UMEMPLOYMENT RATE

JURISDICTION APRIL JANUARY MOVE Manteca 13.5 14.5 Down Lathrop 12.5 13.5 Down Ripon 11.7 10.9 Down Tracy 9.7 10.5 Down Escalon 14.2 15.3 Down Lodi 11.8 12.7 Down <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in ...

Driver who was hero in '76 bus kidnap dies

Federal officials announces 20K youth summer jobs

MALIBU (AP) - More than 20,000 new summer jobs will give young people an opportunity to work in America's forests, national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands, federal officials announced Friday. The summer work opportunities are to target people ages 15 to 25 and put them in touch with the great outdoors, said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. <p style="line-height: ...

California jobless rate dips slightly to 10.9%

Probation for builder of Phonehenge West

LANCASTER (AP) - The man who built an eccentric Mojave Desert compound known as Phonehenge West was placed on five years' probation on Friday and ordered to serve 63 days community service, five of them at the county morgue. It cost $83,488 to tear down Kim Fahey's structures on the 1.7-acre property in Acton, Los Angeles County prosecutor Patrick David Campbell told ...

Bay Area news briefs

MAN WHO FELL OFF HIGHWAY FABRICATED CARJACK STORY: SAN MATEO (AP) - A Northern California man seriously hurt when he plunged off an elevated freeway ramp fabricated a story about fleeing an armed carjacker.

Richmond puts soda tax on November ballot

RICHMOND (AP) - Voters in Richmond are set to decide whether to make the San Francisco Bay area city the nation's first municipality to tax soda and other sugary beverages to help fight childhood obesity. The Richmond City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to place the soda tax measure on the Nov. 6 ballot, despite opposition from grocers and soda drinkers. The ...

LA museum gets big gift to build shuttle exhibit

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The California Science Center said it has raised nearly half of the $200 million needed to build a permanent exhibit for the space shuttle Endeavour. The museum recently received a donation from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation that will allow it to start the design phase of the project. The museum didn't disclose the amount ...

Parents of slain Chinese students sue USC

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The parents of two Chinese students who were killed near the University of Southern California campus filed a lawsuit alleging the school made false claims about safety. In the 15-page suit filed Wednesday, the parents of 23-year-olds Ming Qu and Ying Wu attack safety claims they say the school makes in the "frequently asked questions" section of its ...

California home prices, sales rise in April

SAN DIEGO (AP) - California home prices increased for a second straight month as the supply of lower-priced homes in foreclosure dwindled and previously hesitant shoppers were lured by low lending rates, a research firm said Thursday. The median price for new and existing houses and condominiums in the state was $264,000 in April, up 6 percent from the same period last ...

Bay Area briefs

BROWN APPROVES TRIBAL CASINO IN SONOMA COUNTY: SANTA ROSA (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has moved a Northern California Indian tribe one step closer to building a casino about 50 miles north of San Francisco.

Bill would repeal vehicle asset limit of $4,650 for CalWorks participation

Street skateboarding league posts $1.6M in prizes for 4 contests

A current lawmaker on the ballot: Who would know?

Phosphorous may have been on hot beach rocks at that severely burned her legs, hands

Court overturns part of port's trucking plan

Clint Eastwood looks to loan water to dry zone

MONTEREY . (AP) - Clint Eastwood is looking to make the day of a thirsty section of the California coast. The 83-year-old actor, director and former mayor of Carmel is in negotiations to loan water to a Monterey peninsula utility to help alleviate the region's water shortage. Eastwood is looking to loan California American Water 85 acre-feet-per-year of water from a parcel of land where he controls the water rights. The deal would alleviate the ...

State news briefs

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 ...

State news briefs

AGENTS PULL 15,000 POT PLANTS IN SIERRA FOREST: OAKHURST (AP) - Agents in Madera County have eradicated nearly 15,000 marijuana plants on two grow sites in the Sierra National Forest.

Lawmakers: What are Bay Bridge incentives?

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State lawmakers want officials overseeing construction of the new eastern portion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to disclose any incentives promised to contractors if the span opens as planned on Labor Day weekend. Fourteen members of California's Assembly and Senate said in a letter that public confidence could be damaged if there's an appearance of a rush to finish the span to meet the deadline. The Sacramento Bee reported on the ...

Timing of Prop. 8 ruling complicates rally

2 dead as homemade plane crashes in NorCal.

MONTAGUE (AP) - Officials say two men were killed when a small homemade plane crashed in a field in Northern California near the Oregon state line.

Lawsuits over go surveillance languish

State news briefs

BOY, GRANDMOTHER DROWN IN BACKYARD POOL IN VISALIA: VISALIA (AP) - A 3-year-old boy and his 50-year-old grandmother apparently drowned in a family pool, police said Wednesday.

Bus, trolley collide;15 taken to hospital

Brown plan gives $3.6B extra to schools

State news briefs

BILL TO BAN LEAD AMMO ADVANCES IN CALIF. SENATE: SACRAMENTO (AP) - California is one step closer to becoming the first state in the nation to ban lead ammunition for hunting.

SoCal home prices soar during May

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Southern California home prices rose in May at the fastest annual clip in nearly nine years as investors and cash purchasers competed for a thin supply of properties for sale, a research firm said Tuesday. The median price for new and existing houses and condominiums reached $368,000 last month, up 24.7 percent from May 2012, DataQuick said. It was the 14th straight month of annual gains and the biggest annual increase ...

Judge overturns jury death sentence

STOCKTON (AP) - A San Joaquin County judge has overturned a jury's decision to send a man to death row in the slaying of his prison cellmate - the second time he was convicted of killing a cellmate. Judge Terrence Van Oss commuted the sentence of John Joseph Lydon on Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The 40-year-old Lydon was serving a 69-years-to-life term for the murder of a cellmate when ...

SF supervisor wants flexible work law for City

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco businesses would be required to offer parents and caregivers flexible work schedules under a proposal a city supervisor wants to take before voters in November. Supervisor David Chiu's measure would allow workers to ask their employers to adjust their start times, telecommute or job share. Employers would only be able to deny the request if it created an undue hardship for the company, including increasing its costs or affecting ...