State news briefs

Bay Area briefs

OBAMA TO DESIGNATE CHAVEZ HOME AS NAT'L MONUMENT : KEENE (AP) - In a move aimed at shoring up support from Hispanic and progressive voters, President Barack Obama will designate the California home of labor leader Cesar Chavez as a national monument.

Backers aim to widen ban on gay conversion therapy

Backers aim to widen ban on gay conversion therapy

Immigrant advocates blast Brown vetoes

Immigrant advocates blast Brown vetoes

Proposition 34 at a glance

At least 20 injured in California train crash

HANFORD (AP) - At least 20 passengers suffered minor to moderate injuries Monday when a big rig truck collided with a southbound Amtrak train in California's Central Valley, authorities said. The crash occurred when the driver of the big rig that was carrying cotton trash failed to yield and hit the train, pushing at least one passenger car off the tracks south ...

Brown vetoes domestic workers rights bill that included OT & meal breaks

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday announced that he had vetoed legislation that would have provided overtime pay, meal breaks and other labor protections to an estimated 200,000 caregivers, nannies and house cleaners in California.

Brown OKs illegal immigrant licenses

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Some illegal immigrants could get California drivers licenses under a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown announced he signed into law late Sunday.

Dairies going broke due to feed, milk prices

HANFORD (AP) - In nearly six decades of running a dairy in central California, Mary Cameron made a name for herself in a male-dominated industry: She led several dairy organizations and was honored as Outstanding Dairy Producer of the Year.

Gov. Brown signs bill giving juveniles with life sentences a chance at release

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday announced signing a bill that could one day bring the release of some criminals who were sentenced as juveniles to life in prison.

Officials mull seismic tests near PG&E nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Plans to use an array of powerful air cannons in an undersea seismic study near a Central California nuclear power plant have federal and state officials juggling concerns over marine life with public safety.

State to require note from doctors as waiver for unvaccinated students

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Parents who don't have their children vaccinated will have to get a note from the doctor's office before enrolling their children in school under a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday he has signed into law.

LA drivers steer clear of ‘Carmageddon’

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The demolition of a bridge that forced the weekend closure of one of the nation's busiest freeways is on schedule, while many Los Angeles drivers heeded warnings to steer clear of the area, and officials expect to reopen the lanes as planned Monday morning.

Police arrest mom, say she used child to shoplift

SAN JOSE (AP) - A mother accused of using her 10-year-old daughter to shoplift groceries in Northern California and then abandoning the child when store employees intervened has been arrested in Nevada, according to police.

State news briefs

• BROWN VETOES BILL BANNING CELLPHONE DISRUPTION: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have banned agencies from disrupting cellphone service without a court order.

Atheist ‘mega-churches’ take root

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Hundreds packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational sermon, a reading and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God.

Transgender law repeal will qualify

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Opponents of a new California law that gives transgender students certain rights said Sunday that they had collected enough signatures for an initiative that would repeal the law.

2 men charged with murder in Turlock slaying

TURLOCK (AP) - Two men have been charged with murder for the slaying of a 21-year-old man in Turlock.

ABC picketed over kid’s kill everyone in China joke

BURBANK (AP) - More than a thousand people picketed ABC's Burbank headquarters over the weekend to protest a "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show in which a youngster said the United States could resolve its debt to China by killing everyone in the Asian country.

Bullet train land acquisition moving slowly

FRESNO (AP) - The body overseeing plans to build California's bullet train has started the daunting and expensive process of acquiring thousands of acres in the Central Valley, where the rail line's proposed path would slice through farms, stores and motels.

State’s low community college fees face scrutiny

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The fees to attend California's community colleges are by far the lowest in the United States - less than half the national average - yet at least 40 percent of the 2.4 million students in the largest U.S. system of higher education do not pay them.

New research on shallow shoreline waters

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE. (AP) - For more than 40 years, scientists have carefully scrutinized the cobalt waters in the middle of Lake Tahoe, documenting a steady and disturbing decline in the lake's famed clarity.

Google's Bay Area barge to hoist sails

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google plans to include a dozen or so massive sails on its four-story barge under construction in the heart of the San Francisco Bay, creating a floating artistic structure the Internet giant promises will "stand out," a newspaper reported Friday. After weeks of speculation that barge would be "a party boat," a data storage center and a store to sell its Internet-connected glasses, Google on Wednesday revealed that it plans to ...

State workers get $516M in bonus pay

4 charged in 'virtual kidnappings'

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Four people have been charged in a scheme that used telemarketing tactics to shake down immigrants for ransom money under the guise that loved ones had been kidnapped, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.

4 charged in severing pot clinic owner's penis during his torture

NEWPORT BEACH (AP) - Four people were charged with kidnapping a California marijuana dispensary owner, torturing him with a blowtorch and cutting off his penis during a robbery because they thought he was burying piles of cash in the desert, authorities said Friday. Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 34, and Naomi Josette Kevorkian, 33, were arrested Friday in Fresno, a day after the FBI arrested 34-year-old Hossein Nayeri in Prague in the Czech Republic, Orange County authorities ...

BONUSES KEEP INCREASING

News from around california

$25M AWARDED FOR HIT-AND-RUN CRASH THAT HURT GIRL: RIVERSIDE (AP) - A Southern California jury has awarded $25 million to the family of a 4-year-old girl who was run over twice by a hit-and-run driver.

UC Berkeley inaugurates its 10th chancellor

BERKELEY (AP) - The University of California, Berkeley, has formally inaugurated its 10th chancellor in a ceremony marked by pageantry and brief moments of protest. Nicholas Dirks, a history and anthropology scholar, became chancellor of California's flagship public university on June 1 and was inaugurated Friday afternoon. The chancellor serves as executive head of all activities on the campus. In a speech Friday, he promised to expand and revise the university's approach to its primary ...

Judge weighs penalty for high speed rail