PG&E making emergency gas 180 segments of pipeline system checks for corrosive leaks

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Pacific Gas & Electric is checking for leaks in 180 segments of its natural gas pipeline system, including part of a line where an explosion killed eight people in 2010. PG&E said Tuesday it is conducting the emergency surveys after acknowledging it had ignored vulnerability to corrosion on the lines, in some cases for years, the San Francisco ...

What $40,000 for Obama gets you in presidential fundraising

Calif approves north coast marine protection zones

Bay Area briefs

Suspect facing murder charge in San Ramon robbery

Stockton council grants city manager authority to ready backup bankruptcy plan

STOCKTON (AP) - Stockton City Council members late Tuesday granted the city manager authority to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in three weeks if officials are unable to broker a deal with the city's creditors.

San Jose, San Diego approve pension cuts by wide margins in Tuesday’s voting

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Voters in two major California cities overwhelmingly approved measures to cut retirement benefits for city workers Tuesday in contests being closely watched as states and local governments throughout the country struggle with mounting pension obligations.

California voters split on $1 per pack tobacco tax; final tally make take days or possibly weeks

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California ballot initiative to raise the tax on cigarettes that pitted big-spending tobacco companies against cycling legend Lance Armstrong and the New York City Mayor was too close to call Tuesday night.

California voters approve term limit reform

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California voters tweaked term limits Tuesday to shave two years off the total time lawmakers can serve in the state Legislature, but will allow them to spend their tenure in one house.

Tough battles mark Congressional contests

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two long-serving Democrats headed Tuesday for a November showdown in a bitterly contested Los Angeles County House district, a marquee matchup among congressional races across California.

Candidates backed by leaders ahead in Senate

LOS ANGELES (AP) - State Senate candidates favored by the Legislature's leaders were ahead Tuesday in the two primary election contests expected to help determine whether Democrats can win a super majority in the upper chamber.

Feinstein easily advances to November ballot

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has easily won her primary election race, advancing to the November ballot. She will face GOP-endorsed autism activist Elizabeth Emken.

Romney's (non) military record faces new scrutiny from Vietnam War era

Cooler weather aids firefighters in Sequoia forest

Jury recommends death for officer killer

RIVERSIDE (AP) - A jury on Tuesday recommended the death penalty for a man convicted of killing a Riverside police officer who pulled him over while investigating a report of a hit-and-run accident involving a big rig. After several hours of deliberations, jurors made the decision in the case against 46-year-old Earl Ellis Green, who was convicted last month of first-degree murder, ...

Federal ag officials: Grapevine moth no longer in San Joaquin County

Firm: Bay Bridge bolts made to exact specs

OAKLAND (AP) - An executive with an Ohio manufacturer has said steel bolts used on a troubled new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge were made exactly to specifications. Experts have spent the past two months trying to determine why 32 of 96 bolts broke after they were tightened in March. A report released on May 7 by Caltrans suggests the bridge design team ordered a type of steel that under some conditions could ...

Sherman Oaks teen takes supermodel to prom

SANTA MONICA (AP) - A Southern California teen turned heads at his prom when he showed up with a Sports Illustrated model as his date. Nina Agdal agreed to step in as Jake Davidson's date Thursday night after he got turned down for prom by supermodel Kate Upton. The Sherman Oaks teen appeared in a YouTube video that was viewed more than 2.5 million times asking Upton to be his date. After Upton declined because ...

SoCal school's ex-PTA head charged with theft

JURUPA VALLEY (AP) - The former president of a local Southern California PTA has been charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing $20,000 raised from children's candy bar sales. Patricia Gledhill pleaded not guilty earlier this month to two felony counts. Gledhill was PTA president last year for Stone Avenue Elementary School in Jurupa (huh-ROO'-puh) Valley. According to court records, Gledhill told authorities she took fundraising money to pay for food, rent, and the cost ...

State news briefs

SHUTTLE IS MAJOR DRAW AT CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER: LOS ANGELES (AP) - There was always been a special connection between space shuttle Endeavour and California, where it was built.

Damage reported from magnitude-5.7 quake

Court denies 2nd hearing on Medi-Cal rate cut

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday denied a second request by California doctors, pharmacists and hospitals seeking to undo the state's 10 percent provider rate cut for treating the poor.

PG&E calls $2.25B fine for deadly blast excessive

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The utility responsible for a deadly pipeline explosion in Northern California said Friday that the record $2.25 billion in fines being sought by state regulators is illegally excessive, but did not offer a specific dollar figure it considers reasonable. In a 103-page filing submitted just before the close of business, Pacific Gas & Electric said that it agrees with the California Public Utilities Commission's finding that a financial penalty is appropriate ...

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