New federal findings, released Monday, report that Pacific Gas & Electric is unable to find key documents about the section of natural gas pipeline that exploded last fall in San Bruno and has depended on faulty or nonexistent data to... (Continue reading)
Legislation that would significantly increase fines for drivers who talk on cell phones or text was approved Monday and needs only Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. [Chronicle] The bill, SB 28, also prohibits bicyclists from texting or talking on a phone,... (Continue reading)
The Salinas City Council will consider today whether to ban polystyrene “takeout” boxes, which tend to break up over time and leach out toxic chemicals, and are considered a major source of marine pollution and litter, environmentalists say. [The Salinas... (Continue reading)
The defendant in a March 18 Arroyo Grande cross burning who is being charged with a hate crime claims that he was attempting to memorialize the death of his father, not to express racial hatred. [The Tribune] The attorney for... (Continue reading)
Deputies are searching for two men who forced their way into a rural Arroyo Grande home on Sunday evening and tied up two brothers before robbing them. Two men wearing bandanas stormed into the house on the 2300 block of... (Continue reading)
The amorphous hacker group known as Anonymous attacked a Bay Area Rapid Transit website Sunday in retaliation for BART’s decision to cut cell phone service to prevent a flash mob protest against San Francisco police. [San Francisco Chronicle] BART scrambled... (Continue reading)
Officials with the League of California Cities are offering a new pension reform plan for struggling California towns, proposing a “detailed legal review”of whether pensions promised current workers can be reduced. [Calpensions] “Pension sustainability cannot be fully achieved without addressing... (Continue reading)
State budget cuts will leave San Luis Obispo Superior Court about $1 million short of its $19 million 2011 operating budget. [The Tribune] Cuts of $350 million, the largest in state’s history, from judicial the branch’s budget for fiscal year... (Continue reading)
Three male residents of a Paso Robles apartment were involved in a disturbance on Friday that included gunfire. Shortly after 5 p.m., officers responding to multiple 911 calls heard two gun shots coming from an apartment building on the 3500... (Continue reading)
Federal investigators arrested the former president of the Ventura County Chapter of the “Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang” on Friday for firebombing two competing tattoo shops, according to a press release. George Christie Jr., 64, of Ventura, was one of... (Continue reading)