California

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Keanu Testifies, Denies Car Hit Photog

Paparazzo insists Reeves' Porsche bumped, injured him

(Newser) - Keanu Reeves and a paparazzo faced off in court yesterday over whether the Matrix actor hit the photog with his car last year, AP reports. Reeves insisted he inched forward to try to get by the lurking paparazzo, Alison Silva. But Silva, in his civil case, insists the bumper of...

Voting by Mail Is 2008's Big Winner

Voters like to go at own pace, but some worry about fraud, lost ballots

(Newser) - Nearly half of California's ballots this year will be cast by mail, marking an upward trend that isn't restricted to the Golden State, the Los Angeles Times reports. Washington and Oregon are almost completely mail-in only, and voter-rights organizations across the country hail the convenience of sending in votes. But...

Apple, Google Join California Gay Marriage Fight

Battle over initiative draws record donations on both sides

(Newser) - Apple donated $100,000 to battle the proposition to ban gay marriage in California yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports, joining Google, which anted up $140,000 earlier this week. “Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out...

LA Wildfire Threatens Getty
 LA Wildfire Threatens Getty 
Oct 23, 2008 9:27 AM CDT

LA Wildfire Threatens Getty

Winds could move blaze unpredictably: officials

(Newser) - A wildfire raging in Los Angeles this morning threatens the Getty Center’s priceless paintings and sculptures, and homes in swanky Brentwood's hills, the Times reports. Firefighters temporarily closed an interstate as more than 500 of them deployed an air assault to battle the early-morning blaze. Officials worry winds picking...

Gay Marriage Vote Highlights Calif. Divides

Urban, coastal areas generally oppose Prop. 8; less-populated inland areas support it

(Newser) - California’s looming referendum on gay marriage is highlighting the cultural divide between coastal and inland regions, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Polls show 37% of voters in coastal counties supported Proposition 8—which would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage—in a June poll, while 54% in...

Drive-Through Voting Debuts in SoCal

OC voters vote fast-food style

(Newser) - You couldn't get a Big Mac at this drive-through, reports the AP—just democracy. Voters didn't need to leave their cars yesterday to either register or cast ballots at an electronic drive-through station. The one-day-only offer came on the last day of voter registration for Californians. An Orange County elections...

Ellen Gives $100K to Stop Prop 8

(Newser) - After being pilloried by gay rights activists, Ellen DeGeneres reportedly gave $100,000 to the No on Prop 8 coalition, which supports gay marriage in California, Access Hollywood notes. Along with the money, DeGeneres released a video on her website pleading with voters to not support the proposition, which would...

Jury Stuck on Britney's State
Jury Stuck on Britney's State
Oct 18, 2008 4:57 AM CDT

Jury Stuck on Britney's State

Traffic trial hinges on whether star counts as Californian or Louisianan

(Newser) - The jury in Britney Spear's traffic trial couldn't reach a verdict yesterday and has retired for the weekend to ponder whether the LA resident counts as a California girl, the Los Angeles Times reports. Spears' lawyer argues the singer, charged with driving without a valid California license, doesn't need one...

Calif. Teachers Drop $1M to Fight Gay Marriage Ban

Broader effort by ban opponents to step up funding

(Newser) - The California teachers union donated $1 million to the fight to defeat a gay marriage ban on the ballot next month, reports the Los Angeles Times. Opponents of the ban have been dramatically outspent by supporters, and so have lately stepped up their fundraising. “For us it’s a...

Sacramento GOP Site Takes Down Obama Hate Images

Officials voice disgust over local party linking Dem to bin Laden

(Newser) - Sacramento Republicans yesterday removed images from their website urging voters to “Waterboard Barack Obama” and declaring “The Only Difference Between Obama and Osama is a Little BS.” State party leaders condemned the content, with a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calling it “completely and totally inappropriate,...

States Warn Feds They May Ask for Cash, Too

Deficits and tight credit may force states to beg for Treasury dollars

(Newser) - The credit crisis is threatening states with budget shortfalls, and they could be the next group seeking a federal bailout, the Christian Science Monitor reports. California, looking at a $7 billion deficit, has informed the Treasury that it could come calling. States take loans to cover lean times, in the...

Winds Slow in Fire's 'Halftime'





 Winds Slow in Fire's 'Halftime' 
Oct 14, 2008 1:35 PM CDT

Winds Slow in Fire's 'Halftime'

One blaze 70% contained

(Newser) - Waning Santa Ana winds brought reprieve and progress—albeit temporary—for the firemen battling wildfires around Los Angeles, the Times reports. One nearly 5,000-acre fire near Lake View Terrace is now 70% contained, but a second in Porter Ranch doubled in size overnight. “This thing is not out....

SF Mayor Becomes Unwitting Gay-Marriage Bugbear

Newsom presided over lesbian teacher's wedding attended by students playing hooky

(Newser) - In California’s gay marriage fight, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom finds himself cast as the villain, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Newsom, a ban opponent, had largely kept a low profile. But he gave Proposition 8 supporters fodder on Friday by officiating at the wedding of a lesbian teacher,...

Clerks too Busy to Resurrect 'Bride', 'Groom'

Local officials ask Calif. to wait 'til after election for change

(Newser) - A civil servants group in California has asked the state for a delay in restoring the words “bride” and “groom” as an option on marriage licenses because clerks are too swamped with election preparations to update the forms, reports the New York Times. The group has “no...

Emergency Declared as Fires Lash LA Homes

2 killed, dozens of homes destroyed as flames roar into northern LA

(Newser) - California's governor has declared a state of emergency as twin wind-driven wildfires  tear through north Los Angeles. Unpredictable 60 mph Santa Ana winds are shooting roaring flames up canyons, and firefighters fear that one blaze—which has already jumped an eight-lane freeway—could burn all the way to the Pacific...

New Solar Tech Can Top This
 New Solar Tech Can Top This 
glossies
Oct 12, 2008 7:31 PM CDT

New Solar Tech Can Top This

Solyndra's designs can capture light from any angle

(Newser) - A California company's new, sun-sucking glass tubes aim to solve solar power's practical problems, the Economist reports. Chief among them are flat panels that miss the sun—by looking the wrong way—and cost more than $40,000 per household to install. Solyndra's new technology uses glass tubes that capture...

Hundreds Flee Calif. Wildfire
 Hundreds Flee Calif. Wildfire 
Oct 12, 2008 6:38 PM CDT

Hundreds Flee Calif. Wildfire

Blaze burns homes 20 miles north of Los Angeles

(Newser) - A wildfire engulfed 750 acres north of Los Angeles today and forced 1,200 people to flee, the Los Angeles Times reports. It also razed two houses and three motor homes. As helicopters water-bombed the blaze, officials said firefighters had “a really good handle” on it—but admitted the...

Conn. Becomes 3rd State to OK Gay Marriage

(Newser) - Connecticut today became the third state to legalize gay marriage, after Massachusetts and California. In a 4-3 ruling, the state supreme court said civil unions are discriminatory because they violate the equal protection clause of the state constitution, the Hartford Courant reports. Although she disagrees, Gov. Jodi Rell said, "...

Calif. Portends Recession to Come

The housing bubble burst there first ... is California a sign of things to come in US?

(Newser) - Trend-setting California may be the “canary in the mine shaft,” its own recession showing the rest of the country what a national downturn could look like, reports the Wall Street Journal. The state’s $1.8 trillion economy has been bludgeoned by an unemployment rate among the worst...

Unemployment Funds Could Dry Up

Growing ranks of jobless stressing states' abilities to help

(Newser) - At least 10 states have less than six months worth of unemployment benefit reserves and could run out of cash early in 2009, reports CNN. The national unemployment level is currently at 6.1%—the highest since 2001—and is expected to keep climbing. Economists say states should have packed...

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