State news briefs

POLL: VOTERS DIVIDED OVER DEATH PENALTY REPEAL : SACRAMENTO . (AP) - A new Field Poll shows California voters split over a November ballot initiative seeking to repeal the death penalty.

Fed crackdown on pot dispensaries extends to LA; 68 operations warned

City Hall ruins from 1906 quake are unearthed

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Construction crews have unearthed the massive foundations of the old San Francisco City Hall destroyed in the disastrous 1906 earthquake. The wreckage of the building and its 300-foot dome became a famous symbol of the quake. Workers digging on Hyde Street near Fulton Street for a landscaping project found the ruins on Sept. 14, ...

California governor signs driverless cars bill

Stockton diocese sued over alleged priest abuse

STOCKTON (AP) - The Roman Catholic diocese in Stockton is facing another lawsuit alleging child abuse by a defrocked priest who spoke openly about molesting children in a 2006 documentary. An unidentified woman says she was molested by Oliver O'Grady from 1991 to 1992 when she was 11 and 12 years old, and O'Grady was serving ...

State news briefs

SECOND DUI COUNT AGAINST LAWMAKER DISMISSED: SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Contra Costa County judge has dismissed a second DUI count against a state lawmaker from Southern California.

Renters find body on move-in day

MODESTO (AP) - Renters moving into a Modesto home have found a body and police say the death is being investigated as a homicide. The Modesto Bee says the body was found on Sunday. Police say the victim, believed to be a man subletting a room in the home, was assaulted. His name is being withheld until relatives ...

Pipeline safety rules strengthened in aftermath of deadly PG&E blast

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California regulators have new powers to ensure gas utilities follow safe practices, thanks to a suite of bills that have just been signed into law, a state assemblyman said Monday.

SF could OK among tiniest apartments in US

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco may soon give new meaning to the word "downsizing." Supervisors are set to vote on Tuesday on a proposed change to the city's building code that would allow construction of among the tiniest apartments in the country. Under the plan, new apartments could be as small as 220 square feet (a little ...

Los Angeles fields motorcycle response team to get around traffic congestion

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Firefighters on motorcycles outfitted with defibrillators and medical supplies have been scooting around congested Los Angeles roadways and some off-road areas where bigger vehicles can't navigate in a bid to save lives and improve response times. The Los Angeles Fire Department's five-member unit of two-wheeled first responders - a pilot program in place for about a year - ...

Schwarzenegger back - as think tank guru

FBI agent accused of paying for prostitutes

1 dead in SoCal wildfire; 20 homes destroyed

CAMPO (AP) - Firefighters recovered a body from a burned house Monday as they raced the winds to contain Southern California wildfires that destroyed 20 homes and threatened several hundred more in rural areas. Crews battled the blaze amid winds gusting up to 20 mph that were expected to continue late Monday in southeastern San Diego County, where a 3-square-mile fire churned ...

12k riders, Tahoe's Sand Harbor shuttle a success

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. (AP) - The new shuttle bus system at Lake Tahoe's Sand Harbor State Park has been declared a success and is coming back again next summer, albeit with a possible tweak or two to better target peak demand at the sandy peninsula on the azure mountain lake's north shore.

Brown vetoes restaurant playgrounds bill

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would expand food safety laws to cover indoor and outdoor playgrounds at fast-food restaurants.

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