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State news briefs
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BROWN SIGNS SCHOOL-FUNDING CHANGES INTO LAW: SACRAMENTO . (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown signed sweeping education legislation Monday that changes the state funding formula for K-12 schools in a way that he hopes will help boost the academic achievement of disadvantaged students.

Brown signed the main bill, AB97, and two related bills at Cahuenga Elementary School in Los Angeles and later held a ceremonial signing at California Middle School in Sacramento.

The Democratic governor had pushed for the change, known as the "Local Control Funding Formula," and called it a civil rights issue. It will send $2.1 billion more to school districts that have high numbers of students from lower-income families, who have limited English proficiency or are foster children.

Rather than having "50 or more mandates," Brown said the new system will be based on a simpler formula that will send money where it is most needed and will allow local officials to make decisions about the best way to spend it.

PERSONAL DATA OF 2.5M PEOPLE COMPROMISED IN CALIF.: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California officials say data breaches put the personal information of 2.5 million people in the state at risk.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris on Monday released a report showing 131 breaches of consumer information were reported in 2012.

Business and government agencies are required by law to notify consumers when a data breach may have put their personal information at risk.

The report found that the retail industry reported the most breaches, with financial institutions and insurance providers next on the list.

Harris says companies should use encryption and increase security to better safeguard consumer information.

The report comes after a bill passed in 2012 that requires companies to report information breaches of more than 500 consumers to the attorney general.

TRACTOR FALLS INTO PORT OF LA WATERS, DRIVER DIES: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say a dockworker was killed when a tractor used to move cargo plunged into the water at the Port of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles fire spokesman Brian Humphrey says the utility tractor fell into water about 60 feet deep at the port at about 3 p.m. Monday.

Fire department divers working in the water with zero visibility pulled the driver out but he was beyond help and declared dead.

MISSING 71-YEAR-OLD HIKER FOUND DEAD : PALM DESERT  (AP) — A 71-year-old hiker who went missing in a Riverside County desert as temperatures neared 120 degrees has been found dead.

The man, a Cerritos resident, was reported missing Saturday afternoon at the Thousand Palms Canyon Preserve north of Palm Desert.

Authorities from four counties searched the area as temperatures soared to record highs.

An air unit spotted the man in a dry creek bed, half a mile east of the Coachella Valley Preserve Visitor Center. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

FAREWELL SERVICE AT OC'S CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL: GARDEN GROVE  (AP) — More than 2,000 people gathered at Orange County's famed Crystal Cathedral for a farewell service to the Protestant congregation that helped build it into a megachurch with a worldwide following.

Sunday's Protestant service came a day after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange celebrated its first Mass at the storied glass cathedral. The Catholic Church purchased the church and its campus last year during bankruptcy-court proceedings.

Pastor Bobby Schuller, grandson of founder Robert H. Schuller, told his flock that Crystal Cathedral Ministries will make new memories at its new home at nearby St. Callistus Church.

The Catholic diocese has renamed the cathedral Christ Cathedral.