UC Davis among a handful of California schools.

The mother of murder victim Chandra Levy is speaking out against a statewide proposal for early release of prison inmates.

An Oakland crowd turned unruly Wednesday night, protesting a shooting death at the hands of a transit agency police officer.  Violence Erupts

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson says his first 35 days in office have been some of the most meaningful in his life.

The opening of a new women and children's center at Kaiser Permanente's Roseville Medical Center will make it Placer County's largest employer.

Hundreds of pelicans are falling ill, even dying, along California's coast, leaving experts baffled.

AP - The Illinois House committee investigating Gov. Rod Blagojevich released a draft report Thursday that concludes the Democratic governor has abused his power and was poised to recommend he be impeached by the full chamber.

AP - Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators found 100 signed checks worth $173 million in Bernard Madoff's office desk that he was ready to send out to his closest family and friends at the time of his arrest last month.

AP - An Alabama police sergeant accused of faking his abduction, stealing money and flying to Vegas won't contest a return back home to face charges.

AP - Georgia, Ohio and Minnesota are among the states that are part of a national salmonella outbreak that has sent at least a dozen people to the hospital and sickened nearly 400 people, officials said Thursday.

AP - Mayor Ron Dellums urged residents to remain calm after protests turned violent in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a transit police officer.

AP - A 64-year-old woman whose heart stopped beating and body temperature dropped to a dangerous 60 degrees after she was stuck in the cold for hours has survived — and her recovery amazed doctors.

AP - More than 30,000 people were urged to leave their flood-endangered western Washington homes as snowmelt and rain swelled rivers and caused mudslides and avalanches that engulfed neighborhoods and roadways.

AP - Thousands of evacuated residents were allowed to return to their homes Thursday after firefighters took advantage of slowing winds overnight to partially contain a wildfire near Denver that destroyed two houses and several outbuildings.

AP - Robert Vassallo and Angellette Smith had been battered by waves for two days when a final surge sent their boat crashing into a reef off the western coast of Cuba.

AP - Republican Sen. Kit Bond announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election in 2010, saying he does not "aspire to become Missouri's oldest senator."

AP - A 17-year-old high school dropout shot, bludgeoned or stabbed to death four people over the Christmas holidays, three of them in the home of a jewelry merchant, police said Thursday.

AP - A northern Alabama sheriff was in federal custody Thursday after a judge ruled he purposely fed inmates skimpy meals so he could make money from an unusual system that lets sheriffs turn a profit on their jail kitchens.

AP - Former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has reached the end of the road in his effort to reverse his conviction in an airport bathroom sex sting, one of his lawyers said Thursday.