Cal high-speed rail must spend $2.7M a day in order not to lose federal funding

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California will need to build its high-speed train line in record time if it doesn't want to risk losing federal funds - indeed, it will have to be the fastest piece of transportation construction in U.S. history, experts said. Under a federal deadline, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has until September 2017 to finish the first segment of ...

Proposed cuts in governor's revised budget plan

Bay Area briefs

Solo drivers embracing SF South Bay toll lanes

Plan to cut tube wear falls short at San Onofre nuclear power plant

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A $670 million overhaul at California's San Onofre nuclear plant was expressly intended to avoid the types of ailments that have sidelined its twin reactors.

Retired generators at California plant back online in bid to avoid summer shortages

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two retired generators at a Southern California power plant are back online, to help take up the slack from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant this summer.

Yahoo names Levinsohn interim CEO

SUNNYVALE (AP) - Yahoo swept out Scott Thompson as CEO Sunday in an effort to clean up a mess created by an exaggeration about his education that destroyed his credibility as he set out to turnaround the long-troubled Internet company.

Search on for shooter of biker club leader

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Police searched Sunday for a drive-by shooter who gunned down the president of a San Diego motorcycle club as he worked in the clubhouse driveway, while members of the group he led mourned and paid tribute to the man they called "Wild Dogg."

Missing teen’s mom issues Mother’s Day statement

MORGAN HILL (AP) - A Northern California mother is spending her Mother's Day with worries that most mothers will never have to face.

State news briefs

• CALIFORNIA FACING HIGHER $16 BILLION SHORTFALL: SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion - much larger than had been predicted just months ago - and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday.

2 charged with trying to extort Stevie Wonder

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two people have been charged with extortion after police detectives say they arrested the pair for trying to sell what they said was embarrassing information about Stevie Wonder. The duo, Alpha Lorenzo Walker and his girlfriend Tamara Eileen Diaz, have been jailed since their arrest on May 2. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to appear ...

Brown boots doctor from panel after she appeared in anti Prop 29 TV ads

Thieves ram store in truck, make off with jewelry

MODESTO (AP) - Police are looking for a group of thieves who used a pickup truck to smash into a Modesto jewelry store and made off with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. Modesto police Lt. Rick Armendariz says around 11:20 p.m. Thursday a truck with four or five people in it drove through the front door of Rogers Jewelers Co. <p ...

Modesto teen charged with trying to poison baby

MODESTO (AP) - A judge entered a not guilty plea Friday on behalf of a Modesto teenager who is charged with trying to kill her newborn daughter with rat poison after seeking others to do it for her. Cashel Sophia Phin, 18, is charged with attempted murder, solicitation of murder and poisoning. She made a video appearance in Stanislaus County Superior Court, ...

State news briefs

EX-CON GETS 148 YEARS IN SMOKING CONFRONTATION: BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) - An elderly California ex-con has been sentenced to 148 years to life in prison for pulling a knife on a security guard who asked him to put out his cigarette.

New maps, primary system shape legislative races

State parks system launching makeover

209 News

TRAIN DERAILS, DAMAGES TRACK ON POPULAR VALLEY ROUTE: DENAIR (AP) - Rail authorities are working to repair damage on Amtrak's popular San Joaquin route after a freight train derailed in the Central California town of Denair.

Zynga to cut 520 jobs amid performance woes

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Online game maker Zynga Inc. said Monday that it is cutting 520 jobs, about 18 percent of its workforce, in a cost-saving move designed to help it adapt to consumers shifting game play from computers to mobile devices. Zynga said it expects the move to save about $70 million to $80 million in annual costs. But the San Francisco-based company behind "FarmVille" and "Words With Friends" also now expects a worse ...

2,800 residents allowed to go home

Mogul to pay $2.5M Big Sur settlement

Bay Area briefs

SFMOMA CLOSES DOORS FOR EXPANSION: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has closed its doors, as it undergoes a major expansion.

Bills to halt fracking fail to garner support

Winds aid crews by turning back fire

SANTA CLARITA (AP) - For a change, winds helped crews working to contain a wildfire burning Friday in rugged mountains north of Los Angeles. A day earlier, gusts had driven flames toward the rural community of Green Valley and forced people from about 200 homes. On Friday, winds were pushing the fire southward - back into the 2 1/3 square miles that have already burned. "The fire is moving uphill and burning into the black," ...

Bay Area briefs

EX-PG&E WORKER CLAIMS UTILITY MISLED REGULATORS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A former PG&E manager has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was fired for refusing to participate in the utility's plan to mislead regulators into approving rate increases.

Boy dies after signs of abuse were missed

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An 8-year-old boy who authorities say died after being beaten had remained in the house where the alleged abuse occurred despite six investigations by social workers during the past decade, a newspaper said. Social workers appeared to miss numerous warnings signs at the home, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday, citing county documents. The boy had written a note saying he was thinking about suicide and his teacher told authorities he ...

High-speed rail: Broken promise?

State news briefs

LAST 2 MEN PULLED FROM LEVEECRASH ID'D: STOCKTON (AP) - Authorities have released the names of two more victims pulled from a Northern California waterway where an SUV crashed and killed five men.

Insurers sue over LA school abuse settlement

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Seven insurers have sued the Los Angeles school district to avoid paying a $30 million settlement to 58 alleged victims of child abuse at an elementary school. The insurers claim there was no relevant coverage under the policies, but the district said its general liability insurance should cover the costs, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday. Sean Rossall, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, called the move ...

Salmon experiment puts fish in river water

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - State fish and wildlife officials are studying a new way of transporting hatchery salmon that are intended to repopulate the Sacramento River system, a newspaper reported. About 100,000 Chinook salmon have been taken to San Francisco Bay, where they were released, in water actually from the Sacramento River, The San Mateo County Times reported this week. The theory being tested is that the fish will develop a memory of the water's ...

Capital News

ASSEMBLY BILL TO REGULATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA FAILS: SACRAMENTO (AP) - A bill to regulate the sale of medical marijuana in California has failed in the Assembly.