2 charged with trying to extort Stevie Wonder

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two people have been charged with extortion after police detectives say they arrested the pair for trying to sell what they said was embarrassing information about Stevie Wonder. The duo, Alpha Lorenzo Walker and his girlfriend Tamara Eileen Diaz, have been jailed since their arrest on May 2. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to appear ...

Brown boots doctor from panel after she appeared in anti Prop 29 TV ads

Thieves ram store in truck, make off with jewelry

MODESTO (AP) - Police are looking for a group of thieves who used a pickup truck to smash into a Modesto jewelry store and made off with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. Modesto police Lt. Rick Armendariz says around 11:20 p.m. Thursday a truck with four or five people in it drove through the front door of Rogers Jewelers Co. <p ...

Modesto teen charged with trying to poison baby

MODESTO (AP) - A judge entered a not guilty plea Friday on behalf of a Modesto teenager who is charged with trying to kill her newborn daughter with rat poison after seeking others to do it for her. Cashel Sophia Phin, 18, is charged with attempted murder, solicitation of murder and poisoning. She made a video appearance in Stanislaus County Superior Court, ...

State news briefs

EX-CON GETS 148 YEARS IN SMOKING CONFRONTATION: BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) - An elderly California ex-con has been sentenced to 148 years to life in prison for pulling a knife on a security guard who asked him to put out his cigarette.

New maps, primary system shape legislative races

Facebook wraps up IPO road show in Silicon Valley

PALO ALTO (AP) - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives addressed about 200 prospective investors Friday at a hotel luncheon in Silicon Valley. Friday's event was the last of the bigger road show events that Facebook Inc. is holding ahead of its initial public offering of stock, which is expected late next week. The luncheon was held at the Crown Plaza ...

Bay Area briefs

SF teachers vote to support possible strike SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco schoolteachers have voted to support a strike if contract negotiations continue to stall. About 1,900 teachers overwhelmingly passed the first of two strike votes. The United Educators of San Francisco said Friday the measure got 97 percent of the vote. Negotiations on a new contract began ...

State news briefs

WORKER BURIED IN 8-FOOT-DEEP TRENCH DIES: BEVERLY HILLS (AP) - A worker who was buried in an 8-foot-deep trench outside a Beverly Hills home died Thursday afternoon before firefighters could free him from the loose soil.

Asteroid got one-two crater-carving punch

San Diego, San Jose voters asked to cut pensions to help financially stressed budgets

State bill targets parents who skip kids' shots

Brown submits ballot petitions for tax increases for November ballot

California to apply for waiver to ‘No Child Left Behind’ federal regulation

Well-traveled Ore. wolf photographed in Calif.

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.