Plan for Giant Sequoia monument limits felling

Trees coming down so space shuttle can roll in LA

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles is trading the trees for the stars - and not everybody's happy about it. Crews clearing a path for the space shuttle Endeavour have begun cutting down hundreds of trees in South Los Angeles and Inglewood, with some residents mourning their loss even as they welcome a piece of history. Chainsaws and ...

Cal State faculty approve 4-year contract

5 men die in solo SoCal accident as driver loses control

ONTARIO (AP) - Five young men riding in the same compact car were killed Monday when the driver lost control, ran a red light, hit a concrete post and came to a stop in a backyard in San Bernardino County.

Vallejo police kill man with pellet gun for fifth fatal officer involved shooting this year

VALLEJO (AP) - Tensions are high as police in this Northern California city are investigating its fifth fatal officer-involved shooting this year. The latest shooting happened early Sunday after officers fired more than 30 rounds and shot and killed a parolee who apparently turned towards them with a weapon that turned out to be a pellet gun. Two ...

Top retirees benefited from cash out

Wildfire grows, spoiling LA-area holiday plans

GLENDORA (AP) - A wildfire northeast of Los Angeles spoiled the Labor Day plans of thousands of visitors to the Angeles National Forest as firefighters bore down Monday for what figured to be a long fight against the big blaze. A day after the wildfire broke out near a campground and forced the evacuation of thousands of campers and picnickers it had ...

State news briefs

STRANGE COURT CASE FOR BURNING MAN DRUG SUSPECTS: RENO, Nev. (AP) - It wasn't as surreal as Burning Man itself, but the courtroom banter was a bit unorthodox.

New attendance push offers prizes for simply showing up for school

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dead at 54

Bay Area briefs

Dumbarton Bridge weekend closure ending early SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Department of Transportation says the Dumbarton Bridge will reopen early after being closed the bridge for the entire Labor Day weekend. KGO-TV reports that Caltrans said Monday that they will reopen the bridge before midnight, hours ahead of the scheduled 5 a.m. Tuesday reopening. The bridge was ...

Lawmakers abandon teacher evaluation bill

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State lawmakers failed to revive a controversial measure that would rewrite state rules on teacher evaluations, but supporters vowed to bring it up again in the next legislative session.

Promoters' email: Concern over Jackson's stability

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Promoters of Michael Jackson's planned 2009 comeback described in emails how they feared for the megastar's stability, saying he was out of shape and consumed with self-doubt.

'Food hubs' connect schools with farmers

TURLOCK (AP) - The school district in Turlock, surrounded by fields and orchards in one of the nation's richest agricultural regions, used to get much of the produce it served to students from national distributors who shipped fruits and vegetables from outside California.

Hollywood's summer heads south as films fizzle

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Studio executives expected their biggest summer ever this year as they loaded their lineup with huge action movies and superhero franchises.

Coast Guard rescues 3

HALF MOON BAY, (AP) - Authorities say a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescued three of four people in a vehicle that went down an embankment on Highway 92 near Half Moon Bay. The crash around 12:30 a.m. Thursday resulted in minor injuries. But CHP Officer Art Montiel said the vehicle became stuck about 600 feet down an embankment.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

• WOMAN SUSPECTED OF ABANDONING NEWBORN: GALT (AP) - A 30-year-old woman is in custody on suspicion of attempted murder after police say she abandoned her newborn girl in a flower bed in Sacramento County minutes after giving birth. Dwanda Mahoney - described as a transient by police - was being held without bail Thursday, a day after her arrest. Police say they received a report of a crying baby in a flower bed at ...

News from around california

400 SF TEACHERS ABSENT ON DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Hundreds of San Francisco teachers played hooky Tuesday, extending their Thanksgiving holiday and forcing school officials to scramble to find substitutes qualified to take their places.

Bar asked to remove sign thanking veterans

HUNTINGTON BEACH . (AP) - The owner of an Orange County bar has gotten a brief reprieve from a notice ordering him to remove a rooftop sign thanking veterans. Johnny Kresimir was told Monday to remove the sign atop Johnny's Saloon in Huntington Beach within two days, or start racking up fines. But now Kresimir tells the Orange County Register that city officials want to sit down with him next week, so the deadline's off ...

Ruling on hot sauce factory raises job worries

IRWINDALE . (AP) - A judge has ordered a plant that produces the popular Sriracha chili sauce to stop emitting annoying odors in a ruling that left some nearby residents worried about a possible loss of jobs at the factory. Judge Robert H. O'Brien on Tuesday ruled in favor of the city of Irwindale, where Sriracha recently relocated, saying sauce maker Huy Fong Foods must stop any operations that could be causing the odors and ...

Garth Brooks focused on live show

Central California man arrested in stepson's death

VISALIA (AP) - Authorities were keeping mum Wednesday on what led them to arrest a Central California man on suspicion of murder in the death of his teenage stepson, whose body was found days after he was reported missing. Visalia Police Chief Colleen Mestas would only say that evidence and investigation led them to arrest 32-year-old Miguel Angel Villegas Pacheco on Tuesday in the death of Dameian "Luke" Gulley. The 14-year-old's body was found partially ...

Hurdle for high-speed rail: Where is the money?

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A judge's rulings this week ordered California's high-speed rail authority to rewrite its funding plan, bringing to the surface again one of the biggest hurdles facing the ambitious, $68 billion project: Where will the money come from to complete it?

News from across San Joaquin

PORT OF STOCKTON GOES AFTER WATER HYACINTH: STOCKTON (AP) - Port officials in Stockton have removed hundreds of thousands of pounds of an invasive plant that has clogged their waterway and other waterways and harbors in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Calif. losing its edge in higher education

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - More attention must be paid to the California State University system and to the state's community colleges if California is going to produce the educated workers its economy needs, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom says in a report issued Tuesday. The report commissioned by Newsom argues that the state is losing its place as a national leader in higher education. The report, prepared by the nonpartisan Committee for Economic Development based in ...

News from around california

AIRCRAFT INTRUDES ON OBAMA RESTRICTED AIRSPACE: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Fighter jets patrolling over a fundraising appearance by President Barack Obama in Los Angeles were scrambled Tuesday morning after an aircraft entered restricted airspace.

Fire guts Sonora school classrooms

SONORA (AP) - Authorities are looking into the possibility that arson was to blame for a fire at a Central California elementary school that destroyed a wing of classrooms. School officials say the weekend fire at Sonora Elementary School caused more than $1.5 million in damage. Sonora is located in Tuolumne County about 60 miles east of Stockton. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but district Superintendent Leigh Shampain says it appears to ...

7 wounded in shootings near Oakland park

OAKLAND (AP) - Seven men were wounded, one critically, when gunfire erupted on an Oakland street and continued for several blocks, police said. Officers received reports of a shooting about a block away from a park in East Oakland shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. Police learned about a second shooting scene nearby when they arrived. Watson said Tuesday that initial reports suggest that two armed suspects approached a group ...

Black firefighter awarded $1.1m in bias lawsuit

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Six years after losing in his first trial, a black Los Angeles firefighter was awarded $1.1 million Monday by a jury that found he suffered discrimination during his nearly three-decade career. After 16 days of deliberations and a seven-week trial, the jurors found in favor of Jabari S. Jumaane in a lawsuit alleging a pattern of discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the Los Angeles Fire Department. Jumaane alleged that he was ...

Crash caused as man grabbed steering wheel

ANAHEIM (AP) - Authorities say a 25-year-old man and a 7-year-old boy were killed in a crash caused when the man grabbed the steering wheel while his girlfriend was driving on a Southern California freeway. The Orange County Register reports the couple had been arguing while the 2003 Isuzu was heading east on the 91 Freeway in Anaheim early Monday. California Highway Patrol officials say the male passenger "interfered" with the driver's steering, causing the ...