Official: Budget cuts to blame for fire's spread

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - A Sacramento fire official said budget cuts are in part to blame for the spread of a fire in a city neighborhood. Assistant Chief Niko King told the Sacramento Bee the temporary closure of the fire station closest to Wednesday morning's blaze in the Oak Park neighborhood delayed the arrival of an engine with a hose and water. ...

Lawmakers demand audit of mental health initiative to see if voters’ will is being ignored

Temperatures soaring in Southern California

LOS ANGELES (AP) - After weeks of mild summertime temperatures, Southern Californians are sweltering in a heat wave expected to last for days and potentially test an electrical grid lacking one major power plant. Temperatures topped 100 degrees Tuesday in many valley and inland areas but moderated closer to the coast, where beach cities had readings in the high 70s or low ...

NASA gives a peek of rover's Mars journey

Get ready to be burned by higher gas prices

Police: Woman stole baby after faking being pregnant

9th Circuit sides with feds in wiretap ruling

State news briefs

LA BANS SKATEBOARD "BOMBING" AFTER 2 DEATHS: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles officials voted Tuesday to respond to two teen deaths by banning skateboard "bombing," where skaters zoom down steep hills at up to 40 mph.

Young men of color in trouble costs California billions of dollars

Loss of RDA cash hurts struggling cities

SF mayor ends stop-frisk consideration

Bay Area briefs

Car dealership settles discrimination suit FREMONT (AP) - A Northern California Toyota dealership has agreed to pay $400,000 to five former Afghan-American employees who say a manager called them terrorists and threatened them. The Fremont Argus reports that Fremont Toyota's former general manager allegedly called four salesmen names and threatened to blow them up with a grenade in a 2007 staff meeting. <p ...

Legislative pay hikes could hurt tax plan

Why Mars again? A look at NASA's latest venture

PASADENA (AP) - NASA's new robot rover named Curiosity landed safely late Sunday in a huge crater near the equator of Mars and will soon begin its scientific studies. This marks NASA's seventh landing on the red planet and is its 19th Mars mission, including those by orbiters and other spacecraft. WHY MARS AGAIN? <p style="line-height: ...

Quake felt in Coalinga was magnitude 4.5

COALINGA (AP) - A magnitude-4.5 earthquake has shaken a rural area of Central California. A U.S. Geological Survey computer-generated report says Monday's 12:36 a.m. quake was centered 16 miles south-southwest of Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley and 123 miles southeast of San Jose. A Coalinga police officer says several people have reported feeling the quake but there ...

State taxes coming in $4B above forecast

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California is on track to collect $4 billion more in personal income taxes than Gov. Jerry Brown had expected, giving a potential boost to education funding, the legislative analyst's office said Tuesday.

Los Angeles settles with women fired on in manhunt

Davis man spends week in wilderness on pine nuts

Burger King delivers it your way in San Francisco & LA

Bay Area briefs

WOMAN UNINJURED AFTER BART TRAIN PASSES OVER HER: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A woman escaped uninjured after a commuter train passed over her but did not hit her on tracks at a San Francisco station, transit officials said.

NY's Weiner back on Twitter 2 years after his disgrace

State news briefs

SF police chief wants more cameras

LA would have key role in tunnel construction

SF: Were patients dumped by Nevada?

Bay Area briefs

WOMAN CONVICTED IN HUEY LEWIS CAR THEFT: MILL VALLEY (AP) - A woman will be sentenced in May in Northern California for the theft of a rental car and laptop from singer Huey Lewis.

Bill bans teen drivers from hands-free texting

State Senate OKs spending $24M for gun seizures

209 News