California

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PTA Moms Busted in $14M Ponzi Scheme

LA County women scammed other parents out of life savings

(Newser) - Look out, Bernie Madoff: A trio of mothers in a well-to-do suburb of Los Angeles have been charged with scamming other parents out of millions. Police say the women, all members of an elementary school PTA, ran a $14 million Ponzi scheme by simply winning the trust of victims at...

1,400 California State Workers Paid $200K+

Some make more than half-a-million

(Newser) - State budget problems? What budget problems? That's what some 1,400 California state workers who pull in at least $200,000 a year are wondering. One prison doc earned a cool $777,000 last year, and a dentist collected $599,000. Most of the top paid workers are doctors,...

Calif. Gay History Bill Heads to Governor

Measure would require history lessons to include gay contributions

(Newser) - A bill requiring California schools to teach gay history is headed for Gov. Jerry Brown's desk after passing the state Assembly. The bill, SB48, would make California the first state in the union to require history classes and textbooks to include the contributions of gay and lesbian Americans, reports...

Hybrid Drivers Lose Carpool Lane

Carpool lanes now only for carpoolers in California

(Newser) - The environment thanks you, now get in the right lane with everybody else. Solo drivers of hybrid cars are no longer allowed in California's carpool lanes, reports the Los Angeles Times . The privilege initiated as incentive for drivers to buy low-emission vehicles expired at the end of June. The...

Calif. Kids Accused of Taunting Black Teen With Noose

Wrestler teammates suspended, cops investigating

(Newser) - California high school wrestlers face possible hate-crime charges for reportedly taunting a black teammate with a hangman's noose, then chaining him to a locker, police said. The mother of the victim didn't learn of the confrontation until almost a month after it occurred. "That the school district...

Man Accused of Coaxing Boy, 11, to Drive on Highway

Suspect told girlfriend's son to follow him, police say

(Newser) - An illegal highway game of follow-the-leader landed a 51-year-old man in jail, with investigators saying yesterday that the man coaxed his girlfriend's 11-year-old son to follow him in a car through the Mojave Desert. Terry Michael Varner was charged with willful cruelty to a child resulting in possible injury...

Feds Coughing Up $4.5B for Calif. Solar Projects

Three projects to generate 1,330 megawatts of power

(Newser) - Hollywood may be home to the stars, but California is going solar—with $4.5 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy going to three solar energy projects, reports the AP . The three projects, to be announced today, will create 1,330 metawatts of power and generate 1,...

Calif. Judge Steps Up Protection for 40 Species

Feds not doing enough for wildlife in national forests, judge rules

(Newser) - Endangered birds, fish, frogs, butterflies, and even a species of sea lion are set to benefit from a judge's ruling that federal authorities need to do more to protect some 40 species in southern California's national forests. The judge ordered three federal agencies to "take all necessary...

Jerry Brown's Spokesman: GOP 'Basically Moronic'

California governor doesn't think Republicans are very bright

(Newser) - With California Democrats and Republicans at an impasse on the state budget with a deadline looming, here's a sample of how things are going from Gov. Jerry Brown's spokesman: “The Republicans in Sacramento are basically moronic,” he tells Southern California Public Radio . "They aren’t...

Cat Burglar Is ... Actual Cat
 Cat Burglar Is ... Actual Cat 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 25, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

Cat Burglar Is ... Actual Cat

Dusty takes shoes, swimsuits, and more

(Newser) - A prolific cat burglar has stolen precious possessions from homes near San Francisco. But police are staying off the case—the burglar really is a cat. Dusty, a 5-year-old feline from San Mateo, has taken hundreds of items during his nearly nightly heists. Dusty's owner tells the San Francisco ...

Mom Arraigned in Microwave Death of Baby

Ka Yang claims split personality disorder

(Newser) - A Northern California woman accused of killing her baby in a microwave oven was arraigned yesterday on murder charges that could lead to the death penalty if she is convicted. Prosecutors charged Ka Yang, 29, with one count of murder with the special circumstance that the killing was intentional and...

States Putting Antitrust Screws to Google, Too

California, New York, and Ohio join Texas in starting inquiries

(Newser) - As if the looming federal probe wasn’t bad enough, Google is now facing antitrust investigations from a number of states. California, New York, and Ohio have begun inquiries into the possible anti-competitive threat posed by Google’s search dominance, jumping on a bandwagon Texas started last year, the Financial ...

California Can't Afford Teachers for $105M School

Meanwhile nearby high school badly overcrowded

(Newser) - California is just about finished building its new $105 million high school, which would be good news for the overcrowded Alvord Unified School District—if it actually had the money to run the thing. Instead, budget constraints are so tight that the district can’t afford to hire administrators, teachers,...

6 States Ablaze, 1.2M Acres Lost

OK, fire not being caused by illegal immigrants, admits John McCain

(Newser) - Six states are ablaze in a searing summer that's breaking records for wildfires. More than 1.2 million acres have already burned and some 10,000 people have been forced to flee their homes as flames devour land in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Colorado, as well as Georgia...

Church Recovers Its Chunk of St. Anthony

Woman busted after 800-year-old relic recovered

(Newser) - A Catholic church in Long Beach has been reunited with its piece of the patron saint of missing things. The 780-year-old relic of St. Anthony of Padua, a sliver of bone encased in a gold and silver reliquary, was stolen earlier this week . Police found the relic displayed in the...

Offensive Ad's Creator to Critics: 'Suck it'

Turn Right USA not apologizing for ad many are calling racist, sexist

(Newser) - If you were offended by the Turn Right USA ad featuring machine-gun-toting gangsters ordering a Democratic candidate for Congress to "Give me your cash, bitch, so we can shoot up the streets,” well, tough. Ladd Ehlinger Jr, the conservative filmmaker who created the ad, tells Salon that critics...

Is This Most Racist, Sexist Political Ad Ever?

'Give us your cash, ho, so we can shoot up the streets,' chant gangsters

(Newser) - The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is blasting what could be the most stunningly racist, sexist campaign ad in history. The web ad, produced by the ultra conservative Turn Right USA PAC , features machine-gun toting black ganstas ordering "bitch" and "ho" Democratic candidate for Congress Janice Hahn to give...

Gay Marriage Opponents Fail in California Court Bid

Gay judge didn't need to recuse himself on Prop 8, says ruling

(Newser) - A victory for gay marriage in California today: The judge who overturned the state's ban last year was under no obligation to recuse himself because he is gay and in a long-term relationship, a federal judge ruled. "It is not reasonable to presume that a judge is incapable...

Key Ruling Due Today on Calif. Gay Marriage Ban

Judge to rule on gay colleague's decision striking down Prop. 8

(Newser) - Chief US District Judge James Ware will rule today on whether Judge Vaughn R. Walker's decision to strike down the state's gay marriage ban should be invalidated because the judge is gay and in a long-term relationship. Walker "occupied precisely those same shoes as the plaintiffs" when...

California Yanks Racist Tombstones

Negro Hill graves mislabeled in '50s

(Newser) - After more than 50 years, California is replacing 36 tombstones in an El Dorado Hills cemetery inscribed with a racial epithet. When the US Army Corps of Engineers relocated the cemetery from the Gold Rush-era settlement of Negro Hill to make way for a dam in 1954, markers for the...

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