It was an early Christmas gift which couldn't last -- gas prices under $2. Now, those prices are creeping up again.

PG&E said its workers followed policy at a gas leak that led to an explosion that destroyed a Rancho Cordova home.

An earthquake struck Southern California Thursday evening, with shaking felt from San Bernardino to Los Angeles.  How big was it?

A state official monitoring California's worsening financial situation says he's running out of words to describe it.

His offbeat sense of humor and honest assessment of sometimes grade "z" movies made him a popular fixture on local Northern California television.

A woman testified that an Elk Grove man's plea bargain to avoid prison is "a gross injustice to my family and the community."

AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is completing his national security team by announcing his unusual choices for CIA director and a national intelligence director who may face tough Senate confirmation questioning over how he confronted the Indonesian military when civilian massacres were occurring in East Timor.

AP - Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a practice the federal government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but has left unregulated.

AP - Roland Burris raised his right hand in a committee room at the Illinois Capitol, swearing to tell a room full of lawmakers the truth about his appointment by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the state's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

AP - Supporters of the ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California have filed a lawsuit seeking to block their campaign finance records from public view, saying the reports have led to the harassment of donors.

AP - In grainy cell-phone videos played over and over on the Internet, police officers force an unarmed black man to the ground and hold him face-down on a crowded train platform. Suddenly one of the officers draws his gun and fatally shoots the man in the back — then looks up.

AP - A moderate earthquake rattled much of Southern California on Thursday, with shaking felt from north of Los Angeles down to the Mexican border. No damage or injuries were reported.

AP - Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest kept tens of thousands of people from their homes Thursday, brought freight trains to a standstill and stranded hundreds of trucks along the major highways that link Seattle's busy ports with markets around the country.

AP - A half-acre plaza that has stood for the goodwill between Mexico and the United States is closing to make way for a triple fence along the U.S. southern border, the California State Parks Department confirmed Thursday.

AP - A teenager who authorities say was plotting to "shoot up" a North Carolina high school is in custody because of a tip from a teen who chatted with the suspect online, investigators said Thursday.

AP - An 82-year-old businessman was charged Thursday with running a Ponzi scheme that took in at least $17 million from a clientele gleaned largely through ads in Catholic newspapers.

AP - Thousands of evacuated residents, including former FEMA chief Michael D. Brown, began returning to their homes Thursday after firefighters gained control over a wildfire near Denver that destroyed two houses and several outbuildings.

AP - An anti-tax group will consider new legal action after a California appeals court tossed out a lawsuit that sought to block tax increases passed by Democrats in the state Legislature, the group said Thursday.