Low on funds: City plans sugary drink tax

EL MONTE (AP) - City leaders are looking for a sugar fix. The City Council on Tuesday was scheduled to consider declaring a fiscal emergency so it can place a proposed soda tax on the Nov. 6 special election ballot. Businesses would be charged a penny per ounce on beverages they sell that are sweetened with sugar, such ...

Crowd heckles police for fatal shootings

Foreclosure rate for California homes slows, eases fears of housing recovery hit

Chilling video confession in dismemberment killing

FRESNO (AP) - A Fresno County murder defendant acknowledged beating his alleged victim with a metal pipe before dismembering his body with a knife and hacksaw in a bathtub in a chilling video confession played in court. Brian Waldron, 54, is accused of killing Jonathan Taylor at Waldron's home on Oct. 24, 2008. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and mutilation ...

State news briefs

FEDERAL OFFICER KILLED IN MODESTO SHOOTING: MODESTO (AP) - Authorities have identified the victim of a weekend bar shooting in Modesto as a 34-year-old police officer for the Department of Defense.

Los Angeles City Council votes to ban marijuana shops after allowing them

Alameda County passes law making pharmaceutical industry pay to toss pills

Bay Area briefs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco's mayor says the Colorado theater shootings have made him more committed to implementing a police stop and frisk policy aimed at getting weapons off the streets. Mayor Ed Lee's consideration of stop and frisk, where officers stop and search suspicious people for weapons, has triggered an outcry from those who liken it to racial profiling. <p ...

State news briefs

&bull; Man accused of threats at SoCal Batman screening: NORWALK (AP) - A man is accused of making criminal threats at a screening of the new Batman movie at a Southern California theater.

Homeowners see jump in property taxes

SAN JOSE (AP) - Tens of thousands of California homeowners are seeing the downside of the recovering real estate market: unexpected jumps in their property tax bills. Many homeowners believe their property taxes are limited to increases of no more than 2 percent annually because of Proposition 13, the landmark voter initiative approved in 1978. <p ...

Judge: SoCal district improperly rejected petition aimed at imposing school reforms

Alameda County may require pharmaceutical firms to pay for prescription drug disposal

Student assistants to be let go amid California budget cuts

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - Hundreds of California student assistants will lose their jobs as the school year begins as part of a cost-cutting deal between the state and its largest public employees union. With California facing a deep budget deficit, 1,600 state student assistant positions will be eliminated in September, The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/SQ9F7F) reported Monday. The move ...

Mariah Carey joins 'American Idol' as new judge, props up show with star power

State news briefs

HEAD MOUSKETEER GINNY TYLER DIES AT 86: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former Disney head Mousketeer and voice actress Ginny Tyler has died in Washington at 86.

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