SF crane operator pulls mammoth tooth

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A wooly mammoth tooth with its enamel still intact has been discovered during the excavation for a new transit center in downtown San Francisco. A crane operator came across the 10-inch-long brown, black and beige tooth on Monday while digging a 200-foot hole for a piling at the Transbay Transit Center. Woolly mammoths, elephant-like ...

SoCal home prices hit 4-year-high

Boy arrested in beating of disabled mother

ELK GROVE (AP) - An 11-year-old boy was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse after his disabled mother was beaten so severely with an extension cord that she was hospitalized, authorities said. Prosecutors said the boy appeared to be the primary caregiver of his 51-year-old mother and prepared meals and did laundry in the home they shared. <p ...

Thousands mourn CHP officer shot during traffic stop on I-680

VACAVILLE (AP) - A California Highway Patrol officer gunned down during a freeway traffic stop was remembered Thursday for his friendly personality and unique sense of humor at a funeral attended by Gov. Jerry Brown and thousands of uniformed officers from across the nation. Kenyon Youngstrom, 37, was shot Sept. 4 along Interstate 680 in Alamo. He died in a hospital the ...

Tax on Amazon purchases begins Saturday

California prepares for another summer without nuke plant

FOLSOM, (AP) - The agency that operates California's power grid said Thursday it will take steps to prepare for another summer without power generation from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant, signaling the facility may not be operational any time soon. The California Independent System Operator's board of governors was briefed Thursday on the power grid needs in areas served by ...

Bay Area briefs

Officers scolded for photo of mayor's ticket SAN JOSE, (AP) - A police chief has scolded his officers for the Internet posting of a photograph of a traffic citation given to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. Chief Chris Moore said Wednesday he's launching an internal investigation into who in his department leaked a photograph. Reed was driving his blue ...

Judge Britney rules on 'X Factor,' while Demi charms

Feds: Pipe wall in Richmond refinery fire was thin as penny

Octomom and 14 kids on move to high desert

LA HABRA . (AP) - Octomom Nadya Suleman and her 14 children are moving to the high desert community of Palmdale. Suleman's manager, Gina Rodriguez, tells the Orange County Register the woman who gave birth to octuplets in January 2009 has leased a home in the city 60 miles north of Los Angeles. Suleman has been living in ...

New child sex claims made against ex-priest

Bank heist suspects hurl cash during LA chase

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Suspected bank robbers fleeing county sheriff's deputies hurled cash from a speeding SUV on Wednesday, drawing people into the streets until a pickup blocked their path and they had to surrender. In a bizarre scene followed by TV helicopters, a large crowd pressed in as deputies with guns drawn pulled two men from the SUV in South Los ...

St. Mary’s presents ‘The Grapes of Wrath’

STOCKTON - The award-winning St. Mary's High School Theatre Department will present the acclaimed 1990 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, The Grapes of Wrath, Oct. 6-14 at Stockton Civic Theatre. Adapted by Frank Galati from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by John Steinbeck, this epic production tells the ...

State tax collector criticized for opposing rural fire fee of $150

Brown signs California pension reform bill

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

Bill would prohibit ticket-buying software

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Music and sports fans would have one less obstacle in buying tickets to popular events under a bill advancing through the California Legislature. Legislation by Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento would prohibit the use of robotic ticket-buying software. Supporters of AB329 say scalpers use the software to bombard online box offices and then resell tickets at higher prices. Lawmakers previously deleted a provision that would have allowed transfers of paperless event ...

Professor assigns students to make ad for his campaign

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco State University professor considering a run for Oakland mayor is drawing scrutiny for a class assignment that asked students to create a political campaign ad and gave them the option of developing it for him. Joe Tuman said he would use the ad if it were good, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday. But ethics experts said any such use of the students' work could run afoul ...

Bay Area briefs

SWALLOWS LAWSUIT MAY DELAY PETALUMA BRIDGE WORK : PETALUMA (AP) - A lawsuit accuses state and federal regulators of causing the death of dozens of migratory cliff swallows by placing nets on a Sonoma County bridge during a highway widening project.

State releases health reform plans, pricing