Banning is the name of a small city in Southern California, but also applies to a pervasive theme of the Legislature this year. The 1,042 bills that passed the Legislature and the 870 signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom included an extraordinary number that used the state’s police powers to prohibit activities...
California Families Are Hungry While a Third of Crops Rot in Fields
Maximina Molina Sanchez is worried about going hungry this winter. She depends on a food bank in Huron to feed her husband and two kids. But with most agricultural workers out of jobs during the winter, demand is bound to increase, so she worries there won’t be enough food to...
Fresno County Unemployment Rate Hits Historic Low of 5.3%
The California economy keeps humming along, and Valley communities are hopping aboard the jobs train. Officials said Friday that California's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 4% in September. It also was a record-setting month for Fresno (5.3%), Kings (5.7%), Madera (5.0%) and Merced (5.5%) counties, according to the...
Country Radio DJ Bob Kingsley, 80, Dies at Home in Texas
WEATHERFORD, Texas — Bob Kingsley, a radio announcer who since the 1970s led country music fans counting down the weekly hits, has died in Texas. Rob Simbeck, a friend and producer of the "Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40," says Kingsley died Thursday at home in Weatherford. He was 80. Kingsley...
Woman Who Livestreamed Fatal Merced Crash Arrested Again
STOCKTON — A California woman on parole after serving a sentence for driving drunk while livestreaming a crash that killed her younger sister in Merced County was arrested Thursday after crashing a car during a police pursuit, officials said. Officers arrested Obdulia Sanchez, 20, on weapons and traffic charges and...
Study: California's Big July Quakes Strain Major Fault
LOS ANGELES — The earthquakes that hammered the Southern California desert near the town of Ridgecrest last summer involved ruptures on a web of interconnected faults and increased strain on a major nearby fault that has begun to slowly move, according to a new study. Ruptures in the Ridgecrest earthquake...
Scrutiny of Vaccine Exemptions Banishes Some From Schools
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Carl and Kerri Schwartz say they have good medical reason for not vaccinating their disabled 11-year-old son, Thorn, and until recently his local public school went along with their family doctor's advice. That changed, the Schwartzes said, when New York state did away with religious exemptions for...
Giant Pumpkin Weighing 2,175 Pounds Sets California Record
HALF MOON BAY — A Northern California pumpkin hobbyist has won first place at the 46th annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh Off, setting a record for the largest in California. Leonardo Urena of Napa won $15,000 Monday when his pumpkin logged 2,175 pounds. Weigh-off spokesman Timothy Beeman says Urena's...
California Regulator Sanctions Utility Over Power Outages
SAN FRANCISCO — California's top utility regulator blasted Pacific Gas and Electric on Monday for what she called "failures in execution" during the largest planned power outage in state history to avoid wildfires that she said, "created an unacceptable situation that should never be repeated." The agency ordered a series of corrective...
Newsom’s First Rodeo: In Year One, Governor Bucks Both Trump and Brown
Californians will soon be allowed to eat roadkill but be prohibited from buying fur coats. Abortion pills will become available on college campuses, but tiny bottles of shampoo will be banned from hotel rooms. High school and middle school kids will get a later first bell, but schools won’t be...