California – News Stories About California - Page 204

San Jose Suspends
Cops in Student Beating

VIRAL VIDEO

Oct 26, 2009 1:49 AM CDT

San Jose Suspends Cops in Student Beating

Officers suspended, officials 'concerned' over use of force

(Newser) - Four San Jose police officers videotaped as they beat and tasered a college student have been placed on administrative leave pending an official review. A grainy cell phone video shows the officers using nightsticks to repeatedly strike Phuong Ho, 20, after responding to a domestic disturbance call last month. Ho...

Wildfire Suspect Charged in Heart Attack 'Murders'

Oct 23, 2009 4:13 AM CDT

Wildfire Suspect Charged in Heart Attack 'Murders'

Unusual case links arson to deaths

(Newser) - California officials have taken the unusual step of charging a wildfire arson suspect with murder in the death of 5 people who suffered heart attacks escaping the flames. Prosecutors intend to prove the stress of the fire caused the deaths in the massive 2003 San Bernardino blaze. The groundbreaking case...

California Says Bank
Fleeced Pension Funds

Oct 20, 2009 5:11 PM CDT

California Says Bank Fleeced Pension Funds

State seeks $200M from State Street Bank of Boston

(Newser) - California sued a Boston bank today and accused it of ripping off $56.6 million from two state pension funds. It wants all that money back, plus another $150 million in penalties. Attorney General Jerry Brown accused State Street Bank of "unconscionable fraud" and called it "just the...

Gretzky, Montana Sons Hobnob on High School Team

Oct 14, 2009 5:40 AM CDT

Gretzky, Montana Sons Hobnob on High School Team

Sporting legends cheer on their offspring at California's Oaks Christian

(Newser) - California's Oaks Christian is ranked the fifth best high school team in the country but the sporting icons in the stands often get more attention than the players. The '49ers superstar Joe Montana and NHL legend Wayne Gretzky regularly turn up to watch their sons, quarterback Nick Montana and his...

Calif. Will Honor
Harvey Milk

Oct 12, 2009 5:53 PM CDT

Calif. Will Honor Harvey Milk

'Day of significance' commemorates gay rights pioneer

(Newser) - Reversing his position on a bill he vetoed a year ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed off on bill making May 22 an annual day of recognition in honor of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk. The San Francisco supervisor, who was assassinated in 1978, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom...

Nolte's Son Busted in DUI

Oct 8, 2009 2:53 AM CDT

Nolte's Son Busted in DUI

Brawley nabbed after California accident

(Newser) - Like father, like son. Nick Nolte's son Brawley has been busted in Santa Monica on suspicion of driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance, according to cops. The 23-year-old sometimes-actor, who played Mel Gibson's son in Ransom, was nabbed after an accident on the Pacific Highway and...

Man Posing as Doc Charged as 'Craigslist Molester'

Oct 7, 2009 5:21 AM CDT

Man Posing as Doc Charged as 'Craigslist Molester'

He offered money for sperm samples

(Newser) - A Phoenix man posing on Craigslist as a fertility doctor offering money for sperm samples has been charged with sexually assaulting four young men, reports the Arizona Republic. Jeffrey Graybill, 40, is suspected of molesting as many as 24 victims in Arizona and California, police said. He is also charged...

LA Shows the Love to
28-Year-Old Maestro

Oct 1, 2009 9:49 AM CDT

LA Shows the Love to 28-Year-Old Maestro

Gustavo Dudamel takes up baton at leading American orchestra

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Philharmonic greeted its new music director yesterday with waves, cheers, and bursts of brass and strings, and cameras tailed the new boss as he hugged his principal musicians. It wasn't a standard first day, but Gustavo Dudamel of Venezuela isn't a standard maestro—he's only 28 years...

Tear Up Your Lawn

OPINION

Sep 30, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

Tear Up Your Lawn

Why do we devote so much water to a superficial end?

(Newser) - Matthew Fleischer has always hated lawns as wasteful and useless. But his hate is at a fevered pitch after reading about how the desire for lush green grass in literally draining states dry. America’s lawns and golf courses require about 200 gallons of water per citizen per day. We...

Don't Apologize, Meg, Voting
Is Dumb

OPINION

Sep 30, 2009 10:42 AM CDT

Don't Apologize, Meg, Voting Is Dumb

Whitman's ballot wouldn't have made a difference anyway

(Newser) - Meg Whitman has taken heat for her, ahem, spotty voting record—the ex-CEO wasn’t even registered to vote until 2002—and, of course, she has apologized. But she shouldn’t have, writes Christopher Beam for Slate. Economists have long argued that, from an individual’s perspective, voting is irrational....

Whitman Skipped Voting Due to 'Family Demands'

Sep 30, 2009 5:51 AM CDT

Whitman Skipped Voting Due to 'Family Demands'

But that's no excuse, admits former GOP favorite for Calif. gov race

(Newser) - Wanna-be California governor and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman says she skipped voting for 28 years because of her family and her hubby's work. "I was focused on raising a family, on my husband's career, and we moved many, many times," she told reporters. "It is no...

Meg Whitman Tests Media's
Celeb-CEO Myth

Analysis

Sep 28, 2009 3:09 PM CDT

Meg Whitman Tests Media's Celeb-CEO Myth

Calif. voters to decide if ex-eBay honcho was really a rock star

(Newser) - For years Meg Whitman has benefited from the sycophantic business media’s lionization of the CEO. Throughout the boom years, “CEOs were pretty much automatically rock stars,” writes Simon Dumenco for Advertising Age. “If they banked a billion or more, the thinking went, they must have been...

Oh, Poor Polanski, Child Rapist

OPINION

Sep 28, 2009 1:31 PM CDT

Oh, Poor Polanski, Child Rapist

He pleaded guilty and fled. How can anyone rationalize that?

(Newser) - Kate Harding would like to remind everyone crowing about the injustice of arresting a 76-year-old man who’s put in 31 years of exile that Roman Polanski is a fugitive and, coincidentally, a child rapist. The director “gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne,” according to her...

Obvious Guy to Fix Calif.: Guy Who Broke It?

ANALYSIS

Sep 26, 2009 5:16 AM CDT

Obvious Guy to Fix Calif.: Guy Who Broke It?

Despite one ruinous turn as governor, Jerry Brown is front-runner

(Newser) - California is a financial mess, hamstrung by some late-1970s leftovers: some ill-considered “low-impact liberalism” and a ballot measure that makes raising taxes nearly impossible. Both came during the governorship of Democrat Jerry Brown, he of the motto “Maybe by avoiding doing things you accomplish quite a lot”—...

Horrorcore Rap Killings Shock Sleepy Va. Town

Sep 24, 2009 8:29 AM CDT

Horrorcore Rap Killings Shock Sleepy Va. Town

Questions abound about music's role in family's slaughter

(Newser) - Farmville is a sleepy Virginia town of 7,000, hardly the kind of place you’d expect a Californian “horrorcore” rapper to brutally bludgeon four people to death, Yet that's exactly what 20-year-old Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, aka “Syko Sam,” is suspected of doing. “I...

Expanded Gambling
Won't Be a Windfall: Silver

Analysis

Sep 21, 2009 1:29 PM CDT

Expanded Gambling Won't Be a Windfall: Silver

(Newser) - The many states hoping gambling will revive their troubled budgets are in for an unpleasant surprise, writes Nate Silver for Esquire. Gambling is supposed to be recession-proof, but that hasn’t been the case this time. "The year 2008 was the first time in history that total casino gaming...

Et tu, Barack? Teachers Lose Another Ally

Sep 20, 2009 5:35 PM CDT

Et tu, Barack? Teachers Lose Another Ally

Embattled unions don't want evaluation based on test scores

(Newser) - Teachers union members are fuming over President Obama's desire to stay the course and evaluate educators based on student test scores, McClatchy reports. Obama is even threatening to withhold California stimulus money unless the state enshrines the student-teacher performance link into law. "It takes more than the ability to...

Rapper Who Posted Murder Lyrics Busted in 4 Killings

Sep 20, 2009 12:25 PM CDT

Rapper Who Posted Murder Lyrics Busted in 4 Killings

'I hate everybody,' says aspiring horrorcore singer 'Syko Sam'

(Newser) - An aspiring California "horrorcore" rapper who posted songs about killing on his MySpace page is being held as a suspect in the murder of four people, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 20, was arrested as he awaited a flight back home from Virginia, where the...

Flat-Screen TVs Must Use Less Energy: Calif.

Sep 19, 2009 1:40 PM CDT

Flat-Screen TVs Must Use Less Energy: Calif.

State is the first to demand better efficiency

(Newser) - Move over Hummer, there's a new energy-hogging villain in town—flat-screen TVs. California yesterday became the first state to mandate better energy efficiency for televisions, reports the San Jose Mercury News. All sets sold there must reduce consumption 30% by 2011 and 50% by 2013. The industry is outraged, but...

Clinton Boosts Newsom
in Calif. Gov Race

Sep 17, 2009 2:52 AM CDT

Clinton Boosts Newsom in Calif. Gov Race

Bill's support for SF mayor viewed as Jerry Brown payback

(Newser) - Bill Clinton's support for Gavin Newsom in the race to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as California governor has put the spotlight on the San Francisco mayor's campaign, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Clinton's support has given Newsom a much-needed boost. But some analysts believe it has more to do with...