State wades into national labor debate

Bay Area briefs

Teacher suspected of lewd conduct found dead SAN LORENZO (AP) - A California teacher suspected of lewd conduct with a child has apparently committed suicide. The body of 28-year-old James Izumizaki was found Monday in his car in San Lorenzo. Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson says the Albany Middle School teacher's death is being treated as a suicide. ...

SF supervisor wants to crackdown on nudity

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco supervisor, fed up with the almost-daily displays of nudity in one city neighborhood, introduced legislation Tuesday that would make it illegal to walk around naked on San Francisco streets. The city allows nudity except in parks, on port property and in restaurants, but under the ordinance by Supervisor Scott Wiener, nudity at city plazas, parklets, ...

Brown signs bills at higher rate than predecessors

Sporting groups leery of name change

Proposition 35 at a glance

Dog survives 110-mile ride on pickup's engine

Dog survives 110-mile ride on pickup's engine SAN CLEMENTE (AP) - A dog has survived a 110-mile ride on the hot engine of a pickup truck during a Southern California heat wave. The driver of a Chevrolet Silverado felt the pickup move slightly after he stopped in San Clemente on Monday. He had just driven from Chino to Orange and Camp Pendleton. <p ...

US begins flying home deported Mexicans

Oakland college shooting suspect's case suspended

OAKLAND (AP) - The murder case of a suspect accused of killing seven at a small California Christian college was suspended Monday after the suspect's lawyer questioned his mental competency to stand trial. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta on Monday ordered that two psychiatrists examine suspect One Goh after assistant public defender David Klaus told her during a brief hearing ...

Teacher suspected of lewd conduct found dead

SAN LORENZO (AP) - A California teacher suspected of lewd conduct with a child has apparently committed suicide. The body of 28-year-old James Izumizaki was found Monday in his car in San Lorenzo. Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson says the Albany Middle School teacher's death is being treated as a suicide. The cause of the death hasn't ...

Initiative raises penalties for human trafficking

Initiative seeks to end death penalty

Brown vetoes death-benefit bill

WWII gun to be displayed at San Francisco Bay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A massive gun that was on the battleship Missouri when the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II will soon be installed on a cliff at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The 68-foot-long, 236,000-pound gun will be painted and displayed at the Battery Townsley fortification in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the coming ...

2 million in gems, gold stolen from museum

MARIPOSA (AP) - California investigators searched Monday for thieves who made off with an estimated $2 million in precious gems and gold from a Central Valley museum during a brazen daytime robbery. But they didn't get away with the biggest prize of all - the nearly 14-pound Fricot Nugget, a giant crystalline gold mass unearthed in the Gold Rush era. <p style="line-height: ...

Irwindale’s bid to close Sriracha plant denied

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge refused Thursday to order an immediate halt to production of the internationally popular hot sauce Sriracha at a Southern California factory that local residents say is stinking up their neighborhoods with pepper and garlic fumes.

Ohio town creates early Christmas for ailing boy

PORT CLINTON, Ohio (AP) - A northern Ohio community is decking the halls to provide an early Christmas for an ailing boy with cancer who said he wanted to be home for the holiday. As some towns readied for Halloween trick-or-treaters, the Christmas cheer was in high gear in Port Clinton on Wednesday despite 60-degree weather. Dozens of supporters gathered near 13-year-old Devin Kohlman's apartment as several tons of shaved ice was used to mimic ...

LA aqueduct bomber now works for water agency

LOS ANGELES (AP) - In an ironic twist, a California man who helped blow up an aqueduct that sent water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles nearly 40 years ago now works for the metropolis' water district, ensuring the waterway is safe. Mark Berry, 54, who works for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told his story recently to the Los Angeles Times saying he regrets the actions he took as "an impressionable ...

Rapist missing, making threats after shedding tracking device

$5M pledged to aid students living in US illegally

$5M pledged to aid students living in US illegally

Deputy shot boy before partner left car

SANTA ROSA (AP) - A 13-year-old boy was fatally wounded by a California sheriff's deputy before a second officer was able to get out of a patrol vehicle and take cover, investigators said, bolstering accounts of just how quickly the shooting occurred. The trainee remained behind the wheel of the cruiser Oct. 22 while Deputy Erick Gelhaus confronted Andy Lopez, who was carrying a pellet gun that resembled an assault rifle, Santa Rosa police Lt. ...

Polling shows tunnel plan lacks support

Forum on Delta plan on Monday

Plastic bag law lacks oversight

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Seeking to reduce the number of plastic shopping bags cluttering California's beaches and landfills, the state Legislature in 2006 passed a law requiring grocery stores and other large retailers to give consumers an easy way of returning used bags.

News from around california

JUDGE PROPOSES $6.7M FINE FOR PG&E PIPELINE: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A judge is proposing that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. pay $6.7 million in fines for improperly declaring safe two natural-gas pipelines and using misleading records in an attempt to minimize the lapse.

Man pleads not guilty to stealing corpses’ gold

LANCASTER (AP) - A former funeral home apprentice has pleaded not guilty to stealing gold crowns from the teeth of corpses in the Antelope Valley. Pete Lara, 39, entered pleas Wednesday to more than two dozen felony counts, mostly burglary but also grand theft and possession of methamphetamine. Authorities say Lara was an apprentice embalmer at Halley-Olsen-Murphy Funeral Home in Lancaster when he began taking the dental crowns last year, along with medallions from funeral ...

Protesters rally after boy killed by Sonoma deputy

SANTA ROSA (AP) - More than 1,000 people marched Tuesday to protest the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy by a Northern California sheriff's deputy in an encounter that sparked community outrage and an FBI investigation.

Bob Barker to mark his 90th birthday on 'Price'

LOS ANGELES (AP) - CBS says "The Price is Right" is planning a milestone birthday celebration for former host Bob Barker. Barker will celebrate his 90th birthday with an appearance on the game show in December, the network said Tuesday. He retired as host in 2007 after 35 years with "The Price is Right." The show also will pay tribute to Barker's longtime animal activism by featuring pet adoptions during the week of Dec. 9-13. ...

Audit: Calif. courts fail to comply with gun law

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Many California courts fail to tell state justice officials when someone is determined to be mentally ill, undermining efforts to take guns away from potentially dangerous owners, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

Health reforms could help Calif. prison spending

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California could gain tens of millions of dollars annually in federal reimbursements for prison health care under the nation's new health law, state and federal officials said Tuesday.