GUERNEVILLE — A California town north of San Francisco is accessible only by boat after the rain-swollen Russian River overflowed its banks and inundated it overnight, authorities said Wednesday. "Guerneville is officially an island," the Sonoma Sheriff's Office said in a statement, adding that all roads leading to it are...
California AG Becerra Wants to Keep Police Crimes Hidden
SACRAMENTO — California's attorney general is demanding that a university journalism program return a state list that includes law enforcement officers convicted of crimes in the past decade, saying the information wasn't meant to be public and shouldn't have been given out by another agency. Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office...
Walters: GOP Dodges Bullet, but Faces Tough Future
The California Republican Party, which has become virtually irrelevant in recent years, had a great opportunity last weekend to commit self-annihilation by electing an unrepentant, Donald Trump-loving right-winger as party chairperson. However, sanity – or reality – prevailed and delegates opted for Jessica Patterson, who has lengthy experience in bread-and-butter...
Dolphin Strandings Increase Along Southern California Coast
LAGUNA BEACH — Experts were working Tuesday to determine the cause of an increase in dolphin strandings along the Southern California coast. The Pacific Marine Mammal Center said it has responded to six beached dolphins this month and received reports of two others. Necropsies have been performed on all the...
Storm Slams Western US, Raises Flood Fears for California
SAN FRANCISCO — A winter storm slamming the western U.S. dumped rain Tuesday in Northern California and raising the threat of floods, while heavy mountain snowfall created a risk of avalanches and whiteout conditions on roads in the Sierra Nevada. The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and flash flood...
Woman Killed by Falling Rock on Closed Yosemite Trail
Officials say a woman hiking in Yosemite National Park was killed after being struck by falling rock and ice on a dangerous trail that was closed to the public. Park officials said Monday 56-year-old Xuan Wang, of Cupertino, was killed Sunday while hiking on the Mist Trail. They say the...
Round 2 of Teacher Strikes Looks Beyond Pay and Funding
Teachers in Oakland, California, hit the picket lines just as West Virginia teachers went back to class in a kind of coast-to-coast tag-team display of the national teacher unrest that in many places has moved beyond pay to politics, tackling issues like charter schools and vouchers. Call it round two...
Walters: Is San Joaquin Valley California's Poor Stepchild?
Technically, California’s San Joaquin Valley – the drainage plain of the San Joaquin River – begins a few miles south of Sacramento and ends a few miles south of Fresno. However, in political and economic terms, it stretches even further south to the Tehachapi Mountains, south of Bakersfield. The 300-mile-long...
Judge Grants Citizenship to Twin Son of Gay Couple
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California ruled Thursday that a twin son of a gay married couple has been an American citizen since birth, handing a defeat to the U.S. government, which had only granted the status to his brother. The State Department was wrong to deny citizenship...
On the Record: Sen. Pan on Changing Vaccine Laws and When it May Happen
Richard Pan is the state senator who launched a thousand flame wars. To those who believe vaccines are essential for keeping school children safe from disease, the Sacramento Democrat is a hero and champion. [text-wrap] Richard Pan Interview from GV Wire on Vimeo. For those who have alternative views on...