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.

California voters face redrawn ballot, new districts in Tuesday’s election

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California voters will face a newly reshaped ballot with many more choices on Tuesday as they cast votes in the first statewide election to implement two major voter-approved political reforms and as candidates compete in districts meant to be more competitive.

$20M California Trail center opens near Elko in Nevada

RENO (AP) - A $20 million federal facility devoted to telling the story of the covered-wagon pioneers' overland journey during the California Gold Rush has opened in Nevada.

State news briefs

ABOUT 1,000 ACRES BURNED IN SEQUOIA FIRE: SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST (AP) - Afternoon winds are being blamed for helping a wildfire burning in a remote area of the Sequoia National Forest nearly double in size.

Voters turn against California bullet train

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A new poll finds California voters are experiencing buyers' remorse over a proposed $68 billion bullet train project, as the number of lawsuits against the rail system grows.

State news briefs

STUDENTS PROTEST ADMISSIONS POLICIES AT UCLA: LOS ANGELES (AP) - About two dozen demonstrators are occupying the admissions office at the University of California, Los Angeles to protest the number of black, Latino and native American students admitted.

Burning rocks had elevated phosphate levels

SAN CLEMENTE (AP) - Additional testing has confirmed beach rocks that spontaneously combusted in a Southern California woman's pocket contained elevated levels of phosphorus, an official said Friday. The source of the substance is still unclear, but an expert says it probably was manmade. Results from an independent lab matched those obtained by the Orange County Public Health ...

Cloud seeding may bolster snowpack

SACRAMENTO (AP) - With California experiencing a second straight dry year, water agencies are turning to cloud seeding to help pad the state's snowpack. The practice has been around for decades, but cloud seeding has gone mainstream as a result of new technology and research showing its reliable, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday. In a report this year, the California Department of Water Resources estimated cloud seeding projects generate 400,000 acre-feet of additional water supply ...

Lansbury: Mistake to recycle 'Murder, She Wrote'

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Angela Lansbury says "it's a mistake" for NBC to call a new series "Murder, She Wrote."

Olympic gold medal won by Jesse Owens to be sold

LAGUNA NIGUEL (AP) - One of the four Olympic gold medals won by track and field star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games is set to go on the auction block. SCP Auctions says the medal could sell for upward of $1 million in the online auction that runs from Nov. 20-Dec. 7. Owens won gold in the 100- and 200-meters, the 400 relay and the long jump at the games attended by Adolph ...

Thieves bypass luxury cars, opt for watches

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Police say burglars smashed a plate glass window at a San Diego County luxury car dealership, but it wasn't the Rolls-Royces, Bentleys or Lamborghinis they were interested in. They walked out with watches worth between $20,000 and $60,000 apiece. Tthe break-in at the Symbolic Motor Car Company showroom in La Jolla was reported about 2:50 a.m. Monday. They then tipped over and smashed a glass case containing four Breitling for Bentley ...

Burglary suspects caught after online post

ROCKLIN (AP) - Four burglary suspects have been arrested in Northern California after posting a photograph online of an expensive fast food feast that they allegedly purchased with a stolen credit card. Rocklin Sgt. Scott Horrillo says three adult suspects and one juvenile were arrested Sunday for breaking into four parked cars in Rocklin on Friday and stealing GPS units, wallets and other items. Horrillo says that after the burglaries, the suspects stopped at a ...

Girl burned playing with glass of gasoline

VICTORVILLE (AP) - A girl is recovering from burns over 20 percent of her body including her face after she and friends lit a glass of gasoline on fire in a playhouse in Southern California. San Bernardino County fire officials tell the Victorville Daily Press (http://bit.ly/1fveUFj) three girls removed the gasoline from an all-terrain vehicle last week at a Wrightwood home. They put the gas in a glass and took it to a playhouse behind ...

DNA to determine if rare fox spotted

TRUCKEE . (AP) - Wildlife biologists are conducting a DNA test to determine if a rare native fox has been spotted at a lake in northern California near the Nevada state line.

Officials seek to find how 2 California condors died

TEHACHAPI (AP) - State wildlife officials are trying to learn how two endangered California condors died after the birds were found last month in water tanks used by firefighters in California's Central Valley.

Four hurt in S. California hot air balloon explosion

TEMECULA (AP) - Officials say a hot air balloon exploded after landing in Southern California wine country leaving four people hospitalized, one of them with severe burns.

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.