Voters face fall ballot crowded with issues

Key elements of the $92 billion California state budget sent to Gov. Jerry Brown:

Progress in graduation, dropout rates

SoCal should survive summer without blackouts

Priest assault trial resumes with abuse allegation

Bay Area briefs

SANTA CLARA OFFICIALS OK TALKS WITH JOE MONTANA: SANTA CLARA (AP) - Santa Clara officials have given the go-ahead for the city to begin negotiations with legendary quarterback Joe Montana for a hotel and entertainment complex across from the 49ers new stadium.

State news briefs

CAR HITS SO. CAL NURSING HOME, KILLS MAN, 89: LA MESA (AP) - A runaway car has crashed into a San Diego County nursing home and killed an 89-year-old man.

PG&E: 1956 pipeline test caused San Bruno blast that killed eight

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co. told California regulators this week that a pipeline test the company performed in 1956 damaged a weld and led to the 2010 deadly explosion in San Bruno. PG&E made the claim in a filing submitted Tuesday to the California Public Utilities Commission, which has launched numerous investigations into the company that could result ...

Police chief angry over plea deal for dentist in son’s death

FRESNO (AP) - A Coalinga dentist who gave his disabled son a fatal dose of morphine received preferential treatment from prosecutors, said the city's police chief. Dentist Allen Clare, 68, should have faced a second-degree murder or manslaughter charge for last year's death of his 35-year-old son Patrick Clare, Chief Cal Minor told the Fresno Bee. Instead, Clare ...

Famed Crystal Cathedral becoming Catholic Church

Lawmakers finish California budget with $15.7 billion gap

Stockton bankruptcy hard hit for city retirees

State news briefs

DEMOCRATS PUSH TOP BILLING FOR GOVERNOR'S TAX HIKE: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Democratic lawmakers are moving a bill that could give the governor's tax initiative top billing on California's November ballot.

Court: Pollution rules can be based on technology that has yet to be developed

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California air quality regulators can implement pollution control rules based on expected future technology that doesn't yet exist, the state Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision seen as a victory for agencies that set standards encouraging green technology. The ruling came Monday after paint manufacturers sued Southern California's South Coast Air Quality Management District over standards that ...

Police step up immigration enforcement

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