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Fourteen construction companies are on the short list of firms poised to bid for contracts to begin building California's high-speed rail system in the Fresno area later this year. California high-speed rail supporters rally outside a board meeting on Thursday in Sacramento. The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday appoints Dan Richard, cent […]

Beginning Monday and throughout the week, Lake Tahoe residents and visitors can expect to see smoke from prescribed fire operations in various areas. […]

A Sacramento federal judge heard arguments Thursday and will rule later on The Bee's objections to sealing documents that allegedly contain evidence of misconduct and fraud on the part of U.S. Forest Service employees. […]

A Sacramento federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments today on a Bee challenge to sealing documents in a legal slugfest between the government and Sierra Pacific Industries over the origin of a monster wildfire in 2007 and who should pay for the devastation it wrought. The Moonlight fire left trees bare in Plumas County. A logger says the U.S. overestima […]

An hourlong meeting Monday between Randy Pew, a Plumas County logger, and Randy Moore, regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service, resulted in no specific solutions. […]

How a dispute between a local logger and the U.S. Forest Service is resolved could affect the economic future of the timber-dependent Greenville, and local leaders are waiting on the outcome of a meeting today between the logger and the agency's regional forester to try to resolve the issue. The Moonlight fire left trees bare in Plumas County. A logger […]

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down California's ban on the slaughter of downed swine, saying the law strayed too far into federal territory. […]

One person was arrested and nine others received notices to appear in court during a Contractors State License Board sting operation in Amador County. […]

Last Wednesday, two yearling male bears got a second chance after being found last spring, injured and emaciated, in South Lake Tahoe. Tom Millham carries a sedated 1-year-old bear cub in preparation for its release into the wild after the orphan was cared for by Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. The cub's vital signs are measured by state biologists. State wil […]

When state officials ended their tax war with Amazon.com last fall, the giant Internet retailer promised to bring 10,000 jobs to California. An Amazon.com worker loads boxes filled with customers' orders onto a truck at the online retailer's warehouse in Fernley, Nev. A similar distribution center could be built in Stanislaus County. The operation […]

Breast cancer research foundation Susan G. Komen for the Cure reversed its decision to defund Planned Parenthood Friday after a three-day uproar that saw the foundation come under intense political pressure by pro-choice advocates. Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of the foundation, said in a statement that the philanthropic ... […]

BOSTON — Hackers have taken over the websites of several law enforcement agencies worldwide in attacks attributed to the collective called Anonymous, including in Boston and in Salt Lake City, where police say personal information of confidential informants and tipsters was accessed. The Utah hackers gained access Tuesday to sensitive ... […]

BOISE, Idaho — A small experimental plane piloted by the chief executive and chairman of Micron Technology Inc. crashed after take-off Friday at the Boise airport, killing the head of the memory chip company. Steve Appleton, a stunt pilot who survived a similar crash in 2004, was 51. National Transportation ... […]

LOS ANGELES — A second teacher pulled from a classroom at Miramonte Elementary School this week was arrested Friday, just days after a third-grade teacher was charged with lewd acts involving photographing nearly two dozen children for sexual thrills, authorities said. In a related development, a lawyer on Friday filed ... […]

ANALYSIS/OPINION: The Gaffe Patrol keeps its Nieuports, Spads and Sopwith Camels lined up wingtip to wingtip just off the runway at a secret base somewhere deep in Shangri-La, eager to pounce on a politician whose tongue slips. Only the valiant fly with the Gaffe Patrol. But not always. Mitt Romney ... […]

The mission of the D.C. Children & Youth Investment Trust Corp., the nonprofit group at the center of former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas' theft scandal, is to expand and improve services for local children, especially when they are out of school. But in early 2009, while facing a multimillion-dollar ... […]

A burgundy football jersey with gold trim hangs in Richard Sharpstein's law office on Brickell Avenue, one block from Miami's waterfront. A black marker's scrawl winds across the jersey's No. 21: "Thank you for everything." The wavy lines of an autograph sit below. Sean Taylor. While the sporting world counts down ... […]

It hasn't gotten much attention on the campaign trail, but President Obama and Republican front-runner Mitt Romney are sharply divided over one of the most controversial issues in higher education today - the growth of for-profit colleges. While the Obama administration has cracked down on the burgeoning sector, the former ... […]

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the women's health foundation under intense criticism for breaking ranks with Planned Parenthood, denied Thursday that political considerations played any role in its decision to cut off funding to the nation's largest abortion provider. We will never bow to political pressure," Nancy G. Brinker, ... […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the renowned breast-cancer charity, is facing an escalating backlash over its decision to halt breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood. Some of Komen's local affiliates are openly troubled, and at least one top official has quit, reportedly in protest. Komen has ... […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown's administration and state lawmakers are hailing Facebook's much-anticipated plans for a public stock offering as a potential windfall for California's cash-strapped treasury, while some already say the extra revenue should go to preventing cutbacks to public schools. "If it is as ... […]

CALIFORNIA Court: Prop 8 video tapes to stay sealed SAN FRANCISCO | The video recording of the trial to overturn California's marriage amendment must remain sealed as promised, a three-judge appellate panel ruled Thursday. "The integrity of our judicial system depends" on the ability of people "to rely on a ... […]