Voter distrust will be a hurdle for Brown sales, income tax hike proposition on November ballot

'Idol' favorite would continue winner monotony

Del Norte DA faces possible disbarment

Suit attacks teacher employment rules, students say they protect bad educators

Bay Area briefs

Oikos University nursing program downgraded OAKLAND (AP) - The nursing program at the California Christian college where a gunman killed seven people has been placed on a form of probation. The state Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians voted on Friday to shift approval of the program at Oikos University to provisional status. That means the Oakland school ...

State news briefs

MODESTO CEMETERIES VANDALIZED, HEADSTONES BROKEN: MODESTO (AP) - Vandals have caused thousands of dollars in damage in three of Modesto's cemeteries.

Police raid Occupy camp on UC Berkeley land

ALBANY (AP) - University of California police raided a four-week Occupy encampment at a college-owned farm used for agriculture research early Monday, arresting nine people after protesters ignored yet another weekend deadline to leave. About 100 officers clad in riot gear arrived shortly after 6 a.m. at the camp known as Occupy the Farm, but there was no violence, university spokesman Dan ...

New regulations proposed for restaurant playgrounds, reporting stolen guns, table saws

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Fast-food restaurants in California could face new sanitation and safety requirements for the playgrounds they install to attract children. Under the bill, sponsored by Democrat Michael Allen of Santa Rosa, restaurants would be required to post signs informing customers that food is not allowed on play structures and to provide adults who ask copies of their playground inspection and ...

Lawsuit seeks to keep death penalty off ballot

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A victims' rights group is seeking to remove from the November ballot a measure that would abolish the death penalty. The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation filed a petition with the California Court of Appeal on Monday. The Sacramento-based group argues the initiative violates a state law limiting propositions to single subjects. If passed, the measure would abolish the ...

Brown: $8.3B in budget cuts by July 1

Cell phone penalties would rise under pending bill

Savings from state worker pay cut far from assured

Cal high-speed rail must spend $2.7M a day in order not to lose federal funding

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California will need to build its high-speed train line in record time if it doesn't want to risk losing federal funds - indeed, it will have to be the fastest piece of transportation construction in U.S. history, experts said. Under a federal deadline, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has until September 2017 to finish the first segment of ...

Proposed cuts in governor's revised budget plan

Bay Area briefs

Solo drivers embracing SF South Bay toll lanes

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 ...