By SEAN NEALON, The Press-Enterprise

The declining economy is leading to enrollment surges at some for-profit career colleges but crisis at others because private loans are now tough for students to obtain.

SAN JACINTO, Calif. -- A truck loaded with 50,000 pounds of Chieftain potatoes coated in dirt from an arrives at the San Jacinto packing shed. Immediately, the red potatoes get a bath and, dripping, ride a conveyer belt inside. Several dozen workers pick out dried grass and discard misshapen and rotten potatoes. Machines sort the potatoes by size and drop them into 50-pound boxes.

CORONA, Calif. -- A white minivan with tinted windows recently pulled up to the CVS drug store in Corona, Calif. The 17-year-old undercover decoy slid open the door and walked inside.Several minutes later she came out, a pack of Marlboro Reds in hand.

A bear whose paws were found last month in a plastic bag on the front steps of a Riverside, Calif. home was legally killed and the hunter will not face criminal charges, a state fish and game investigation found.

Genevieve Milkie started swimming lessons when she was 7 months old. Now, the 3-year-old from Riverside, Calif., can hold her breath under water and swim freestyle and backstroke.

Jose and Maria Becerra were out of space at their 1,034-square-foot home in La Puente in Los Angeles County. They couldn't host large family gatherings. Their son, Gabriel, shared a bedroom with his grandmother, Maria. The cramped kitchen limited Jose's cooking.

Two lost hikers. One had a personal locator beacon. One didn't. One was rescued. One is presumed dead.