More high school students pass exit exam for sixth straight year

Judge ends lawsuit over. inmate dental care

Assembly votes to ban hunting for bear or bobcats using hounds

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A hotly contested bill that would ban the use of dogs to hunt bears and bobcats in California moved a step closer to becoming law. The state Assembly approved SB12212 on a party-line vote after a lengthy debate, sending it back to the Senate for concurrence. Proponents of the ban say dogs chase the animals ...

Costs of big wildfire season hits struggling state governments hard

Bill would help injured student athletes at high profile California universities

Calif. health officials warn of lead in licorice

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California health officials are warning consumers not to eat black licorice twist candies made by Red Vines because they contain too much lead. California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ron Chapman says tests found that packages with a best before Feb. 4, 2013 date have lead levels that exceed state standards. Chapman says ...

Spending missteps make Brown tax plan a hard sell

Brown jokes about 'Moonbeam' label in JPL visit

Bill seeks to reduce police, student confrontation

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - California State University campuses would be required to designate liaisons between student protesters and campus law enforcement under a bill approved by the Assembly. Lawmakers say it is a response to recent confrontations, most notably the pepper-spraying of student demonstrators at the University of California, Davis in November. The bill does not apply to ...

Metal thieves find markets at illegal scrap yards

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Metal thieves who have stripped wires from streetlights and statues from parks have found markets at illegal scrap yards in Southern California, authorities said. With copper prices soaring, California authorities reported an epidemic of metal thefts. Crooks have torn up train tracks, stolen air conditioners from schools, and earlier this summer made off with a 200-pound brass bell ...

Bill would lower cost of chemo pills

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Patients undergoing chemotherapy would pay less for pill-based treatments under legislation sent to the governor Wednesday over the objections of some health plans and insurers. The state Assembly passed AB1000 on 51-12 vote. It would prohibit health plans and insurance policies from charging more for covering oral chemotherapy than for the intravenous treatment. <p style="line-height: ...

Senate OKs bill targeting unvaccinated students

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California Senate has approved a bill that would require parents to visit the doctor's office before enrolling their children in school without vaccines. The bill by Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento passed the Senate Wednesday on a 21-14 vote. It now goes back to the Assembly for a final vote. AB2109 would require ...

State Side

BILL MANDATES QUICK REPORTING OF LOST, STOLEN GUNS: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gun owners would have to report stolen or missing firearms to authorities within 48 hours of discovering them gone under a bill approved by the state Assembly.

Bay Area briefs

Sewage worker's unused sick time worth $145K MARTINEZ (AP) - It seems working with California sewage isn't sickening. Central Contra Costa Sanitary District sewage engineer Alan Grieb cashed in 2,138 hours of unused sick time when he retired last year, adding about $145,000 to his final paycheck. The Contra Costa Times says the district also counted most of that ...

Hollywood tax break prompts economy debate

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.

SF, NY officials wait to judge Apple 'kill switch'

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The top prosecutors in San Francisco and New York say they are reserving judgment of Apple's new iOS7 security feature designed to make it harder to reactivate a stolen iPhone. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday they aren't judging Apple Inc.'s new activation lock feature until they can fully understand how it works. Apple mentioned the new feature during the Worldwide Developers ...

FBI investigation stressing lawmaker

Los Angeles jury recommends death in mistaken killing of 4 including boy

Past turmoil in Santa Monica gunman's home

Toy gun buyback asks kids to give up play pistols

HAYWARD (AP) - Organizers of a Northern California gun buyback are looking to get weapons off the streets. But gun owners shouldn't show up looking to hand over their arms, unless they shoot rubber bands, Nerf bullets or imaginary lasers. An elementary school in Hayward is planning to hold a gun exchange Saturday, giving students a book and a chance to win a bike if they turn over their Super Soakers, Galactic Space Blasters and ...

SF sues over high-capacity magazines

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco is suing three gun accessories companies and one gun show promoter, alleging they sold disassembled high-capacity magazines disguised as repair kits in violation of California law, the city attorney said Monday. The companies and the gun show promoter were trying to circumvent a state ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines by calling them repair kits, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in the statement. But the kits can easily ...

Legislative leader: Budget deal is near

Death row inmate dies of liver disease

CORCORAN (AP) - California prison officials say a 44-year-old death row inmate convicted of beating a 90-year-old woman to death with a baseball bat has died from liver disease.