California is asking the Trump administration to provide surplus federal land that could be used to build housing for the homeless, mirroring a new state program.

A second convicted child molester has died after he was beaten with a walking cane by another inmate last week at a central California prison, officials said Wednesday. Graham De Luis-Conti, 62, was pronounced dead on Sunday at a hospital, three days after authorities said he was attacked at California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in the small…

An avalanche Friday morning at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe killed one skier and seriously injured another, officials said. The avalanche, which was reported around 10:16 a.m., happened in an area between Scott Chute and Promised Land — two advanced level ski runs — near Scott Chair, ski resort officials said. The area consists of some of the…

California lawmakers have rejected what would have been a first-of-its-kind ban on medically unnecessary treatment for infants born with ambiguous or conflicting genitalia. The measure would have banned all procedures on intersex children 6 and under unless the Medical Board of California deemed them medically necessary. State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who wrote the measure, called…

A team of eye experts has operated on an unusual patient — a gorilla. A cataract was removed on Dec. 10 from the left eye of a 3-year-old western lowland gorilla who lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the park announced Monday.

Two men who alleged that Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children can sue two corporate entities tied to the late singer’s estate, a state appeals court unanimously ruled Friday. A three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned 2017 rulings that stated Wade Robson and James Safechuck could not sue MJJ Productions Inc. or MJJ…

A skeleton recently found on California’s second-highest mountain could be the remains of a Japanese-American man who disappeared from an internment camp during the waning days of World War II.

Owners of electric vehicles in a number of states will start seeing fees to pay for road repairs in the new year. At least eight states will begin charging new or higher registration fees Wednesday for electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids. The new fees mean that, for the first time, a majority of states will assess special fees on gas-free...

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a California law banning the import and sale of alligator and crocodile products. U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller also scheduled an April 24 hearing on Louisiana’s request for a longer-lasting order called a preliminary injunction. “The temporary restraining order is the first step in protecting Louisiana’s alligator industry, which creates jobs, supports...

A California woman who authorities believe was in danger of abuse got help from an unlikely source on Christmas Eve, NBC News reports. Employees at a McDonald’s restaurant in Lodi intervened and called 911 after the woman, whose identity has not been released, indicated she was in danger, according to a Facebook post from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office on...

PG&E paid top execs $17 million in bonuses from 2012 to 2017, partly for meeting safety goals despite the fact that the company’s poor maintenance has been linked to deadly fires.

A federal appeals court affirmed a nearly 20-year prison sentence for a doctor who performed unnecessary spinal surgeries in California and Michigan, procedures that were described by prosecutors as “plain butchery.” Aria Sabit acknowledged the awful care nearly three years ago in federal court in Detroit, but he appealed the 235-month sentence as excessive. The appeals court, however, let it stand...

Democratic officials are pushing for an end to a labor dispute that threatens the party’s sixth presidential primary debate, scheduled for Thursday on a California university campus. Xochitl Hinojosa, the Democratic National Committee’s communications director and a lead debate organizer for DNC Chairman Tom Perez, said Monday that Perez “spent the entire weekend” urging stakeholders to engage in good-faith,...

At least three people are dead after a woman barricaded herself inside an Ontario house early Saturday morning, authorities said. Ontario Police said they responded to a domestic violence call early Saturday morning and found a man, the woman’s husband, in the doorway of a home on F Street. “The male subject was behind the screen door when they...

Louisiana is suing the state of California over its decision to ban the import and sale of alligator products, saying the ban will hurt an important Louisiana industry and ultimately could hurt the state’s wetlands. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Louisiana said the economy surrounding alligators has played a key role in bringing back the American alligator population and is an...

Rep. Duncan Hunter speaks to media after pleading guilty in his corruption case.

A group of U.S.-based scientists is rushing to document indigenous sites along Puerto Rico’s coast dating back a couple of thousand years before rising sea levels linked to climate change destroy a large chunk of the island’s heritage that is still being discovered. Scientists hope to use the 3D images they’ve taken so far to also help identify which historic...

Joe Sestak ended his long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Sunday, telling supporters that he couldn’t raise money because he was unable to break through in the media. Sestak, a former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania who turns 68 next week, qualified for none of the Democratic debates and failed to register even 1 percent in most opinion polls, NBC...

California rock climber Brad Gobright reportedly reached the top of a highly challenging rock face in northern Mexico and was rappelling down with a companion when he fell to his death. Climber Aidan Jacobson of Phoenix, Arizona, told Outside magazine he was with Gobright, and said they had just performed an ascent of the Sendero Luminoso route in the El...

Experts in Oregon, the nation’s No. 1 supplier of Christmas trees, say prices for a holiday evergreen will remain higher this year due to a tight supply.