• RALEY’S, UNION RETURN TO BARGAINING TABLE: WEST SACRAMENTO  (AP) — Officials with supermarket chain Raley’s and union representatives are back at the bargaining table.

Statements from a Raley’s spokesman and from the United Food and Commercial Workers union said talks between both sides resumed Sunday morning.

Workers represented by the union have been on strike since last Sunday — the first strike in the 77-year-history of the West Sacramento-based chain.

Raley’s spokesman John Segale issued a statement saying both sides have agreed they won’t discuss the talks during the negotiations.

The UFCW posted on its website that the talks resumed around 10 a.m. Sunday after the company contacted the union to meet.

Both sides are at odds over wages and benefits, including Raley’s proposal to eliminate health care benefits for retirees eligible for Medicare.



• JUDY’S GARLAND’S OZ DRESS FETCHES $480K IN AUCTION: BEVERLY HILLS  (AP) — The now-faded blue gingham dress Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” has sold for $480,000.

Auction house Julien’s Auctions says the pinafore fetched the highest price of any item during a two-day auction of Hollywood memorabilia that attracted bids from around the world. The auction ended Saturday in Beverly Hills.

Steve McQueen’s racing jacket sold for $50,000, as did a purple skirt worn by Marilyn Monroe while filming “River of No Return” in Canada. Julie Andrews’ “Sound of Music dress” brought $38,400.

Sunglasses worn by Jean Reno in “Leon” went for $8,320, while Johnny Depp’s shades fetched $3,250.

Bidders also snapped up pieces of royal wedding cakes. Prince William and Kate Middleton’s cake sold for $7,500 while Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s cake sold for $1,375.



• THIRD ARREST MADE IN SF BUS DESTRUCTION: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities made a third arrest in connection with the destruction of a city bus during World Series celebrations that got out of control last month, a San Francisco police spokesman has said.

Adam Diaz was taken into custody Friday and booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of vandalism and damaging a transit vehicle, Officer Carlos Manfredi said. Both offenses are felonies, he said.

Diaz, 24, of Oakland, was captured on video using a skateboard to smash the side windows of a bus, police said.

Diaz was in jail Saturday and could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.

The $700,000 bus was destroyed when the vehicle was set on fire.



• REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO LOSE GROUND: LOS ANGELES (AP) — If the future happens first in California, the Republican Party has a problem.

The nation’s most populous state — home to 1 in 8 Americans — has entered a period of Democratic political control so far-reaching that the dwindling number of Republicans in the Legislature are in danger of becoming mere spectators at the statehouse.

Democrats hold the governorship and every other statewide office. They gained even more ground in Tuesday’s elections, picking up at least three congressional seats while votes continue to be counted in two other tight races — in one upset, Democrat Raul Ruiz, a Harvard-educated physician who mobilized a district’s growing swath of Hispanic voters, pushed out longtime Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack.

The party also secured a supermajority in one, and possibly both, chambers in the Legislature.

“Republican leaders should look at California and shudder,” says Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain’s 2008 campaign and anchored former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election team in 2006. “The two-party system has collapsed.”

Republican voter registration has dipped so low — less than 30 percent — that the party’s future state candidates will be hobbled from the start.



• SKIERS ELATED AFTER STORM DUMPS SNOW IN SIERRA: TRUCKEE. (AP) — Skiers and snowboarders are elated after a storm dropped up to 28 inches of snow in the Sierra Nevada over a two-day period.

Alpine Meadows resort near Lake Tahoe reported 19 inches of new snow at its base and 28 inches of snow at higher elevations over a 48-hour period ending Saturday morning.

Elsewhere around Tahoe, the Boreal resort reported 14 to 18 inches of snow and Squaw Valley received 17 to 24 inches of snow.

Boreal and Mammoth Mountain are currently the only resorts in operation in California. But Northstar and Heavenly plan to open Friday.

Cold temperatures also are allowing resorts to crank up snow-making machines in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday period.