Defeat of Calif. teacher bill shows union power

New budget crafted to influence voters

Voters face fall ballot crowded with issues

Key elements of the $92 billion California state budget sent to Gov. Jerry Brown:

Progress in graduation, dropout rates

SoCal should survive summer without blackouts

Priest assault trial resumes with abuse allegation

Bay Area briefs

SANTA CLARA OFFICIALS OK TALKS WITH JOE MONTANA: SANTA CLARA (AP) - Santa Clara officials have given the go-ahead for the city to begin negotiations with legendary quarterback Joe Montana for a hotel and entertainment complex across from the 49ers new stadium.

State news briefs

CAR HITS SO. CAL NURSING HOME, KILLS MAN, 89: LA MESA (AP) - A runaway car has crashed into a San Diego County nursing home and killed an 89-year-old man.

PG&E: 1956 pipeline test caused San Bruno blast that killed eight

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co. told California regulators this week that a pipeline test the company performed in 1956 damaged a weld and led to the 2010 deadly explosion in San Bruno. PG&E made the claim in a filing submitted Tuesday to the California Public Utilities Commission, which has launched numerous investigations into the company that could result ...

Police chief angry over plea deal for dentist in son’s death

FRESNO (AP) - A Coalinga dentist who gave his disabled son a fatal dose of morphine received preferential treatment from prosecutors, said the city's police chief. Dentist Allen Clare, 68, should have faced a second-degree murder or manslaughter charge for last year's death of his 35-year-old son Patrick Clare, Chief Cal Minor told the Fresno Bee. Instead, Clare ...

Famed Crystal Cathedral becoming Catholic Church

Lawmakers finish California budget with $15.7 billion gap

Stockton bankruptcy hard hit for city retirees

State news briefs

DEMOCRATS PUSH TOP BILLING FOR GOVERNOR'S TAX HIKE: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Democratic lawmakers are moving a bill that could give the governor's tax initiative top billing on California's November ballot.

State Senate OKs ski safety legislation

Bay Area briefs

FEDS TO PROBE REPAIR WORK ON BAD BAY BRIDGE RODS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Federal Highway Administration on Monday said it is investigating the state's response to broken steel seismic safety rods on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

State news briefs

15 OF 23 CAL STATE CAMPUSES CHARGE GRADUATION FEES: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Graduating students at more than a dozen California public universities will have to hand over money before they are handed their diplomas, a newspaper reported.

End near for evangelical radio network?

Girl , 7, escapes kidnapper's car trunk in Sacramento

Ginsburg: Roe gave abortion opponents a target

CHICAGO (AP) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she supports a woman's right to choose to have an abortion, but feels her predecessors' landmark Roe v. Wade ruling 40 years ago was too sweeping and gave abortion opponents a symbol to target.

Person of interest named in jogger killed by pit bull pack

PALMDALE . (AP) - Sheriff's authorities said a man who was arrested this week on suspicion of growing marijuana is now a "person of interest" in the death of a 63-year-old jogger who was mauled to death by a pack of pit bulls in the Mojave Desert.

Los Angeles, Paris project aims to track big city carbon footprints

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward.

Relentless thief still taking Tahoe crawfish traps - 160 stolen so far

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. (AP) - It's not that easy to catch crawfish in Lake Tahoe. Turns out, it may be harder to keep them.

Black student targeted with racist note

IRVINE (AP) - University of California, Irvine officials pledged to work on race relations on campus this week after a black student found a hand-scrawled note in her backpack calling her a slave, making it the second racist incident that has offended black students in recent weeks.

Mom: Accused boy, 12, ‘could never’ hurt sister

VALLEY SPRINGS (AP) - A day before a 12-year-old boy was arrested for the stabbing death of his 8-year-old sister, his mother described him as "protective" of his younger sibling.

State lawmakers debate how to spend $900M in new revenue from loophole

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California schools are expecting a boost from the $900 million to be raised over the next year through the closure of a corporate tax loophole, but Gov. Jerry Brown is locked in a disagreement with state lawmakers over how to hand out that money.

Chris Brown’s scary curbside art irks LA neighbors; city cites him for ‘signage’

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Grammy-winning musician Chris Brown's neighbors are unhappy with what some are calling frightening art he's chosen to have painted along the curb of his Hollywood Hills home.

Bay Bridge base rods can’t be easily inspected

OAKLAND (AP) - More than 400 seismic safety rods that may be vulnerable to cracking or breaking are embedded in the base of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and may be difficult to inspect, remove or replace, according to a newspaper report.

One by one, homes in subdivision sinking

LAKEPORT (AP) - Scott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March.