Winter-blend' may reduce prices Gov. Brown orders dirty gas production to ease pump pain

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Bay Area briefs

Oregon man wins Half Moon Bay pumpkin contest HALF MOON BAY (AP) - A grower from Oregon is the winner of this year's Half Moon Bay giant pumpkin contest with a gourd weighing in at 1,775 pounds. Forty-five-year-old Thad Starr from Pleasant Hill, Ore., set a contest record with his pumpkin Monday, beating last year's winner by 71 pounds. <p style="line-height: 18pt; background: ...

Initiative seeks to alter budget process

SACRAMENTO (AP) - How to end California's boom-and-bust budget cycles and perpetual deficits has perplexed governors, lawmakers and fiscal experts for years.

Initiative asks for softening of 3 Strikes law; could release another 2,800 inmates

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's law mandating life in prison for a third felony conviction has led to cases like that of Shane Taylor, who has been in prison since being convicted in 1996 for possessing $10 worth of methamphetamine. His prior felonies, both committed when he was 19, were a burglary and attempted burglary.

Study: Mountain lions migrating to Calif. from Nevada

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Many mountain lions in Nevada are migrating westward to take up residence in California, according to a seven-year study.

Private security co. target of myriad lawsuits

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Few security companies have benefited as much from the surge of Sept. 11-related government contracts as Akal Securities, a New Mexico-based company controlled by American converts to a Sikh religious sect.

Gas prices hit record high 2nd straight day

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California motorists faced another day of record-breaking gasoline prices Sunday, though relief appeared to be on the way.

Recycling fraud costs California millions

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rampant fraud within California's recycling redemption program is costing the state millions of dollars, as scammers drive trucks full of cans across the border from Nevada and Arizona to collect nickels on deposits that were never paid.

Mom charged in death of boy shot in crib

SLATINGTON, Pa. (AP) - Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania have charged a mother with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 19-month-old boy hit by a gunshot in his crib. The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that 26-year-old Holly Pallone was arraigned Sunday morning from Lehigh County prison on that charge, along with reckless endangerment. According to the arrest affidavit, ...

Initiative asks for softening of 3 Strikes law; could release another 2,800 inmates

Proposition 36 at a glance

Study: Mountain lions migrating to Calif. from Nevada

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Many mountain lions in Nevada are migrating westward to take up residence in California, according to a seven-year study. The findings ran counter to the expectations of researchers, who thought the cougars would have moved eastward from California to Nevada, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Because lions are hunted in Nevada but not in California, ...

Private security co. target of myriad lawsuits

State news briefs

NEARLY 1,000 GALLONS STOLEN FROM ROSEVILLE GAS STATION: ROSEVILLE . (AP) - Police in the Northern California city of Roseville are investigating the theft of nearly 1,000 gallons of gas from a Shell station.

Proposition 31 at a glance

Nesting swallows could delay Petaluma bridge work

State news briefs

SANTA CLARA THREATENS AMBULANCE TERMINATION: SAN JOSE. (AP) - Santa Clara County officials are threatening to terminate the contract of an ambulance company that they say has repeatedly responded too slowly to emergencies.

Killer on the loose: Valley Springs on lockdown

Lawmakers consider moratorium on oil fracking in San Joaquin Valley

3 divers killed over weekend abalone diving off California

SF Bay Bridge has bolts similar to banned bolts

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has more than 1,200 bolts made from galvanized steel that is virtually identical to a high-strength alloy that a nationwide group of transportation officials banned for use on bridges because the bolts can crack, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.

Fatal stabbing of girl, 8, prompts manhunt

VALLEY SPRINGS (AP) - Residents of a rural Northern California county were being told Sunday to keep their doors locked and report anyone considered suspicious as authorities continued the search for the killer of an 8-year-old girl.

Some are overlooked in overhaul

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Carlos Gonzalez has lived nearly all his 29 years in a country he considers home but now finds himself on the wrong side of the border - and the wrong side of a proposed overhaul of the U.S. immigration system that would grant legal status to millions of people.

California weighs first state ban on lead ammo

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In November, one of the oldest condors in Central California died from lead poisoning after being found with tiny bullet fragments and a .22-caliber slug in his gullet that he apparently swallowed with a mouthful of meat.

Rolling Stones rock small LA club

LOS ANGELES (AP) - For one night only, the Rolling Stones were an up-and-coming band again.

OC officials keep inmate alive they want to ultimately execute

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A man charged with raping and killing a woman 30 years ago is being kept alive in Orange County with dialysis treatments until officials can win permission to execute him.

Bills aim to protect privacy in drone age

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California lawmakers are attempting to stay ahead of science fiction-style technology as increasingly nimble unmanned aircraft are considered for use in tracking fleeing suspects and monitoring crowded public spaces.

Arrest in shooting at Vallejo Little League game

Daycare owners arraigned in swaddling case

State declines to update campaign data online