California farms export $22.1B in food

Low on funds: City plans sugary drink tax

EL MONTE (AP) - City leaders are looking for a sugar fix. The City Council on Tuesday was scheduled to consider declaring a fiscal emergency so it can place a proposed soda tax on the Nov. 6 special election ballot. Businesses would be charged a penny per ounce on beverages they sell that are sweetened with sugar, such ...

Crowd heckles police for fatal shootings

Foreclosure rate for California homes slows, eases fears of housing recovery hit

Chilling video confession in dismemberment killing

FRESNO (AP) - A Fresno County murder defendant acknowledged beating his alleged victim with a metal pipe before dismembering his body with a knife and hacksaw in a bathtub in a chilling video confession played in court. Brian Waldron, 54, is accused of killing Jonathan Taylor at Waldron's home on Oct. 24, 2008. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and mutilation ...

State news briefs

FEDERAL OFFICER KILLED IN MODESTO SHOOTING: MODESTO (AP) - Authorities have identified the victim of a weekend bar shooting in Modesto as a 34-year-old police officer for the Department of Defense.

Los Angeles City Council votes to ban marijuana shops after allowing them

Alameda County passes law making pharmaceutical industry pay to toss pills

Bay Area briefs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco's mayor says the Colorado theater shootings have made him more committed to implementing a police stop and frisk policy aimed at getting weapons off the streets. Mayor Ed Lee's consideration of stop and frisk, where officers stop and search suspicious people for weapons, has triggered an outcry from those who liken it to racial profiling. <p ...

State news briefs

&bull; Man accused of threats at SoCal Batman screening: NORWALK (AP) - A man is accused of making criminal threats at a screening of the new Batman movie at a Southern California theater.

Homeowners see jump in property taxes

SAN JOSE (AP) - Tens of thousands of California homeowners are seeing the downside of the recovering real estate market: unexpected jumps in their property tax bills. Many homeowners believe their property taxes are limited to increases of no more than 2 percent annually because of Proposition 13, the landmark voter initiative approved in 1978. <p ...

Judge: SoCal district improperly rejected petition aimed at imposing school reforms

Alameda County may require pharmaceutical firms to pay for prescription drug disposal

Student assistants to be let go amid California budget cuts

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - Hundreds of California student assistants will lose their jobs as the school year begins as part of a cost-cutting deal between the state and its largest public employees union. With California facing a deep budget deficit, 1,600 state student assistant positions will be eliminated in September, The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/SQ9F7F) reported Monday. The move ...

Mariah Carey joins 'American Idol' as new judge, props up show with star power

State news briefs

MAN CHARGED IN BEATING OF SIKH ELDER IN FRESNO: FRESNO (AP) - A Central California man is facing charges of attempted murder and elder abuse in connection with the beating of an 82-year-old Sikh man outside a Sikh temple in Fresno.

SF drops fight for radiation warning law

Bridge repair could cost $10M

209 News

290 POUNDS OF METH SEIZED IN CERES: CERES (AP) - Officials with a Central California drug task force say they've seized hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine in a raid of a San Joaquin Valley home.

Lives on edge part of Golden Gate beat

Move to change 'rainy day' measure

Bay Area briefs

OAKLAND POLICE CHIEF STEPPING DOWN: OAKLAND (AP) - The chief of Oakland's embattled police department said Wednesday that he is stepping down due to medical reasons.

BLM postpones oil, gas lease auctions

Bay Area briefs

TESTS ON BAY BRIDGE BOLTS SO FAR SHOW NO FAILURE: OAKLAND AP) - After dozens of seismic safety bolts on the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge broke, tests on remaining bolts have so far shown no sign of failure.

San Jose to pay $150k for use of phony lab report

SF Airport won't be renamed Harvey Milk

Brown: Public still confident in Bay Bridge

209 News

MINN. HIKER FOUND DEAD AT CLIFF BOTTOM IN YOSEMITE: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - A hiker who went missing in Yosemite National Park has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff, authorities said.

Groups want details on license plate readers

Brown mystified at continuing prison legal case; faces possible contempt