Feinstein has more than $3M in campaign cash

SACRAMENTO (AP) - U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has a healthy campaign stash as she seeks re-election to a fourth full term. Federal Election Commission filings due Monday show Feinstein with $3.3 million cash on hand for the period ending in September. Her Republican challenger, Elizabeth Emken, has about $100,000 on hand, said Emken's campaign spokesman, Mark Standriff. He ...

Democrats seek boost from new legislative maps

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The path to a two-thirds legislative majority in the state Senate - the ability for Democrats to change tax policy and override gubernatorial vetoes - runs partly through California's Central Valley.

Driven by appetite for meth: For dollars’ worth of copper farmers out thousands

DOS PALOS (AP) - Cannon Michael is a folk hero across California's agriculture heartland, where these days the price of scrap metal influences a farmer's bottom line as much that of the fine pima cotton he grows.

As gas prices soar, cycling more attractive

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - With an autumn chill in the air on a gray San Francisco morning, the five-member Ades family rubbed the sleep from their eyes, strapped on their bike helmets and rode right past their two cars to the kids' elementary school about a mile away.

Endeavour reaches permanent LA home

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It was supposed to be a slow but smooth journey to retirement, a parade through city streets for a shuttle that logged millions of miles in space.

Corrosion linked to 2011 Chevron refinery fire

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Corrosion that went unchecked - the suspected cause of a fire at Chevron Corp.'s Richmond refinery in August - has been linked to a fire at the plant in October 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.

22 saved from sinking wine boat traveling in San Francisco Bay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Nearly two dozen people who were enjoying a bachelor party on what's billed as San Francisco Bay's only "floating wine tasting room" are OK after their boat hit a shoal near Alcatraz Island and began sinking Friday night, officials said.

State news briefs

• LOS ANGELES POLICE CLASH WITH SKATEBOARDERS: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Police in riot gear dispersed about 500 skateboarding fans who blocked Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles after turning out for a free movie premiere at the Vine Theatre.

State news briefs

SAN DIEGO TEEN IS HOMECOMING KING BY LANDSLIDE: SAN DIEGO (AP) - Crawford High School senior Ivan Mendoza became Homecoming King this year by a landslide.

No charges against Octomom on allegations

Passenger had murder directions on computer

LA sues over Owens Lake dust control

Shuttle Xing: Endeavour treks through LA streets

Congressional race between Demos get physical

Bay Area briefs

CPUC gives initial nod to $2.2B PG&E gas plan

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

2nd worker dies at 49ers stadium site

SANTA CLARA (AP) - Construction is slated to restart Tuesday at the new $1.2 billion San Francisco 49ers showcase stadium after police and fire investigators determined a truck driver's death was a workplace accident and not a crime. The delivery truck driver was crushed early Monday by a bundle of rebar being unloaded from his truck, officials at the scene said. It's the second worker death at the construction project. An ambulance rushed the severely ...

BART strike averted at least for day

News from around california

OLD SF BUSES TO BE TURNED INTO HOMELESS SHOWERS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco woman has a refreshing idea to help the homeless: Portable showers on old city buses.

Pumpkin from Napa weighs in at 1,985 lbs

HALF MOON BAY (AP) - California's Napa Valley apparently is good at growing more than grapes.

Analysis: Many LA buildings at risk during quake

LOS ANGELES (AP) - More than 1,000 aging buildings in Los Angeles County could be at risk of falling down during a major earthquake, according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times.

Man on trial for deadly family attack after breakup

SANTA ANA (AP) - When she was a college freshman, Shayona Dhanak told her Muslim boyfriend she was splitting with him because of her devout Hindu family's opposition. Two months later, her father and sister were killed, her mother attacked and the family's Southern California home doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Relics transform small SoCal Buddhist temple in Rosemead

ROSEMEAD (AP) - Although he'd been a practicing Buddhist for 20 years, until 10 months ago Dharma Master YongHua hadn't even seen so much as one of the sacred relics known as shariras that are so important to his faith.

New Tahoe bear battle tactics

LAKE TAHOE (AP) - It's not your average bear battle.

Brown vetoes sex abuse lawsuit bill

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Saturday that would have allowed some sex abuse victims who are now barred by the statute of limitations to file lawsuits against private institutions that employed their abusers.

Teacher stabbed in front of students

LONG BEACH (AP) - Nearly 100 people attended a memorial Saturday to mourn an elementary school teacher who was fatally stabbed in the neck while watching her students play at a park.

Growing backlash to government surveillance

SAN JOSE (AP) - From Silicon Valley to the South Pacific, counterattacks to revelations of widespread National Security Agency surveillance are taking shape, from a surge of new encrypted email programs to technology that sprinkles the Internet with red flag terms to confuse would-be snoops.

BART, unions negotiate as streak deadline looms

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - With a strike deadline drawing ever closer, negotiators for San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system and its two unions prepared Sunday to resume contract talks that could prevent hundreds of thousands of commuters from having to find costlier and longer ways to work.

SF landmark Cliff House reopens

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A landmark San Francisco restaurant that became a casualty of the federal government shutdown has gotten the green light to reopen.