AP State News

The plaintiffs who won an $18 billion pollution judgment against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador say they have begun their campaign to collect the money, filing suit against the company in Canada.

School officials have filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County's transportation agency, the latest move in a long fight over sending a subway under Beverly Hills High School.

County prosecutors say a former teacher has been convicted of sexually abusing two teenage girls on the campus of Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School in East Los Angeles.

A missing San Jose man authorities say was suffering from dementia has been found dead in a marshland area near the southern shore of San Francisco Bay.

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected California's call for an immediate end to federal oversight of medical care in state prisons, ruling that the state has yet to prove that it's ready to retake control.

Bipartisan legislation to create new funding sources for state parks and limit the California Department of Parks and Recreation's authority to close them has passed the Assembly.

The state Assembly has unanimously approved legislation allowing judges to order electronic monitors placed on defendants accused of domestic violence while they are awaiting trial.

The state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would create a guaranteed, government-run retirement savings program catering to private-sector workers of modest means.

A federal grand jury has indicted the owners of two Northern California indoor gardening stores for allegedly operating a drug trafficking ring that grew and sold large amounts of marijuana.

A federal appeals court has ruled that two veteran San Francisco television reporters who were laid off were not victims of age discrimination.

A high school junior in a pickup truck sped through a red light and into dozens of teenagers who were crossing a street outside a California high school Wednesday, leaving eight people injured, three of them critically, authorities said.

Syria's honorary consul general in California says he has defected from the regime of President Bashar Assad in protest of the killings last week in the town of Houla.

Assembly Democrats approved two bills Wednesday that would expand protections for California workers who care for children or family members, acting over the objections of Republicans who called the bills "job killers."

The state Senate has approved what supporters say would be the nation's first ban on a form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay people straight.

Jim Paratore, who developed and steered series including "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "The Tyra Banks Show," as a Warner Bros. TV executive, has died. He was 59.

The USS Iowa, a World War II-era battleship, was at anchor Wednesday off the Port of Los Angeles, where it will become a museum.

American Indian tribes authorized to triple the amount of time tribal members can spend in jail say they're challenged by a lack of funding.

California lawmakers trying to establish new specialty license plates this year said Wednesday they are moving quickly to amend their bills and enact safeguards to ensure the money is spent as promised after an Associated Press investigation raised questions about oversight of the program.

The state Assembly has approved a bill to cut tuition at the University of California and California State University by two-thirds for students whose families make too much to qualify for financial aid.

Divers have temporarily suspended a search of waters off the San Diego coast for a 45-year-old man who told his wife he was going scuba diving on Memorial Day and never returned.

Virgin Galactic says it expects to make rocket-powered test flights of its passenger spaceship later this year.

Police arrested a parolee who went through an emergency exit at the San Diego airport and boarded a commuter jet bound for Los Angeles, officials said Wednesday.

Federal authorities have requested documents from former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his ex-wife as part of a criminal investigation into their dealings with the team and associated businesses.

Workers at one of Northern California's largest supermarket chains are moving closer to a possible strike after the supermarket declared an impasse in talks over a new contract.

California would seek to provide college students with free textbooks online under two bills approved by the state Senate.

One of two men charged in a devastating assault on a San Francisco Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium told his own mother that he was involved and expected to "go down" for the attack.

County jails could release terminally ill or permanently incapacitated prisoners under a bill approved by the state Senate.

A blistering new report quietly released over the Memorial Day Weekend called for the overhaul of California's Administrative Office of the Courts, which it described as dysfunctional, secretive and top-heavy with overpaid executives.

Pet groomers could participate in a voluntary certification program under a bill approved by the state Senate.