Police arrest juvenile over hoax celebrity calls

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Police have arrested a juvenile they say is responsible for making prank calls that reported violence at the homes of Justin Bieber and Ashton Kutcher and led officers to respond in force to the stars' homes. The Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday refused to provide any details about the suspect, who was arrested Dec. 10 and is ...

Controller: More problems in state parks

Orange County woman dies of West Nile virus

TUSTIN (AP) - A Southern California woman has died from the West Nile virus after falling ill several weeks ago, health officials said Monday. It's the first Orange County death from the mosquito-borne virus since 2008, according to The Orange County Register. The county Health Care Agency says the 61-year-old Tustin woman died last week after contracting the ...

Judge considers sex offenders' social media

Flat tire on freeway led to deadly crash

REDWOOD CITY (AP) - Three family members were killed when their stranded Lexus was struck from behind by another vehicle on a California freeway, authorities said. The family was headed to the San Francisco airport on Friday on their way to visit relatives in Dallas for the holidays when the Lexus got a flat tire on a stretch of Interstate 280 in ...

Molten gold signals revival Mother Lode

Lawmakers promise action on gun control

Bay Area briefs

MISSING 77-YEAR-OLD'S BODY FOUND IN RICHMOND: VALLEJO (AP) - The body of a missing 77-year-old man believed to have fallen into the waters off Mare Island has washed ashore.

209 News

THOUSANDS IN SIERRA FOOTHILLS WITHOUT POWER: IONE (AP) - Thousands of people in a handful of small communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills southeast of Sacramento are without electricity after a power outage hit the area.

LAPD chief wants officers to visit schools daily

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said he plans to step up patrols of elementary and middle schools in the nation's second-largest school district by assigning officers to visit them at least once a day.

Bay Area news briefs

OFFICIALS ID CHP OFFICER KILLED IN OFF-DUTY CRASH: FAIRFIELD (AP) - Officials have released the name of a veteran California Highway Patrol officer who was killed in an off-duty motorcycle crash, while his colleagues remembered him as a dedicated public servant.

Mission Hills man suspected of stabbing his grandmother to death with BBQ fork

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Southern California man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing his grandmother to death, possibly with a barbecue fork.

Napa do-over prompts grape plant shortage

NAPA (AP) - Napa Valley, one of the world's premier wine growing regions, has an uncommon problem these days: not enough new grapevine root stock is available to supply the massive replanting that's under way there.

Police trade $200,000 for 590 guns

OAKLAND (AP) - Hundreds of guns have been taken off the streets of Oakland and San Francisco in a gun buyback program that Oakland police Officer Johnna Watson described as a "huge success."

School yoga tries to avoid religious controversy as district faces lawsuit

ENCINITAS (AP) - Public school yoga instructor Katie Campbell proudly looks out at 23 first graders as they contain their squirming in a kid-friendly version of the lotus position.

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.