Bay Area briefs

Suspect facing murder charge in San Ramon robbery

Stockton council grants city manager authority to ready backup bankruptcy plan

STOCKTON (AP) - Stockton City Council members late Tuesday granted the city manager authority to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in three weeks if officials are unable to broker a deal with the city's creditors.

San Jose, San Diego approve pension cuts by wide margins in Tuesday’s voting

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Voters in two major California cities overwhelmingly approved measures to cut retirement benefits for city workers Tuesday in contests being closely watched as states and local governments throughout the country struggle with mounting pension obligations.

California voters split on $1 per pack tobacco tax; final tally make take days or possibly weeks

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California ballot initiative to raise the tax on cigarettes that pitted big-spending tobacco companies against cycling legend Lance Armstrong and the New York City Mayor was too close to call Tuesday night.

California voters approve term limit reform

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California voters tweaked term limits Tuesday to shave two years off the total time lawmakers can serve in the state Legislature, but will allow them to spend their tenure in one house.

Tough battles mark Congressional contests

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two long-serving Democrats headed Tuesday for a November showdown in a bitterly contested Los Angeles County House district, a marquee matchup among congressional races across California.

Candidates backed by leaders ahead in Senate

LOS ANGELES (AP) - State Senate candidates favored by the Legislature's leaders were ahead Tuesday in the two primary election contests expected to help determine whether Democrats can win a super majority in the upper chamber.

Feinstein easily advances to November ballot

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has easily won her primary election race, advancing to the November ballot. She will face GOP-endorsed autism activist Elizabeth Emken.

Romney's (non) military record faces new scrutiny from Vietnam War era

Cooler weather aids firefighters in Sequoia forest

Jury recommends death for officer killer

RIVERSIDE (AP) - A jury on Tuesday recommended the death penalty for a man convicted of killing a Riverside police officer who pulled him over while investigating a report of a hit-and-run accident involving a big rig. After several hours of deliberations, jurors made the decision in the case against 46-year-old Earl Ellis Green, who was convicted last month of first-degree murder, ...

Federal ag officials: Grapevine moth no longer in San Joaquin County

State news briefs

Governor wants to bar bullet train injunctions

Gay marriage ban backers look to US Supreme Court for relief

Bike gunman shoots father, toddler in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A sign on the fence in front of his family's Hickory Street home reads Angel Mauro Cortez Nava, lists his date of birth and death, displays photos of him as a newborn and on a rocking horse and includes the words "We Love You." What it does not convey is the outrage the 14-month-old's killing has caused inside ...

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

Bay Area briefs

BILL WOULD CHARGE 911 FEES ON PREPAID CELLPHONES: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Californians who use prepaid cellphones would pay a little more to add minutes under a bill moving through the Legislature.

State news briefs

SF BAGGAGE HANDLER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO THEFT: REDWOOD CITY (AP) - A San Francisco International Airport baggage handler accused of stealing items from passengers' bags has pleaded not guilty.

Her challenge is to keep Brown focused

CPUC legal team probing PG&E blast resigns

SF, NY officials to meet over cellphone thefts

State news briefs

TACO BELL FIRING RIDGECREST EMPLOYEE FOR TACO LICKING: RIDGECREST. (AP) - Taco Bell is firing a California employee who was photographed licking a stack of taco shells.

Parole denied for Manson follower

CPUC enforcement division” ‘Time to throw book at PG&E’