Lead bidder ranked for $1B bullet-train deal

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California-based construction group Friday emerged as the top contender for the first contract that will be awarded to build California's high-speed rail line. The state High-Speed Rail Authority announced that joint venture Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons topped a field of five rivals in a ranking of competing bids to build the initial link from Madera to Fresno. <p style="line-height: ...

State news briefs

TEMECULA STUDENTS DISCIPLINED FOR VANDALISM: TEMECULA (AP) - Seventeen Temecula Valley High School students are being punished this week for vandalism that included racist graffiti, a dismembered squirrel, glued lockers and a bleached sports field.

Contempt threat against Brown is a rare move

209 News

PIT BULL KILLS WOMAN IN YARD OF STOCKTON HOME: STOCKTON (AP) - A 38-year-old woman in Stockton has become the latest person to be mauled to death by a pit bull.

3 teens charged with assault; girl killed herself

Brown praises & rides Chinese for bullet train

BEIJING (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown got a firsthand look on Thursday at the world's most extensive high-speed rail system and praised the initiative that created the Chinese railway, saying he was anxious to start building similarly ambitious projects in California. During a five-hour ride covering more than 800 miles, the governor also touted the possibility of Chinese investment in the $68 ...

The judicial panel was unmoved.

Judges deny bid to end prison oversight

Community group buys cross site on Mount Rubidoux

RIVERSIDE . (AP) - A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark. The Press-Enterprise reports) the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel. The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on ...

Bay Area briefs

PETALUMA SCHOOL CREATES FLAP OVER GIRLS' PANTS: PETALUMA (AP) - A Northern California middle school is clarifying its dress code after female students said they were told they could no longer wear tight-fitting pants because they distracted the boys.

Judges deny bid to end prison oversight

Community group buys cross site on Mount Rubidoux

RIVERSIDE . (AP) - A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark. The Press-Enterprise reports) the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel. The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on ...

209 News

JAY LENO POKES FUN AT STOCKTON: STOCKTON &ndash; It's a city with rising unemployment, bankruptcy and crime. But now funnyman Jay Leno is piling on Stockton.

State bill aimed at Scouts' gay ban passes hurdle

Fewer Californians get health care at work

LA toll lanes slow other freeway traffic

LOS ANGELES (AP) - New toll lanes on a Los Angeles freeway were supposed to speed up traffic but instead put the brakes on other commuters. The 11-mile stretch of toll lanes on Interstate 110 opened last November south of downtown. Motorists can pay up to $15.40 to use the lanes at peak congestion hours or instead lurch along in the other ...

Perry disgusted by explosion cartoon

First confirmed Japanese tsunami debris in Calif.

209 News

WILD DOG KILLED BY DEPUTIES: FRENCH CAMP - One of the dogs which may have killed dozens of goats at a French Camp livestock auction yard recently was killed Friday.

Civil rights groups object to 49ers stadium deals

Dangerous wildfire season predicted

Bay Area briefs

SUSPECT WHO ALLEGEDLY KILLED MAN OVER MUSIC CAUGHT: RICHMOND (AP) - A Contra Costa County man who eluded capture for four years after allegedly shooting his neighbor to death in a dispute over loud music has been arraigned on murder charges.

State bill would let legal non-citizens serve on juries

Funding plan would mean cuts to NorCal courts

Transit app can estimate crowds on BART trains

Senate advances bill to tax Internet sales

Racist video stirs anger on UC Irvine campus

SF firefighter makes $221,000 in OT

State news briefs

GOODWILL AGREES TO SETTLE SOCAL SEX BIAS CASE: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Goodwill Industries of Southern California has agreed to settle federal allegations that it discriminated against men in hiring.