California jobless rate increases to 8.7 percent

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's unemployment rate increased slightly to 8.7 percent in July, the first such bump since the spring of 2011, state officials announced Friday.

GOP lawmaker seeks audit of mental health spending

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Republican lawmaker said Friday that he will introduce legislation seeking annual audits to show how California counties are spending billions of dollars in voter-approved money for mental health programs, after a state audit found there has been little oversight to ensure the money is going to those who need it most.

State news briefs

14 NEW HOTELS PLANNED NEAR DISNEYLAND: ANAHEIM (AP) - Disneyland's neighborhood may be in for a hotel boom.

Seattle investor funds drive to defeat Kings arena

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Seattle billionaire Chris Hansen is behind a secretive effort to block Sacramento's efforts to build a new downtown arena for the city's professional basketball team, California's campaign watchdog disclosed Friday after an investigation.

SJ Valley officials issue air alert

FRESNO (AP) - San Joaquin Valley air pollution officials are warning residents to cut driving and car idling as they scramble to avoid violating the federal government's ozone standard next week. The regional air district is declaring the season's first air alert beginning Monday through Wednesday. A combination of hot weather and increased back-to-school traffic are combining to trap ozone gas in the trough-shaped valley. In 2010, the region became the first in the U.S. ...

Lawmaker pulls son from class over transgender law

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Republican state lawmaker says a new California law allowing transgender students to choose which restroom and locker room they use is part of the reason at least one of his sons will not return to his local public school this fall.

Medi-Cal cut of 10% begins next month

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Long-delayed cuts to Medi-Cal reimbursements are slated to go forward, slashing doctor and medical worker payments by 10 percent, and promising to save the state $387 million, according to state advocates. Doctors and other opponents have argued that the controversial cuts make caring for poor and disabled patients less financially viable than ever, and the timing means the cuts will coincide with the expansion of Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, under federal health ...

Bay Area briefs

SF EXPLORATORIUM CUTS STAFF AMID POOR ATTENDANCE: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco's Exploratorium is laying off 18 percent of its staff because fewer people than expected are visiting its new waterfront location.

Changes proposed for Twin Tunnels

LA judge OKs $30 million settlement

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge approved settlements of lawsuits that claimed dozens of students were molested by former teachers at Miramonte Elementary School and the Los Angeles Unified School District has made the first of what may total $30 million in payouts. Sixty-one settlements were approved Wednesday but dozens of additional suits against the Los Angeles Unified School District remain unresolved, KNBC-TV reported. Families of more than 60 students contended that the children were ...

Richmond mayor demands bank drop foreclosure lawsuit

Bay Bridge open around Labor Day

'That '70s Show' actress Lisa Robin Kelly dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "That '70s Show" actress Lisa Robin Kelly has died at age 43. Manager Craig Wyckoff says Kelly died Wednesday at a Los Angeles addiction treatment facility she had entered early this week. No official cause of death was disclosed. Kelly portrayed Laurie Forman, sister of Topher Grace's lead character Eric, on the Fox series. It concluded in 2006. Unlike some of her co-stars - Grace, Ashton Kutcher and Laura Prepon - ...

Bill outlaws problem of 'revenge porn'

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate has approved a bill outlawing so-called "revenge porn," which lawmakers say is an increasing problem on the Internet. People who post identifiable nude pictures of someone else online without the victim's permission, intending to cause emotional distress or humiliation, could be charged with a misdemeanor under the bill. The penalty is up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Republican Sen. Anthony Cannella of Ceres says his ...

Warrants fuel questions in teen's disappearance; deaths in San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The California man who abducted a teenage family friend and tortured her mother and 8-year-old brother before killing them exchanged more than a dozen calls with the 16-year-old girl in the hours before the slaying.

Body found in forest missing Turlock man

STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST (AP) - Authorities believe a body found by hunters in the Stanislaus National Forest is a missing Turlock man who disappeared in 2012. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department tells The Modesto Bee that an autopsy and evidence collected from the area where the body was found Aug. 19 indicate it is that of Korey Kauffman. They have classified the death as suspicious. Authorities say Kauffman disappeared after leaving a friend's house March ...

BART trains run as unions continue talks

Yellow fever mosquito detected in SJ Valley

Police find stolen car with kids safe in back seat

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco police say two children, ages 1 and 3, are safe after taking a ride with a thief who stole a car with them in the back seat. The Oakland Tribune reports the children were found unharmed Tuesday evening inside the 2007 Volkswagen sedan, about two miles from where the car was taken. Police say the car was discovered less than a half hour after it was stolen. No one ...

LA schools leader wants to slow iPad rollout

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The leader of the nation's second-largest school district moved Tuesday to put the brakes on an ambitious $1 billion plan to place iPads in the hands of every student after some of the first to get them used the devices to tweet, text and play games rather than study.

News from around california

Fire chief defends emergency alert for charity event

PALO ALTO (AP) - A Northern California fire chief is defending his agency's use of a countywide emergency alert system to send residents information about a charity pancake breakfast. The system, known as AlertSCC, sent messages to 27,000 people in Santa Clara County about Saturday's charity event at a park in Palo Alto, the Palo Alto Daily News reported Tuesday. The event was intended to raise money for a city effort to prevent teen suicides. ...

18-foot-long sea creature found off California coast

BART, bus workers threaten strike

High court won't stop state inmate reduction

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it will not consider Gov. Jerry Brown's appeal of an order to trim the state prison population by another 9,600 inmates, leaving him with just one more chance to persuade a lower court to stop or delay a reduction that he says threatens public safety.

Ex-San Diego mayor pleads guilty to 3 crimes

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, driven from office by sexual harassment allegations, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony for putting a woman in a headlock and to lesser counts for kissing one woman and grabbing the buttocks of another.

Ex-San Diego mayor pleads guilty to 3 crimes

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, driven from office by sexual harassment allegations, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony for putting a woman in a headlock and to lesser counts for kissing one woman and grabbing the buttocks of another.

Big money spent on alternative energy

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California has spent billions of dollars in recent years on alternative energy programs, even as education, public safety and other spending was cut, a newspaper reported. Over the years, state money has funded some failed projects and private companies with political ties, the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/16GLqlv) reported Sunday. "Suddenly, you look up and there are literally hundreds of millions of dollars going into investments that produce marginal benefits," said state ...

Glitch known before changes delayed checks

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California officials knew a computer upgrade for the state's unemployment insurance program that delayed tens of thousands of benefit checks was vulnerable to problems before it was installed, according to a report from The Sacramento Bee. Officials underestimated how many unemployment claims would be affected by a glitch in the nearly $188 million system upgrade implemented over Labor Day weekend. The data-conversion problem delayed jobless benefits for nearly 150,000 Californians, skewing ...

He survived eating squirrels for 2 plus weeks