Cell phone penalties would rise under pending bill

Savings from state worker pay cut far from assured

Cal high-speed rail must spend $2.7M a day in order not to lose federal funding

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California will need to build its high-speed train line in record time if it doesn't want to risk losing federal funds - indeed, it will have to be the fastest piece of transportation construction in U.S. history, experts said. Under a federal deadline, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has until September 2017 to finish the first segment of ...

Proposed cuts in governor's revised budget plan

Bay Area briefs

Solo drivers embracing SF South Bay toll lanes

Plan to cut tube wear falls short at San Onofre nuclear power plant

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A $670 million overhaul at California's San Onofre nuclear plant was expressly intended to avoid the types of ailments that have sidelined its twin reactors.

Retired generators at California plant back online in bid to avoid summer shortages

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two retired generators at a Southern California power plant are back online, to help take up the slack from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant this summer.

Yahoo names Levinsohn interim CEO

SUNNYVALE (AP) - Yahoo swept out Scott Thompson as CEO Sunday in an effort to clean up a mess created by an exaggeration about his education that destroyed his credibility as he set out to turnaround the long-troubled Internet company.

Search on for shooter of biker club leader

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Police searched Sunday for a drive-by shooter who gunned down the president of a San Diego motorcycle club as he worked in the clubhouse driveway, while members of the group he led mourned and paid tribute to the man they called "Wild Dogg."

Missing teen’s mom issues Mother’s Day statement

MORGAN HILL (AP) - A Northern California mother is spending her Mother's Day with worries that most mothers will never have to face.

State news briefs

• CALIFORNIA FACING HIGHER $16 BILLION SHORTFALL: SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion - much larger than had been predicted just months ago - and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday.

2 charged with trying to extort Stevie Wonder

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two people have been charged with extortion after police detectives say they arrested the pair for trying to sell what they said was embarrassing information about Stevie Wonder. The duo, Alpha Lorenzo Walker and his girlfriend Tamara Eileen Diaz, have been jailed since their arrest on May 2. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to appear ...

Brown boots doctor from panel after she appeared in anti Prop 29 TV ads

Thieves ram store in truck, make off with jewelry

MODESTO (AP) - Police are looking for a group of thieves who used a pickup truck to smash into a Modesto jewelry store and made off with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. Modesto police Lt. Rick Armendariz says around 11:20 p.m. Thursday a truck with four or five people in it drove through the front door of Rogers Jewelers Co. <p ...

Modesto teen charged with trying to poison baby

MODESTO (AP) - A judge entered a not guilty plea Friday on behalf of a Modesto teenager who is charged with trying to kill her newborn daughter with rat poison after seeking others to do it for her. Cashel Sophia Phin, 18, is charged with attempted murder, solicitation of murder and poisoning. She made a video appearance in Stanislaus County Superior Court, ...

Bay Area briefs

NO BACKPACKS ALLOWED AT 2013 BAY TO BREAKERS IN SF: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - No backpacks, large bags or containers will be allowed at this year's Bay to Breakers footrace in San Francisco as officials heighten security in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.

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