State news briefs

WHO STRAPPED FIREWORKS TO STOCKTON DOG? STOCKTON (AP) - Stockton police are trying to determine who strapped an M-80 firework to a dog and ignited it, causing an explosion that left the animal with burns.

Candidate claims Obama was raised as a Muslim

GRASS VALLEY (AP) - A California Republican who is running for Congress says he believes President Obama was a Muslim before he became a Christian, according to a newspaper report. Former state Sen. Sam Aanestad of Grass Valley made the comments during an interview with Chico radio station KZFR last week, the Chico Enterprise-Record reported Thursday. In the ...

Berkeley chief defends search for son's iPhone using officers on OT

BERKELEY (AP) - A California police chief is once again under scrutiny, this time for using 10 officers - some on overtime - to search for his teenage son's stolen iPhone. Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan told the Oakland Tribune that no preferential treatment was given when officers, including three detectives and a sergeant who each logged two hours of overtime, searched ...

Bay Area news briefs

USS Iowa to depart to Southern California Saturday

State news briefs

CALIF. SUES ARMY CORPS OVER VEGETATION RULE : FRESNO (AP) - A California agency is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its policy requiring the removal of vegetation on federal levees, claiming it harms fish and wildlife.

Safeway clerk who defended woman attacked by boyfriend in store reinstated

DEL REY OAKS (AP) - When Safeway meat clerk Ryan Young jumped from behind his counter to help a pregnant woman being kicked by her boyfriend, he didn't know that he'd be suddenly jobless and a national hero at the same time. On April 21, while Young worked a shift at the Del Rey Oaks, Calif., Safeway, he saw the woman and ...

13-year-old girl held in attempted murder of her mother three times over a few hours

San Jose voters to decide fate of city's minimum wage hike from $8 to $10

SAN JOSE (AP) - The San Jose City Council will let voters have the final say on the city's minimum wage will be. In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the council approved putting a minimum wage ordinance on the Nov. 6 ballot. If approved, the minimum wage would rise from $8 to $10 an hour, with annual increases tied to the consumer price ...

Poll finds support fading for $1 cigarette tax

San Onofre trouble may prompt rule review

Bay Area briefs

City official consults Ouija board before vote

Beam them up: Ashes of 'Star Trek' actor in orbit

Calif. pension fund to vote against Wal-Mart board

SACRAMENTO (AP) - One of the nation's largest pension funds says it will vote its 5.3 million shares against all of Wal-Mart's board nominees - including the company's current and former CEOs - at the retailer's annual meeting next week. The California State Teachers' Retirement System, known as CalSTERS, said Tuesday that it has lost faith in the board's independence amid allegations ...

Couple convicted in trashed home case

RIVERSIDE (AP) - A former San Diego police officer and his wife have been found guilty of trashing their foreclosed home in Riverside County. A jury convicted Robert Acosta on Monday of stealing fixtures valued at greater than $65,000 when he and his wife moved out of their foreclosed home in 2010. Monique Acosta was found guilty of the same charge on ...

Prolonged Facebook slide could hurt California budget

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.