LA’s desire is for return of street cars to downtown area

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Half a century after the last of the lost Pacific Electric Red Cars rumbled through Los Angeles, a move has begun to return streetcars to downtown LA.

‘Painter of Light’ Thomas Kinkade dies

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Artist Thomas Kinkade, whose brushwork paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches have been big sellers for dealers across the United States, died Friday, a family spokesman said.

SF sheriff's wife: Husband victim of coup

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The domestic violence case against San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was akin to a coup and was intended to bring him down, his wife said in an op-ed published Friday in the San Francisco Chronicle. Eliana Lopez, a Venezuelan actress and Mirkarimi's wife, said her 20 years in that country have taught her much about politics. <p style="line-height: ...

Suspect returned to campus over tuition

Santa Monica Community College votes to delay disputed 2-tier fees

State news briefs

DOG BEATEN TO DEATH, DRAGGED BEHIND BICYCLE: RANCHO CUCAMONGA (AP) - Witnesses say a Southern California man severely beat his dog and dragged the leashed, unconscious animal behind his bicycle.

FEC to deny Senator Feinstein’s money proposal

NRC chief pledges tough probe at nuke plant

Ex-teacher arrested for sex abuse of minor

MODESTO (AP) - A former Modesto teacher who made national headlines when he left his job and family to move in with an 18-year-old student was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing a different student more than a decade ago, police said. Christopher Hooker, 41, was arrested at his home and booked in Stanislaus County ...

State news briefs

Sheriff's official investigated over inmate golf: LOS ANGELES (AP) - A yellow jail jumpsuit isn't the usual golf wear. But pro golfer-turned-thief Frank Carrillo says that's what he wore when a sheriff's official took him to a Catalina Island golf course to offer pointers.

State news briefs

'Octomom': I'm back on food stamps for 14 kids

Judge dismisses Happy Meal lawsuit

California, Nevada team up for Tahoe's bid for 2022 Olympics

School shooter may have had multiple targets

Bay Area briefs

Utility uses waste to produce power OAKLAND. (AP) - A Northern California utility is using a new turbine and truckloads of chicken blood, food scraps and other waste to produce more electricity that it uses. The Contra Costa Times says Oakland's East Bay Municipal Utility District has been generating electricity from sewage gas and other waste since the 1980s. <p style="line-height: 18pt; background: ...

Vulnerable inmates ordered out of 2 Central Valley prisons

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.