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

‘Police arrest gay rights advocate for child porn showing toddlers in sex acts with men

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A longtime San Francisco gay rights advocate has been arrested after police said they linked him to an email account that had sent and received images of toddlers engaging in sex acts with men. Larry Brinkin, 66, who worked for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission before his retirement two years ago, was jailed overnight Friday after officers ...

Bay Area briefs

Santa Clara to appeal 49ers stadium decision SANTA CLARA (AP) - Santa Clara plans to appeal an oversight board's decision to pull $30 million in funding from the new 49ers stadium. City officials said they will ask the state Department of Finance to review last week's decision by the board. The board consists of officials from around Santa Clara County. <p style="line-height: 18pt; ...

Brown: Review UC graduation rates

Major budget infusion for education

Body of missing 9-year-old found

State news briefs

HIKERS WON'T HAVE TO PAY $160K RESCUE COSTS: SANTA ANA (AP) - Two hikers lost for days in the Southern California wilderness won't be charged the $160,000 it took to find them.

SF loses federal grant for new fireboat

LA buildings emptied after devices found

Is boy mature enough to aid murder defense?

6 charged with embezzling $15M from SF schools

‘Fighting chance' for 2013 opening

State news briefs

POLICE: MAN DRESSED AS WOMAN IN RESTROOM ARRESTED: PALMDALE (AP) - A Palmdale man has been arrested for allegedly videotaping women in a Macy's restroom while dressed as a woman.

GOV. JERRY BROWN'S BUDGET PROPOSAL AT A GLANCE

911 caller believed stabbed girl, 8, was alive at the time

VALLEY SPRINGS . (AP) - The parents of an 8-year-old Central California girl who was stabbed to death in her home believed she was fine when they made a 911 call to authorities from another location.

Brown budget: An extra $2.9B to education

Brown takes restrained view of spending

Bay Area news briefs

LIVERMORE LAB JURY AWARDS $2.7 MILLION: OAKLAND (AP) - A jury has awarded more than $2.7 million to five former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory workers in an ongoing wrongful-termination case.