Groundbreaking improv comic Jonathan Winters dies

Lead bidder ranked for $1B bullet-train deal

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California-based construction group Friday emerged as the top contender for the first contract that will be awarded to build California's high-speed rail line. The state High-Speed Rail Authority announced that joint venture Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons topped a field of five rivals in a ranking of competing bids to build the initial link from Madera to Fresno. <p style="line-height: ...

State news briefs

TEMECULA STUDENTS DISCIPLINED FOR VANDALISM: TEMECULA (AP) - Seventeen Temecula Valley High School students are being punished this week for vandalism that included racist graffiti, a dismembered squirrel, glued lockers and a bleached sports field.

Contempt threat against Brown is a rare move

209 News

PIT BULL KILLS WOMAN IN YARD OF STOCKTON HOME: STOCKTON (AP) - A 38-year-old woman in Stockton has become the latest person to be mauled to death by a pit bull.

3 teens charged with assault; girl killed herself

Brown praises & rides Chinese for bullet train

BEIJING (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown got a firsthand look on Thursday at the world's most extensive high-speed rail system and praised the initiative that created the Chinese railway, saying he was anxious to start building similarly ambitious projects in California. During a five-hour ride covering more than 800 miles, the governor also touted the possibility of Chinese investment in the $68 ...

The judicial panel was unmoved.

Judges deny bid to end prison oversight

Community group buys cross site on Mount Rubidoux

RIVERSIDE . (AP) - A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark. The Press-Enterprise reports) the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel. The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on ...

Bay Area briefs

PETALUMA SCHOOL CREATES FLAP OVER GIRLS' PANTS: PETALUMA (AP) - A Northern California middle school is clarifying its dress code after female students said they were told they could no longer wear tight-fitting pants because they distracted the boys.

Judges deny bid to end prison oversight

Community group buys cross site on Mount Rubidoux

RIVERSIDE . (AP) - A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark. The Press-Enterprise reports) the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel. The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on ...

209 News

JAY LENO POKES FUN AT STOCKTON: STOCKTON &ndash; It's a city with rising unemployment, bankruptcy and crime. But now funnyman Jay Leno is piling on Stockton.

State bill aimed at Scouts' gay ban passes hurdle

Fewer Californians get health care at work

Vulnerable inmates ordered out of 2 Central Valley prisons

Nesting swallows could delay Petaluma bridge work

State news briefs

SANTA CLARA THREATENS AMBULANCE TERMINATION: SAN JOSE. (AP) - Santa Clara County officials are threatening to terminate the contract of an ambulance company that they say has repeatedly responded too slowly to emergencies.

Killer on the loose: Valley Springs on lockdown

Lawmakers consider moratorium on oil fracking in San Joaquin Valley

3 divers killed over weekend abalone diving off California

SF Bay Bridge has bolts similar to banned bolts

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has more than 1,200 bolts made from galvanized steel that is virtually identical to a high-strength alloy that a nationwide group of transportation officials banned for use on bridges because the bolts can crack, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.

Fatal stabbing of girl, 8, prompts manhunt

VALLEY SPRINGS (AP) - Residents of a rural Northern California county were being told Sunday to keep their doors locked and report anyone considered suspicious as authorities continued the search for the killer of an 8-year-old girl.

Some are overlooked in overhaul

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Carlos Gonzalez has lived nearly all his 29 years in a country he considers home but now finds himself on the wrong side of the border - and the wrong side of a proposed overhaul of the U.S. immigration system that would grant legal status to millions of people.

California weighs first state ban on lead ammo

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In November, one of the oldest condors in Central California died from lead poisoning after being found with tiny bullet fragments and a .22-caliber slug in his gullet that he apparently swallowed with a mouthful of meat.

Rolling Stones rock small LA club

LOS ANGELES (AP) - For one night only, the Rolling Stones were an up-and-coming band again.

OC officials keep inmate alive they want to ultimately execute

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A man charged with raping and killing a woman 30 years ago is being kept alive in Orange County with dialysis treatments until officials can win permission to execute him.

Bills aim to protect privacy in drone age

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California lawmakers are attempting to stay ahead of science fiction-style technology as increasingly nimble unmanned aircraft are considered for use in tracking fleeing suspects and monitoring crowded public spaces.