

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) - A terminally ill, convicted killer died in a California prison hours before he was to be freed to spend his final days with his family, his attorney said. Carl Wade had been recommended for compassionate release under a state law for inmates whose death is imminent and who pose no danger to the public. He had heart and ...

Out-of-state colleges recruit more California students in face of cutbacks

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California students are increasingly being courted by out-of-state colleges seeking to take advantage of cutbacks and rising tuition at the Golden State's public universities. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that schools in neighboring states are stepping up recruitment of California high school students, touting special discounts, small classes and course availability. ...

Sequoia fire jumps to protected wilderness area

Bay Area briefs

Aetna says surgery center firm is overbilling SANTA CLARA (AP) - Aetna has filed a $20 million lawsuit claiming a Northern California surgery center firm is overbilling the insurance carrier, including a $66,100 bunion repair, a $6,642 colonoscopy and a $23,301 knee arthroscopy. The Santa Clara County lawsuit claims the Saratoga-based Bay Area Surgical Management recruited dozens of doctors to invest in its ...

1 dead, 3 wounded in Vallejo park shooting

VALLEJO (AP) - A 57-year-old man has died and three other people were hospitalized after a shooting in a Vallejo park Saturday night, police said.

New SF Bay ferry service set to launch

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO . (AP) - Commuters on both sides of San Francisco Bay will have another option to get across the bay when a new ferry route begins running Monday.

Tribal veterans gather to honor sacrifice

SANTA NELLA (AP) - American Indian veterans wearing tribal dress gathered to honor the sacrifice of their fighting men and women in an emotional ceremony at a Central California cemetery.

Surging wildfire forces evacuations in mountains north of Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA (AP) - A surging wildfire forced thousands of people, most of them Memorial Day campers, to evacuate the mountains of California's Santa Barbara County, officials said.

5 die as car slams into tree, splits in half before it catches on fire

NEWPORT BEACH (AP) - Police say five people from a single car were killed when it ran off an Orange County street, hit a tree and split into two pieces.

Squeezing every drop out of Colorado River topic for gathering

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Top water decision-makers from seven Western states plan to join conservation groups and Indian tribes in San Diego on Tuesday to begin hammering out rules for squeezing every useable drop from the overtaxed Colorado River.

Auction of lunch with Buffett starts Sunday

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Warren Buffett has already helped raise nearly $15 million over the years for a San Francisco homeless charity, and the group hopes someone will again be willing to pay more than $2 million for a private lunch with the Omaha, Neb., investor.

Bay Area news briefs

• POLICE SEEK SUSPECTS IN 3 SAN JOSE SLAYINGS: SAN JOSE (AP) - Police are seeking suspects wanted in the shooting deaths of two San Jose teenagers and a man from the southern part of the city who were slain on Sunday.

State news briefs

• MAN SHOOTS DAUGHTER WITH 3 KIDS IN HOME: OROSI (AP) - A California man shot his two adult daughters on Monday, killing one and critically injuring the other before apparently committing suicide while his three young grandchildren were in the home, authorities said.

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 ...