California reviews high-risk inmate, gang member policies thanks to reduction of inmate numbers

California jobless rate dips to 10.9% for lowest level since 2009

Preacher concedes apocalypse prediction wrong; says he’ll stop trying to pinpoint day

Bay Area briefs

BART service cuts unlikely OAKLAND (AP) - The Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency has more than enough money to cover its operating costs next year, but should set aside money for new rail cars. That was the message from BART budget planners, as the agency's board of directors began the process on Thursday of setting a budget for the fiscal year set to ...

School district mulls fate of teacher

UC president condemns anti-Israel acts on campus up and down California

Murder charge for man with cannon-like device

EL CAJON (AP) - A San Diego County man who allegedly ignited a homemade cannon that exploded and killed his live-in girlfriend was charged with murder on Thursday. Prosecutors said Richard Fox was drinking with his girlfriend and friends Tuesday at the home in Potrero, a tiny rural community near the Mexican border. Fox went outside and lit the fuse to a ...

Schools liable for hiring molesters

State news briefs

SACRAMENTO CO. BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT KILLED BY COP: CITRUS HEIGHTS (AP) - Police shot and killed a man suspected of robbing a Sacramento County bank and threatening to detonate an explosive device.

Biologists project big Pacific salmon season

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Pacific Coast fishermen can start gearing up for what's expected to be the best salmon fishing season in years. Federal fishery managers are forecasting robust populations of chinook and coho salmon off the Pacific coast and in California and Oregon rivers. The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Wednesday approved several options for managing West Coast ...

‘Banda black market suspected as Southern California tubas vanish

Bay Area briefs

Boaters warned of whales in San Francisco Bay SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - At least one gray whale is still hanging around San Francisco Bay a day after a mother and her calf were first spotted near the Golden Gate Bridge. Federal wildlife officials say whale spray was seen again Thursday morning as boaters were warned to steer clear of the wayward pair if ...

League of Women lawsuit case would let thousands of California criminals vote

State news briefs

BOYFRIEND PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN CERES TORTURE CASE: MODESTO (AP) - A man accused of torturing his pregnant girlfriend a month before she survived a Modesto triple slaying at her home has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges.

Teenager petitions to change R rating for 'Bully'

State news briefs

LA schools consider banning defiance suspensions

Dad wants evidence in girl's stabbing

State Senate OKs ski safety legislation

Bay Area briefs

FEDS TO PROBE REPAIR WORK ON BAD BAY BRIDGE RODS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Federal Highway Administration on Monday said it is investigating the state's response to broken steel seismic safety rods on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

State news briefs

15 OF 23 CAL STATE CAMPUSES CHARGE GRADUATION FEES: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Graduating students at more than a dozen California public universities will have to hand over money before they are handed their diplomas, a newspaper reported.

End near for evangelical radio network?

Girl , 7, escapes kidnapper's car trunk in Sacramento

Ginsburg: Roe gave abortion opponents a target

CHICAGO (AP) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she supports a woman's right to choose to have an abortion, but feels her predecessors' landmark Roe v. Wade ruling 40 years ago was too sweeping and gave abortion opponents a symbol to target.

Person of interest named in jogger killed by pit bull pack

PALMDALE . (AP) - Sheriff's authorities said a man who was arrested this week on suspicion of growing marijuana is now a "person of interest" in the death of a 63-year-old jogger who was mauled to death by a pack of pit bulls in the Mojave Desert.

Los Angeles, Paris project aims to track big city carbon footprints

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward.

Relentless thief still taking Tahoe crawfish traps - 160 stolen so far

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. (AP) - It's not that easy to catch crawfish in Lake Tahoe. Turns out, it may be harder to keep them.

Black student targeted with racist note

IRVINE (AP) - University of California, Irvine officials pledged to work on race relations on campus this week after a black student found a hand-scrawled note in her backpack calling her a slave, making it the second racist incident that has offended black students in recent weeks.

Mom: Accused boy, 12, ‘could never’ hurt sister

VALLEY SPRINGS (AP) - A day before a 12-year-old boy was arrested for the stabbing death of his 8-year-old sister, his mother described him as "protective" of his younger sibling.

State lawmakers debate how to spend $900M in new revenue from loophole

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California schools are expecting a boost from the $900 million to be raised over the next year through the closure of a corporate tax loophole, but Gov. Jerry Brown is locked in a disagreement with state lawmakers over how to hand out that money.

Chris Brown’s scary curbside art irks LA neighbors; city cites him for ‘signage’

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Grammy-winning musician Chris Brown's neighbors are unhappy with what some are calling frightening art he's chosen to have painted along the curb of his Hollywood Hills home.