California employees can't be fired just because they use medical marijuana, according to a bill that has passed the Legislature. 

The mother of a missing Florida toddler bailed out by Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla was back behind bars again late Friday.

Fire response possibly slowed by a "browned out" Sacramento engine may have played a role in a blaze that destroyed two homes Friday.

The threat of Biggs-Gridley Memorial Hospital closing its doors has the community scrambling to raise money.  

A young woman walked into a Stockton funeral home Friday afternoon and left a newborn infant, police say. 

Overspending has been the culprit behind most personal bankruptcies in recent years, according to a UC Davis study.

AP - As city officials detailed plans for an evacuation that could be called over the weekend, some residents weren't waiting to be told to leave.

AP - In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor's office and now — making history — to John McCain's side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket.

AP - Gustav rapidly gained power early Saturday and verged on becoming a fearsome Category 3 hurricane as it neared western Cuba on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast three years after Hurricane Katrina.

AP - Police with bullhorns plan to go street to street this weekend with a tough message about getting out ahead of Hurricane Gustav: This time there will be no shelter of last resort. The doors to the Superdome will be locked. Those who stay will be on their own.

AP - At 9:38 a.m. on Friday, about 200 mourners rang handbells to mark the moment three years ago when New Orleans' levees were breached by high waters from Hurricane Katrina, flooding most of the city and leading to the deaths of about 1,600 people.

AP - DNA evidence has linked an air conditioning repairman to the stabbing deaths of three women, including a former girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher, police said Friday.

AP - The Maine artist who brought LOVE to the world is doing the same with HOPE.

AP - Many things have gone wrong for Navy Senior Chief Tommy Gura while disarming nearly 200 improvised explosive devices in Iraq. He's been shot at and targeted for mortar attacks. His robots have blown up and he's lost communication to call for backup.

AP - A series of fast-moving thunderstorms packing winds of up to 100 mph plowed through the Phoenix area, leaving tens of thousands without power, damaging several airliners and collapsing a brand-new college football facility.

AP - Two airliners were one minute from colliding when at least one of the planes turned away from the other over the Atlantic Ocean this week, federal authorities said Friday.

AP - NASA's staff will study whether the space shuttle program could continue operating past its scheduled retirement in 2010, according to an internal e-mail sent this week.

AP - The difference between a monster and a wimp for Gulf of Mexico hurricanes often comes down to a small patch of warm deep water that's easy to miss. It's called the Loop Current, and hurricane trackers say Gustav is headed right for it, reminiscent of Katrina.

AP - A mother was convicted Friday of killing her month-old daughter by burning her in a microwave oven, with jurors rejecting a defense attorney's claims there was evidence that someone else was responsible.