State news briefs

• 42 people facing charges after San Jose party: SAN JOSE (AP) - Authorities say 42 people are facing charges after a weekend party in San Jose got out of hand.

Independent candidates sparse despite voter gains

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Even as California voters increasingly turn away from political party labels, Democratic and Republican candidates dominate the state's elections.

2 children among 4 dead in Calif. highway crash

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Two children were among four people killed when a car collided with a minivan on a rural Northern California highway, authorities said.

Calif students drug tested at parents' request

SANTA CLARITA (AP) - A Santa Clarita school district plans to expand a first-of-its-kind program that allows parents to track the results of random drug tests of their children.

DUI suspect drives with pedestrian on car's hood

TORRANCE (AP) - An alleged drunken driver hit a pedestrian and drove with the dying man on her car's hood for more than two miles in Torrance before witnesses stopped her, authorities said Sunday.

Arrests made during LA-area Wal-Mart protest

PARAMOUNT (AP) - Nine people were arrested for blocking a busy street in front of a Wal-Mart in suburban Los Angeles on Black Friday in one of several protests staged around the country to demand better wages and benefits for employees of the superstore chain.

Proposal to increase no-burn days in Central California

FRESNO (AP) - Central California air officials are proposing to further curtail residential wood burning in an effort to reduce airborne particulate pollution in one of the nation's most polluted regions, according to a plan released this week.

SoCal-Vegas party train could hit tracks in 2013

LAS VEGAS - As if a weekend in Las Vegas isn't wild enough for Southern Californians, a Nevada entrepreneur is about to add five more hours of party to either end.

Governor names internal inspector for Calif. Guard

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed an Army National Guard lieutenant colonel as the first independent inspector general of the California Military Department to investigate claims of wrongdoing at an agency beset by fraud in recent years.

Santa Maria settles teen sex lawsuit

SANTA MARIA (AP) - The city of Santa Maria agreed to pay $185,000 to a teenager who claimed she was repeatedly raped while she was a police Explorer by an officer who was later killed while resisting arrest.

County sued over denial of oil drilling plan

SAN LUIS OBISPO (AP) - The oil exploration company Excelaron LLC has filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against San Luis Obispo County after the Board of Supervisors rejected a plan for extracting crude oil from beneath rural Huasna Valley.

State news briefs

• 1 dead, 1 critically injured in Highway 101crash: PALO ALTO (AP) - Authorities say a woman died and her sister was critically injured when they were thrown from their SUV after it crashed into a California Highway Patrol car and flipped over on Highway 101 in Palo Alto.

Calif. city building a "tsunami-resistant" port

CRESCENT CITY (AP) - It doesn't matter if the earth sways in Chile, Alaska or Japan, the formation of the sea floor along the U.S. West Coast generally aims any tsunami surges at the tiny California port town of Crescent City. Churning water rushes into the boat basin and then rushes out, lifting docks off their pilings, tearing boats loose and leaving the city's main economic engine looking as if it has been bombed.

Ex-fiancee of man charged in OC killings arrested

COSTA MESA (AP) - Police arrested the ex-fiancee of a stage actor charged with beheading a neighbor, scattering his body parts in a park and killing the neighbor's friend two years ago.

Senior home staff had complained about suspect

TORRANCE (AP) - Residents and staff members at a senior high-rise in California had complained in the past about erratic behavior by an elderly man now suspected of killing two women and himself at the facility, authorities and employees said.

Hollywood sign sightseers frustrate upscale residents

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A flier calling for the Hollywood sign to be torn down is a joke, but residents of hillside neighborhoods below the landmark said the frustration they feel over growing crowds of sightseers is real. Signs have gone up in the upscale areas of Beachwood Canyon and Hollywoodland, some reading "Warning - Tourist-Free Zone" and "Tourists Go Away," the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Residents say they are bothered by the traffic ...

Democrats seeking changes sought in state prison isolation policies

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Democratic lawmakers on key policy committees said Wednesday that they want to limit California's practice of keeping hundreds of inmates in solitary confinement for years, sometimes decades, as a way of controlling violent prison gangs.

Student professor fight case in court

FRESNO (AP) - A student cried as she testified that an instructor at Fresno City College pinned her against a wall and threw her to the ground. Student Kevynn Gomez said Wednesday she was shaky and scared after the March fight with instructor Brian Calhoun, who was fired and is on trial for battery. The Fresno Bee reports Calhoun, who had the classroom next, complained to Gomez's instructor that their midterm was running late, and ...

Rescued kidnapped teen to speak on 'Today'

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Kidnapping survivor Hannah Anderson says her family's friend-turned-captor handcuffed her and tried to make her play a game of Russian roulette until she started "freaking out." James Lee DiMaggio used zip ties to bind her feet and then told her that he was going to take her to Idaho to help him settle there before releasing her, according to the San Diego-area teen, who described her ordeal two months after she ...

Cliff House caught in federal shutdown

Democratic group runs ads against GOP lawmakers including Denham

New California law expands who can perform abortions

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants in California will be allowed to perform a type of early abortion under legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown, an action that drew condemnation from Catholic bishops and that came as many conservative states are limiting access to abortion services.

Study: Change initiative process

Agency will inspect illegal pot grows

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board will begin inspecting illegal marijuana grows across Northern California, reversing an earlier ban designed to protect employees Last week the water board directed staff to join law enforcement in the field and write citations for environmental violations when appropriate. Law enforcement agencies across the board's 37-county region had sought the help of water scientists so they could prosecute growers who flatten hilltops, divert streams ...

Fertility coverage protected for same-sex couples under new law

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Unmarried and same-sex couples will be ensured the same access to insurance coverage for fertility treatments as heterosexual couples under a bill Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law. The governor's office announced Tuesday that he had signed AB460 by Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco. The bill clarifies the non-discrimination provision of an existing state law that requires health plans to offer coverage for fertility treatments, except for in vitro ...

Woman found dead in SF hospital stairwell may be missing patient

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A woman's body was found dead Tuesday in a San Francisco hospital stairwell as authorities investigated whether she was a patient who went missing more than two weeks ago. The unidentified woman's body was found by an employee in a rarely used exterior stairwell around 10 a.m., San Francisco General Hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said. It wasn't known how long the woman had been on the stairway - which is used ...

SF rail commuters on phones didn't notice gun

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A man flashed a gun several times on a crowded commuter train in San Francisco, but passengers were so absorbed in their phones and tablets they didn't notice until he randomly shot and killed a university student, authorities said. Security video footage showed the gunman pull out the .45-caliber pistol, raise it and point it across the aisle before putting it back against his side, authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle ...

PG&E must show regulators closed gas pipeline in San Carlos is safe

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - State regulators on Tuesday directed Pacific Gas and Electric to keep a Northern California natural gas pipeline shut down until they verify its safety after concerns surfaced in an email from an engineer. The California Public Utilities Commission has opened an investigation to determine whether any immediate dangers are posed by the pipeline in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Carlos, saying the findings would be made public, and ...

State exchange processes 16,000 applications

Stockton teen takes plea in boy's beating death

STOCKTON (AP) - A Stockton teenager is facing nearly 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to participating in the beating and stomping death of a 14-year-old boy at a city park. Jereme Sin, who is now 17, was the same age as the victim, Rin Ros, when he and seven other teens were charged as adults with murder in Ros' August 2010 slaying. Sin pleaded guilty on Monday to involuntary manslaughter as part ...