California

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LA Mayor Wants Outsiders to Run 'Failing' Schools

Teachers union says plan will lead to 'chaos in education system'

(Newser) - The mayor of Los Angeles wants to allow outside groups to place bids for control of hundreds of the city’s schools, the LA Times reports. Antonia Villaraigosa’s education reforms would allow bidding by charter-school organizations and other education nonprofits to run 50 schools scheduled to open over the...

GM Launches EBay Car Sales
 GM Launches EBay Car Sales 
Aug 11, 2009 4:51 AM CDT

GM Launches EBay Car Sales

(Newser) - GM is hoping to boost its sales in California with a trial program selling new cars and trucks on eBay, AP reports. Most of the company's dealers in the state have signed up for the program, which will let buyers haggle over the price of new vehicles and determine online...

Pee-wee Staging Comeback
 Pee-wee Staging Comeback 

Aug 11, 2009 4:03 AM CDT

Pee-wee Staging Comeback

(Newser) - Goofy kids character Pee-wee Herman will live again on a Los Angeles stage in a November comeback series by creator Paul Reubens, reports the Los Angeles Times. "I've put him away for a long time but part of him has always been with me," Reubens said in an...

Jacko Autopsy Results Under Wraps, Kids Get Biz Guardian

(Newser) - Michael Jackson's autopsy has been completed, but authorities won't release the results until after their investigation into his death has been completed, reports CNN. Detectives are investigating what role the anesthetic propofol—administered by Dr. Conrad Murphy—played in the singer's death, according to sources. Meanwhile, Jackson's three children are...

Calif. Senator to Sue Schwarzenegger Over Budget Cuts

(Newser) - The leader of California's Senate says he'll take Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to court for using line-item vetoes to slash another $500 million from the budget deal he was sent last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Democrat Darrell Steinberg accuses Schwarzenegger of overstepping his authority by making the cuts. "...

Calif. Plant Recalls Ground Beef on Salmonella Fears

Colorado department of health

(Newser) - A California meatpacking plant has issued a recall for 800,000 pounds of ground beef it fears may be tainted with salmonella, the Los Angeles Times reports. The ground beef from Beef Packers, Inc. is sold under various retail names in California, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. The recall came after...

Army Seeks New Home for Desert Tortoises

(Newser) - The Army plans to evict more than 1,000 endangered desert tortoises to expand a tank training ground in the Mojave Desert, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conservationists warn that the last effort to shift the tortoises proved disastrous: Many were wiped out by predators, and others traveled up...

Heroin Makes a Comeback
 Heroin Makes a Comeback 
Aug 5, 2009 5:00 PM CDT

Heroin Makes a Comeback

Price falls, availability surges for drug

(Newser) - The last 2 weeks have seen authorities seize huge amounts of heroin across the country—a combined 510 pounds in California, plus 17 more in New York. The drug hasn't been this readily available since the 1970s, reports the Christian Science Monitor, and authorities are worried because today's version is...

Soldier's Dad Flying Tattered Flag Until Son Comes Home

He resists calls to replace with new one

(Newser) - A California man who promised to fly the American flag until his son comes home from Iraq is getting a little heat—along with sympathy—for the tattered condition of Old Glory, reports Fox News. Louis Haros’ son, Paul, will be home this week after a tour—his second—that...

Judges: Calif. Must Free 43K Inmates in 2 Years

(Newser) - California violates inmates' constitutional rights by cramming them into overcrowded and unhealthy prisons, three federal judges ruled today. They ordered the state to reduce its inmate population of 158,000 by 43,000 over two years, the Los Angeles Times reports. No word yet on whether California will appeal to...

Places the Obamas Should Visit Instead of the Vineyard

New Orleans or Baltimore could use a presidential visit

(Newser) - Though he grants that the president may just want some peace and quiet from his upcoming vacation to Martha’s Vineyard, Max Linsky is disappointed by the choice “for a president keenly aware of symbolism,” he writes for the Stimulist. He suggests alternatives:
  • California. The state’s budget
...

Snakebites Surge in Texas, Calif.

(Newser) - Poison control centers have witnessed a steep rise in snakebites in parts of the country this summer, USA Today reports. Authorities in central Texas say bites are up 35%, and southern California has seen many more serious cases than usual. Some experts suspect more snakes are developing powerful toxins in...

Brother, Can You Save a Park?
 Brother, Can You Save a Park? 
Jul 30, 2009 2:35 AM CDT

Brother, Can You Save a Park?

(Newser) - Cash-strapped California parks are searching for private money to cope with the state's sweeping budget cuts, the Los Angeles Times reports. Up to 100 of California's 279 state parks and beaches could be forced to close after Labor Day. Just 13 of them make enough money to survive without state...

Loner Author Charts His Own Course
Loner Author Charts His
Own Course
PROFILE
Jul 29, 2009 3:46 PM CDT

Loner Author Charts His Own Course

Vollmann's new opus is typical—brilliant, but sometimes unreadable

(Newser) - Author William T. Vollmann is an odd bird—“a loner, a bit of a recluse,” Charles McGrath writes in the New York Times, “and a throwback: a wandering, try-anything writer-journalist in the tradition of Steinbeck or Jack London.” And his new book, Imperial, about Southern California,...

Mexican Pot Lords See Green in Strapped Calif. Parks

(Newser) - Mexican drug traffickers are having a banner year growing pot in California’s plentiful—and, due to the state budget crisis, woefully understaffed—parkland, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Authorities think California might see a record-breaking, multi-billion dollar crop. “Our whole state is overrun,” said a spokeswoman for...

Have Mercy, Officer: I Can't Think of a Good Excuse

(Newser) - Every time a cop pulls someone over, he or she is liable to hear an excuse. And every so often, a driver manages to surprise even the most jaded ticket-writer, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Like the pair of Frenchmen one officer caught speeding on Highway 101. They’d...

Prop 8 Foes Back Off 2010 Push
 Prop 8 Foes Back Off 2010 Push 
Jul 27, 2009 8:04 AM CDT

Prop 8 Foes Back Off 2010 Push

(Newser) - California’s gay community may want to go straight back to the polls to have another run at Proposition 8, but top advocacy groups and donors aren’t on board, the New York Times reports. “The only thing worse than losing in 2008 would be to lose again in...

Pot Backlash Grows in Mendocino

Culture is changing in a way that locals don't like

(Newser) - Hey, man, things aren't so cool anymore with marijuana farming in Mendocino County. Sure, it was great for years while "steel-haired" California hippies tended their crops, but things are getting out of hand, reports the Washington Post. Little kids started coming to school reeking of pot, while outsiders, some...

Charles Manson Reaches Out to Spector in Prison

(Newser) - Charles Mason has reached out to former music producer Phil Spector, sending the actress-killer fan mail in the California prison they now share, reports the New York Post. Manson, a mediocre musician before he turned cult leader, sent Spector a note via a guard that he wanted to meet and...

Collectors Eye California IOUs
 Collectors Eye California IOUs 
Jul 25, 2009 6:57 AM CDT

Collectors Eye California IOUs

(Newser) - California's recently issued IOUs are only the latest in a long history of dollar substitutes in America, the Wall Street Journal reports, and they're already being eyed by collectors of  temporary currency on everything from leather to plywood to old tires to clamshells. Schwarzenegger's scrip is plain in comparison to...

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