Photo of an off-limits frozen food section

California Could Make Utilities Pay for Some Blackout Costs

SACRAMENTO — Californians left in the dark by electric companies that shut off their power to prevent wildfires could get paid for things like lost wages or spoiled food under a bill being considered in the state Legislature. In a state plagued by catastrop...
Photo of Stitch Fix logo on an iPhone

Don’t Let Try-Before-You-Buy Shopping Bust Your Budget

Services such as Stitch Fix and Amazon's Prime Wardrobe have put try-before-you-buy shopping on the map. The concept is simple: Shoppers get apparel, accessories or other goods delivered to try, which they can either send back or purchase. "For many custome...
Photo of a helicopter dropping water on the Getty Fire

Anger Rises as PG&E Imposes More Blackouts

SANTA ROSA — Frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. began another round of fire-prevention blackouts Tuesday that could leave millions of people without ele...
Photo of helicopter dropping water

California Braces for Possible Round 2 of Outages

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s largest utility said it will go ahead with widespread blackouts affecting nearly half a million people starting Wednesday as dangerous fire weather returns to California. Pacific Gas & Electric Company said it would begin prec...
Photo of Salvador Espinosa sweeps in the kitchen of Mary's Pizza Shack

California Power Outages Ease, First Linked Death Reported

SAN FRANCISCO — The lights were back on Friday for many of the nearly 2 million Northern California residents who lost electricity when Pacific Gas & Electric switched it off this week in an effort to prevent wildfires, as the first death linked to the out...