Crowds swarm Chick-fil-A stores in support of owner’s free speech rights

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The chicken sandwich became a political statement for a day as supporters of the Chick-fil-A president's stance against gay marriage caused traffic jams at the fast-food chain's restaurants nationwide.

Court rejects developer’s attempt to build new road into Yosemite National Park

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court sided with environmentalists and ruled a California developer cannot build a new road into Yosemite National Park. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Solvang developer Lewis Geyser does not have the rights to two stage-coach-era dirt roads connecting his property to Yosemite. Geyser wanted to build a resort ...

Deputy scales steep granite slope, saves hiker

PG&E engineer testifies utility knew that natural gas pipeline records were incomplete

REDWOOD CITY (AP) - A senior Pacific Gas & Electric Co. engineer testified that he repeatedly warned his supervisors before a fatal gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb that the utility's gas records were incomplete, but they did nothing about it. Todd Arnett said in a deposition taken as part of a lawsuit against PG&E after the 2010 blast in ...

State close to completing review of special funds

State news briefs

Tahoe water shuttle starts Friday on north shore

School official accused of embezzlement pleads

WOODSIDE (AP) - A former school superintendent in San Mateo County accused of billing one school district for work done on his home and misappropriating funds from another district has reached a plea deal. The Palo Alto Daily News reports that Timothy Hanretty pleaded no contest on Tuesday to multiple counts of misappropriating funds in exchange for a prison sentence of no ...

Professor’s email reveals shooting plot

Lawmakers request audit of 9/11 fund, other plates

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers has formally requested a detailed review of the California specialty license plate program, the first in the program's 20-year history. The request comes in response to an investigation by The Associated ...

LA workers asked to stop watching Olympics online

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The top technology officer for Los Angeles is pleading with city workers to stop watching the Olympics online at work, saying it could cause a municipal computer meltdown.

Climate change report: Hotter & drier days plus a lot more fires

FRESNO (AP) - As California grows warmer, nowhere will the increased temperatures be starker than its arid Central Valley, where farmers will have to consider whether the crops ...

Ailing San Onofre nuke plant cost: $165 million so far with $25 million in expenses on the way

Cal State reaches tentative agreement with faculty; no raises, same benefits

No bail for UC Irvine professor charged with arson

SANTA ANA. (AP) - A University of California professor was held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors said they found evidence he plotted to kill students and administrators at a high school where his son was disciplined before committing suicide. Rainer Reinscheid, 48, an associate professor of pharmaceuticals at the University of California, Irvine, is charged with arson for a series of five ...

Most Calif. for-profit colleges such as University of Phoenix lose state grants

State senator gets subpoena in federal probe at Capitol

Utility to close troubled nuclear plant

Serial killer Richard Ramirez dies

Raley’s website possible cyberattack target

WEST SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Northern California supermarket chain is advising customers who used their credit or debit cards at any of its stores to check their statements, saying its computer network may have been the target of a cyberattack. Raley's said on Thursday it has launched an investigation, and has so far not found any unauthorized access to payment card data. West Sacramento-based Raley's has 128 stores in Northern California and northern Nevada that ...

Eleven life insurers to pay $763M over unpaid benefits

Bay Area briefs

APPLE'S NEW HQ COULD WORSEN AREA TRAFFIC: CUPERTINO . (AP) - An environmental review has found that Apple Inc.'s new headquarters will have significant traffic impacts along a nearby freeway and roads.

State news briefs

DISNEY CRACKING DOWN ON DISABLED TOUR GUIDES: ANAHEIM (AP) - Disneyland Resort is cracking down on disabled guests who sell their right to go to the front of the line on rides.

Obama sees 'glimmers of functionality' in DC during fundraiser in Palo Alto

Berries blamed for man's Hepatitis A

Teacher charged with distributing child porn

$985M bullet train contract awarded

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Norcal News

DA ASSIGNS PROSECUTOR TO 1991 FIRE DEATH: MURPHYS (AP) - A California district attorney says she has appointed a prosecutor with experience in arson investigations to the case of a New York man charged with killing his son and now under investigation in the fire death of his wife more than two decades ago.

PUC lawyer says why he resigned from PG&E probe

SAN FRANCICSO (AP) - A lead attorney probing a deadly pipeline explosion for state regulators says he quit the investigation because he disagreed with managers handling of the case. Attorney Robert Cagan called the California Public Utilities Commission's recommended punishment for the responsible utility "unlawful." KQED quoted an email Cagan sent the radio station Thursday. Cagan and three other lawyers who also quit the investigation were the commission's main experts on the 2010 explosion that ...

Latinos stuck in poverty amid bounty of San Joaquin Valley

FBI started asking about state lawmaker back in 2005