Field Poll: Voter support for Brown tax hike dips since mid-summer questioning

What's it like to fly a plane with shuttle on top?

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It's the ultimate piggyback ride: A space shuttle perched atop a Boeing 747 as the pair crisscrosses the country.

Brake glitch kept Knott's riders stuck in the sky

BUENA PARK (AP) - California officials say a Knott's Berry Farm ride that stranded 20 people 300 feet in the air for nearly four hours automatically stopped when one of its brakes froze. Erika Monterroza, from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, told the Los Angeles Times that when the brake on Windseeker froze Wednesday, it triggered the ride's safety ...

Yosemite workers may be surveyed for mouse virus

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - California public health officials want to survey workers at Yosemite National Park to determine whether they were exposed to a deadly mouse-borne virus, a park spokesman said Thursday. The California Department of Public Health recently proposed to take a voluntary survey of workers to contribute to the park's understanding of the rare virus and the recent disease ...

Business groups protest Calif. carbon market

Calif. allows complete voter registration online

Law bans predatory ADA lawsuits against businesses

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A new law will protect California businesses, especially small-business owners, from frivolous lawsuits filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Gov. Jerry Brown announced Wednesday he signed SB1186 by Democratic Senate leader Darrell Steinberg and Republican Sen. Bob Dutton. The bill takes aim at predatory lawsuits related to the federal law. It bans so-called "demand ...

11 wounded in prison riot

FOLSOM (AP) - A riot Wednesday at a California prison holding many of the state's most hardened criminals left 11 inmates hospitalized, including one who was shot by correctional officers. The disturbance inside a yard at the California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom involved an unknown number of inmates after it broke out shortly after 11 a.m., said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman ...

More top universities offer free cyber courses

Feds approve first leg of high-speed rail

Poll finds slim margin for Brown tax initiative on November ballot

State news briefs

DEPIUTY SPRAYED IN FACE WITH BEAR REPELLENT: VICTORVILLE (AP) - An Arizona man is in jail for spraying a sheriff's deputy in the face with bear repellent during a Southern California desert traffic stop.

Governor signs workers' compensation fixes to reduce costs, increase benefits

Berkeley to consider declaring Bisexual Pride Day; would be first in nation to do so

BERKELEY (AP) - Berkeley could become the nation's first city to officially proclaim Bisexual Pride Day and accommodate a group that often complains of exclusion from gay rights celebrations. If approved by the City Council, Bisexual Pride Day would be celebrated every Sept. 23, the same day bisexual pride events are held in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and other cities across the ...

CSU OKs plan to raise tuition if tax fails

State news briefs

Bay Area briefs

KAYAKER MISSING AFTER FALLING INTO LIVERMORE LAKE: LIVERMORE (AP) - A 30-year-old man is missing after falling out of a kayak at a lake in Livermore.

Four lawsuits filed against Delta Plan

Port of LA unveils plan for marine research center

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles port officials on Monday unveiled plans to create a $500 million marine research center called AltaSea. The project, developed through a public-private partnership between the port and universities, will be built on a 100-year-old wharf on the San Pedro waterfront. Officials cited Los Angeles' urban environment as a reason to invest in research at the port, which had been looking to diversify its uses - in addition to cargo ...

Cancer killed serial killer Richard Ramirez

LA elementary teacher arrested in estranged wife's stabbing death

Legislature passes $96.3B budget

State news briefs

BILLY RAY CYRUS HAS AN ACKY BREAKY HEART AS HE AND WIFE OF 19 YEARS, GETTING DIVORCE: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Billy Ray Cyrus' wife has filed for divorce from the country singer after 19 years of marriage.

Coastal board hikes SoCal beach parking fees, may impose NorCal parking fees

New York, San Francisco plan tech summits

License of Davis group home revoked over sex case

3 found dead in burning stolen car near Paradise

PARADISE . (AP) - Authorities in rural Northern California have found a burning stolen car with three people dead inside. Butte County sheriff's Sgt. Jason Hail says deputies and firefighters responded to reports of a vehicle fire on a road in Magalia 10 miles northeast of Chico early Thursday. They arrived to find a green Acura sedan engulfed in flames when it was out found three bodies. Undersheriff Kory Honea tells the Chico Enterprise-Record that ...

San Francisco parking spot sells for $82,000

San Francisco parking spot sells for $82,000

Bay Area briefs

SF DEVELOPER LOOKS TO MAKE MORTUARY INTO MINI-GOLF: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Developers in San Francisco want to turn a funeral home into a fun zone.

Federal board OKs high-speed rail work