The state of California is set to fine Pacific Gas and Electric Company $2.25 billion for the deadly San Bruno, California, pipeline rupture in September 2010.
The Safety and Enforcement Division of the California Public Utilities Commission recommended the penalty for three cases arising from the Sept. 9, 2010, incident, which killed eight people and destroyed dozens of homes.
FULL STORYThe white stretch Lincoln was headed across San Francisco Bay, carrying the bride-to-be and eight of her friends for a bachelorette party.
Five of them, including the bride, never made it across.
Somewhere on the seven-mile San Mateo-Hayward bridge, the limousine caught fire. The driver and four members of the bachelorette party got out, but the bride – identified by a relative as 31-year-old Neriza Fojas – and four others died in the burning limo Saturday night, the California Highway Patrol said.
"The flames were gigantic," said Roxanne Guzman, who was crossing the bridge with her husband and brother about 10 p.m. Saturday (1 a.m. Sunday ET). "The flames were so big and radiating so much heat that I could feel the heat off of my face, and I was in my car the entire time."
FULL STORYFirefighters continue to battle what has been a fast-growing Southern California wildfire,one that has already consumed more than 2,950 acres.
The spread of the blaze seemed to slow early Thursday morning and crews gained greater containment, now pegged at 35%, according to the state agency Cal Fire.
The Riverside County Fire Department said 425 firefighters were involved in what's being called the Summit Fire. Six air tankers dropped chemical retardants on the flames.
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California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed legislation Wednesday that will boost funding for state efforts to confiscate firearms from those prohibited by law from owning them, the governor's office announced.
The bill gives $24 million from the Dealers' Record of Sale fund – fees paid by gun owners at the time of purchase – to the state's Department of Justice to help clear the backlog of individuals who once purchased a gun but are now barred from possessing firearms.
The state's Bureau of Firearms has identified about 20,000 Californians who illegally hold an estimated 40,000 handguns and assault weapons, with the list growing by 15 to 20 every day.
FULL STORYThe two women wounded when Los Angeles police shot at their pickup truck during the manhunt for renegade ex-officer Christopher Dorner will split a $4.2 million settlement, attorneys for the city and women told reporters Tuesday.
The details of the settlement need to be approved by the Los Angeles City Council, they said.
Margie Carranza, 47, and her mother, Emma Hernandez, 71, will receive $2.1 million each.
Carranza and Hernandez were shot at as police searched for Dorner, a former police officer who was wanted for killing several people in early February.
FULL STORYThe border with Mexico must be secure.
This requirement is the cornerstone of an immigration reform bill a bipartisan group of senators are to file on Capitol Hill Tuesday. There will be no path to legal residency for migrants without it.
Undocumented immigrants may also not reach the status of fully legal residents under the proposed legislation, until the Department of Homeland Security has implemented measures to prevent "unauthorized workers from obtaining employment in the United States."
FULL STORYA hiker who had been missing for more than three days in a heavily wooded area in California has been found alive, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Steve Gil told CNN.
The condition of Kyndall Jack, 18, is "unknown," he said.
Jack's companion, Nicholas Cendoya, 19, was recovering in a hospital after being rescued Wednesday night in Trabuco Canyon, CNN affiliate KTLA reported.
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Officers arrested the son of legendary actor Clark Gable this week on suspicion of drunken driving after he crashed into six parked cars in Malibu, California.
John Clark Gable, 52, was driving a white Ford pick-up truck Tuesday near the Malibu Pier when the crashes occurred, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department reported.
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Michael Jackson's last concert promoter will defend itself in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the pop icon's family by arguing that Jackson was responsible for his own demise.
Child molestation accusations against Jackson, for which he was acquitted after a trial, and evidence of his drug addiction will likely be presented by AEG Live's lawyers as they argue that the company had no liability in his death.
Jackson died two weeks before his "This Is It" comeback concerts, organized by AEG Live, were to have debuted in London in the summer of 2009.
FULL STORYFormer Bell, California, Mayor Oscar Hernandez was found guilty Wednesday on five felony charges for the misappropriation of funds, with more such verdicts possible as the jury continues to weigh several counts in the case.
Hernandez and several former city council members in Bell, a city of 36,000 people about 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, had been on trial since January after prosecutors accused them of widespread corruption.
In addition to convicting him on five charges, the jury on Wednesday found Hernandez not guilty of five other charges.
There were similarly split verdicts for former Bell city council members Teresa Jacobo, George Mirabal, George Cole Jr. and Victor Bello. The only ex-council member found not guilty on all counts announced Wednesday was Luis Antonio Artiga.
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Breathtaking blossoms nearly the size of our solar systemare strewn across the universe - hundreds of thousands of them. Quasars are, at the same time, among the most fiery monsters.
Astronomer Maarten Schmidt was the first to discover one and revealed it to the world 50 years ago Saturday in an article in the journal Nature.
His discovery was a sensation in the 1960s and made its way into pop culture. It was the age of the first manned space flights.
FULL STORYA boyhood wish is finally about to come true. But Maurice Griffin had to wait until he was a man for it to happen.
At age 32, the California man is about to be adopted.
"It has to happen," Griffin said. "I didn't fight for all those years for no reason."
Adopting the burly, muscular, mohawk-sporting man is Lisa Godbold, his one-time foster mother.
"I just feel like this makes it official," Godbold said. "And we don't have to keep explaining it now."
FULL STORYFour California men allegedly molested as boys by a priest have settled their lawsuit against the Los Angeles Archdiocese and Cardinal Roger Mahony for almost $10 million, their attorneys said Tuesday.
The priest, no longer in the clergy, abused the boys on several occasions dating back to the 1970s, including during overnight trips to San Diego and Riverside counties, the attorneys said.
The archdiocese's attorney, J. Michael Hennigan, confirmed the $9.9 million settlement with the four men.
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A 26-year-old female intern was killed Wednesday afternoon by an African lion inside a cage at an exotic cat sanctuary in California, authorities said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family at this critical time," said Dale Anderson, founder of Project Survival Cat Haven in Dunlap.
The lion, a 5-year-old, 350-pound cat named Cous Cous, was shot and killed, officials said.
FULL STORYA 46-year-old man from Austin, Texas, died Sunday during the swim portion of the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco, according to race officials.
"We have reason to believe the gentleman suffered from a massive cardiac event as he entered the water and began the swim," race director Bill Burke said in a statement.
"Water safety noticed him immediately and initiated CPR while he was in the water and as they transferred him to land," he added.
Burke said he believes the man's death marks the first in the triathlon's 33-year history.
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California Gov. Jerry Brown reversed a decision to grant parole to Bruce Davis, a former follower of Charles Manson.
"When considered as a whole, I find the evidence ... shows why he currently poses a danger to society if released from prison," the governor wrote.
Brown's office had received a formal recommendation from the state board parole Friday to release Davis, 70, who would have been the first Manson "family" member to secure freedom solely for good behavior.
FULL STORYA file titled "Suicide Note" was recovered from the desktop computer in the bedroom of a man called responsible for the killings of three people in Orange County, California, last month, authorities said Friday.
The note had indications that Ali Syed was responsible for premeditated and planned acts, according to Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. "Although this investigation will continue, to date, Orange County Sheriff's homicide investigators have not found any prior connection/relationship between Syed and any of his victims."
The shooting spree ended when Syed died after he turned his gun on himself as police approached on a road north of Tustin, authorities said.
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Two former guests have filed suit against the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, where the body of a 21-year-old woman was found in mid-February in a rooftop water tank.
Steve and Gloria Cott filed suit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Elisa Lam's decomposing body floated inside a water tank for as long as 19 days while guests used water from it to brushed their teeth, bathe and drink.
The hotel did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, 26, the suspect in a shooting and crash that left three people dead last week in Las Vegas, has been arrested in Los Angeles, the FBI said Thursday.
FBI spokeswoman Lourdes Arocho said Harris was apprehended by the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department Fugitive Task Force at noon (3 p.m. ET) in the North Hollywood section of the city.
Harris, who police said has an extensive criminal history, was considered armed and dangerous.
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Two officers with the Santa Cruz Police Department in California were fatally shot Tuesday, as was the lone suspect, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak told reporters.
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