California News

Activists call for head of Fish and Game to resign because of hunting photo

Animal rights activists are angry because of a photo on the Western Outdoor News' website of the California's Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards holding a mountain lion he recently hunted in Idaho.

Lawyer: Backers want review of Calif. gay marriage case

SAN FRANCISCO - Proponents of California's same-sex marriage ban say they will ask a federal appeals court in San Francisco to review the split decision by three of its judges that struck down the voter-approved law.

Study finds $135.7 billion in local pension liabilities

SACRAMENTO - A Stanford University think tank says two dozen local governments in California face a combined $135.7 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Midair crash could have been deadly, school owner says

ANTIOCH - The owner of a helicopter flight school with a student who was involved in a midair collision over Rio Vista says the aircraft narrowly escaped what could have been a deadly crash.

Demi Moore 911 tape prompts Calif. privacy bill

SACRAMENTO - A state lawmaker upset over the details contained in a publicly released 911 call involving actress Demi Moore is seeking to restrict such information from disclosure.

Survivor of 1906 San Francisco quake dies at 109

SANTA ROSA - One of the oldest survivors of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake has died.

As tobacco sales fall, state budget suffers

SACRAMENTO - A major bond rating agency sounded an alarm this month, saying California may have borrowed more than $4 billion against tobacco settlement money that might never materialize.

Lack of primary and preventive care sends thousands to hospitals

SACRAMENTO - Better access to primary health care and prevention programs could have kept thousands of California adults out of hospitals, according to a new statewide analysis.

Man suspected of attacking workers at Disneyland

ANAHEIM, CA - Authorities arrested a man on charges of battery and assault after allegedly attacking workers at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim.

PHOTOS: Plane, helicopter collide midair near Rio Vista

RIO VISTA - A helicopter crash-landed near Highway 160 after it was clipped by a small plane Sunday evening. The pilot suffered minor injuries as did the Beechcraft pilot who landed short of the Byron Airport about 20 miles away.

Storage box holding dangling over busy SF street

SAN FRANCISCO - A storage box containing an estimated 6 tons of steel is dangling from a skyscraper over a busy street in San Francisco's Financial District.

Westbound Bay Bridge reopens ahead of schedule

SAN FRANCISCO - Caltrans says work has gone so smoothly on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that the westbound direction of the bridge reopened to traffic at 7:15 Sunday night.

America remembers Japanese internment

Today is the 70th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 placing more than 120,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps.

Group seeks to protect Lake Tahoe tributary

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - An anglers' group is asking the federal government to protect a stretch of the Upper Truckee River south of Lake Tahoe with a "wild and scenic" designation.

Calif. counties get mail-order condom program

BAKERSFIELD - Teenagers in several California counties can now get condoms in the mail for free under a new program supported by state public health officials.

New details released in shooting of Calif. ICE agent

LONG BEACH - A federal agent accused of shooting a supervisor engaged in a serious struggle for his gun with another colleague who subsequently shot and killed him, an official said.

Every February Yosemite waterfall turns to lava

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK - Nature photographers are flocking to Yosemite National Park hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare phenomenon that happens only in mid-February.

PHOTOS: Westbound Bay Bridge closure through Tuesday

OAKLAND - As part of the ongoing retrofitting of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Caltrans has closed the upper deck (westbound lanes) from 8 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Inside the lab: identifying remains through DNA

As the Department of Justice DNA Data Bank waits for the human remains found at an abandoned well in San Joaquin County, the media toured the facility to see how scientists receive and process evidence.

Pelosi, Speier: Probe San Francisco foreclosures

SAN FRANCISCO - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier are asking federal authorities to investigate whether error-riddled foreclosures in San Francisco violated federal law.

Calif. lawmakers switch days to collect payments

SACRAMENTO - Both houses of the California Legislature are changing their schedules before the President's Day holiday, meeting for less than hour to ensure they collect $142 a day in per diem payments until they reconvene Tuesday.

Search continues for 'Speed Freak Killers' victims

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County Sheriff's investigators continue to search for, but have not located, a second abandoned well that could contain human remains.

ICE gunman fired during job counseling

LONG BEACH - The FBI says a fatal shooting in a Southern California Immigration and Customs Enforcement office occurred as an agent was being counseled on his performance by a high-ranking ICE official.

AP Source: Shooting at Long Beach ICE offices over dispute

LONG BEACH - A person familiar with the case told The Associated Press the shooting at a Southern California federal building of a high-ranking Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was over an unspecified disciplinary matter.

Ex-wife pleads not guilty in fatal boiling water attack

DALY CITY, CA - A woman accused of poured boiling water over her sleeping ex-husband has pleaded not guilty to murder and torture charges.

Calif. weak on oversight of for-profit colleges, advocacy groups say

SACRAMENTO - California's recently formed Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education has significant weaknesses in its oversight of for-profit colleges, advocacy groups told lawmakers at a hearing this week.

2 Occupy Oakland protesters facing charges

Man pleads insanity in beatings of grandparents

SALINAS, CA - A California man charged with using a lamp, golf club and chair to beat his grandparents has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

SF DA : 'No intention' to charge sheriff's wife

Tribe sues to halt road work in burial ground

State audit questions price of DUI checkpoints

SACRAMENTO - The California State Auditor has released a report on the surprising cost and results of sobriety checkpoints.

2 dead, 1 hurt in Calif. federal building shooting

LONG BEACH - Two people were fatally shot and one was wounded Thursday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Long Beach, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

Second Linden area well to be excavated

LINDEN - A second well not far from the one where searchers have recovered more than 1,000 bone fragments is the next focus in the search for more victims of serial killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.

Initiative hopes for new state agency to regulate medical marijuana

SACRAMENTO - Medical marijuana supporters hold weekly vigils in front of federal buildings throughout California to protest the Obama Administration's recent raids on dispensaries.

Deputy: Alleged cat eater had carcass in kitchen

FRESNO - Kern County investigators say the man arrested for allegedly preparing and eating cats was found with a headless carcass in his kitchen sink.

Foreclosure mediation could save billions

An inexpensive solution to the housing crisis may soon be available, according to a report released last week by the National Consumer Law Center.