Cost to pack state park artifacts will cut into savings from park closures

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Shuttering dozens of California state parks to trim millions from the state budget will take more than simply hanging a "Closed" sign on trailheads and beach parking lots. Many on the closure list house thousands of historical treasures that must be packed up, catalogued and stored if deals are not reached to save them.

Major debates await lawmakers including high speed rail bonds

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Lawmakers will return from their spring recess on Monday to face fast-approaching deadlines for several critical decisions, including whether to make deeper cuts to social welfare programs, reform the public employee pension system and approve borrowing for a high-speed rail system.

LA’s desire is for return of street cars to downtown area

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Half a century after the last of the lost Pacific Electric Red Cars rumbled through Los Angeles, a move has begun to return streetcars to downtown LA.

‘Painter of Light’ Thomas Kinkade dies

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Artist Thomas Kinkade, whose brushwork paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches have been big sellers for dealers across the United States, died Friday, a family spokesman said.

SF sheriff's wife: Husband victim of coup

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The domestic violence case against San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was akin to a coup and was intended to bring him down, his wife said in an op-ed published Friday in the San Francisco Chronicle. Eliana Lopez, a Venezuelan actress and Mirkarimi's wife, said her 20 years in that country have taught her much about politics. <p style="line-height: ...

Suspect returned to campus over tuition

Santa Monica Community College votes to delay disputed 2-tier fees

State news briefs

DOG BEATEN TO DEATH, DRAGGED BEHIND BICYCLE: RANCHO CUCAMONGA (AP) - Witnesses say a Southern California man severely beat his dog and dragged the leashed, unconscious animal behind his bicycle.

FEC to deny Senator Feinstein’s money proposal

NRC chief pledges tough probe at nuke plant

Ex-teacher arrested for sex abuse of minor

MODESTO (AP) - A former Modesto teacher who made national headlines when he left his job and family to move in with an 18-year-old student was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing a different student more than a decade ago, police said. Christopher Hooker, 41, was arrested at his home and booked in Stanislaus County ...

State news briefs

Sheriff's official investigated over inmate golf: LOS ANGELES (AP) - A yellow jail jumpsuit isn't the usual golf wear. But pro golfer-turned-thief Frank Carrillo says that's what he wore when a sheriff's official took him to a Catalina Island golf course to offer pointers.

State news briefs

'Octomom': I'm back on food stamps for 14 kids

Judge dismisses Happy Meal lawsuit

California, Nevada team up for Tahoe's bid for 2022 Olympics

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 ...

4.5% pay raise in works for state workers

Highlights of the Democratic spending plan

Democrats hope for more spending

Vallejo lets residents say how to spend $3.2M in city budget

VALLEJO (AP) - A Northern California city that emerged from bankruptcy two years ago is trying a novel approach to setting part of its budget: having the public decide. The city of Vallejo let residents over the age of 16 vote in May on how to spend about $3.2 million, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday Taxpayers were allowed to pick from 33 projects, with the top 12 sharing the money. The winners included pothole ...

Readying for possible return of gay marriage

Boiler room explosion rattles Santa Ana high school campus

SANTA ANA (AP) - An explosion Tuesday in the boiler room of a Southern California high school gymnasium briefly lifted up the building's roof, damaging the structure but causing no major injuries. The blast around 7:30 a.m. at Valley High School in Santa Ana was in a girls' locker room and happened before classes began, although some students were arriving on campus, authorities said. Security camera video broadcast by KABC-TV showed the fiery explosion lift ...

Bay Area briefs

8 INDICTED IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY GANG CRACKDOWN : SAN JOSE (AP) - A Santa Clara County grand jury has indicted 48 reputed members of a violent street gang for crimes ranging from drug dealing to murder in the county's largest such case to date.