11-year-old shot while sleeping in Oakland home

OAKLAND (AP) - An 11-year-old Oakland boy struck by a bullet as he lay sleeping in his bed early Thursday was in serious condition following multiple surgeries. Luis Duenas Hernandez was on the lower mattress of a bunk bed when at least one person fired more than a dozen shots inside his East Oakland home shortly before 1 a.m., family members said. ...

Empty chairs again for Eastwood at film premiere

Police: Abused Ga. teen exiled to Calif. with $200

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A scrawny Georgia teen who was discovered at a bus station told police his abusive stepfather gave him $200 and a list of homeless shelters before he was put on a bus to Los Angeles on his 18th birthday, authorities said Thursday. Retired Los Angeles police Sgt. Joe Gonzalez was working security at a downtown bus station Sept. ...

Field Poll: Voter support for Brown tax hike dips since mid-summer questioning

What's it like to fly a plane with shuttle on top?

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It's the ultimate piggyback ride: A space shuttle perched atop a Boeing 747 as the pair crisscrosses the country.

Brake glitch kept Knott's riders stuck in the sky

BUENA PARK (AP) - California officials say a Knott's Berry Farm ride that stranded 20 people 300 feet in the air for nearly four hours automatically stopped when one of its brakes froze. Erika Monterroza, from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, told the Los Angeles Times that when the brake on Windseeker froze Wednesday, it triggered the ride's safety ...

Yosemite workers may be surveyed for mouse virus

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - California public health officials want to survey workers at Yosemite National Park to determine whether they were exposed to a deadly mouse-borne virus, a park spokesman said Thursday. The California Department of Public Health recently proposed to take a voluntary survey of workers to contribute to the park's understanding of the rare virus and the recent disease ...

Business groups protest Calif. carbon market

Calif. allows complete voter registration online

Law bans predatory ADA lawsuits against businesses

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A new law will protect California businesses, especially small-business owners, from frivolous lawsuits filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Gov. Jerry Brown announced Wednesday he signed SB1186 by Democratic Senate leader Darrell Steinberg and Republican Sen. Bob Dutton. The bill takes aim at predatory lawsuits related to the federal law. It bans so-called "demand ...

11 wounded in prison riot

FOLSOM (AP) - A riot Wednesday at a California prison holding many of the state's most hardened criminals left 11 inmates hospitalized, including one who was shot by correctional officers. The disturbance inside a yard at the California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom involved an unknown number of inmates after it broke out shortly after 11 a.m., said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman ...

More top universities offer free cyber courses

Feds approve first leg of high-speed rail

Poll finds slim margin for Brown tax initiative on November ballot

State news briefs

DEPIUTY SPRAYED IN FACE WITH BEAR REPELLENT: VICTORVILLE (AP) - An Arizona man is in jail for spraying a sheriff's deputy in the face with bear repellent during a Southern California desert traffic stop.

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