By Susan Ferriss, Sacramento Bee

Her face clouded as she talked about failing to ban the chemical BPA in all baby bottles sold in California.

But Fran Pavley, an unassuming state senator from the hills north of Los Angeles, has many victories to savor. The Democrat's impact on American environmentalism shows how a state legislator can leverage California's power to force national change.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is backing away from a key immigration proposal she advanced in this spring's competitive GOP primary after farmers and other business interests expressed displeasure with her idea.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Radene Cook was an airborne reporter for a radio network when she survived a harrowing plane accident in Los Angeles in 2000.

The initial pain she suffered became far worse, she said, after her insurer required her to take Tylenol 4 and undergo months of steroid shots before it would pay for another course of treatment her doctor thought best.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Cell phones are great -- unless the person using one is behind the wheel of a car and ends up killing somebody.

Fatal accidents involving cell use while driving have taken their toll in California, and state legislators have reacted by adopting three laws restricting using cells while operating vehicles.

The man in charge of upgrading the quality of health care in California's overcrowded prisons has an idea for taxpayers: medical parole.

J. Clark Kelso, the federal court-appointed prison health receiver, suggests that California could stop spending millions of dollars a year if officials could grant parole to a handful of inmates who are comatose or otherwise severely incapacitated.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - State Sen. Mark Leno said he's one of an estimated 4 billion cell-phone users worldwide -- and loves it.

Townsfolk in Napa, Calif., say Sen. John McCain of Arizona has uncorked sour information about their wine town in a new report on alleged waste of federal stimulus dollars.

McCain and fellow Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma came out with a report listing 100 projects that raised questions about "silly and shortsighted" federal spending.

Budget-cutting changes to California's In-Home Supportive Services program began Monday, affecting thousands of low-income seniors and disabled people and their caregivers.

Budget-related legislation requires the Department of Social Services to cut $82.1 million in program costs this year.

Q: Does a federal lawsuit stop the cuts and program changes?

Frustrated California voters think a state government overhaul is needed, but a majority believes it shouldn't be so easy for them to change the state's constitution at the ballot box, a new Field Poll has found.

Raising the ballot box threshold for approving a constitutional amendment from a majority to two-thirds was favored by 56 percent in the poll and opposed by 36 percent.

The '60s aren't dead. They're in an archaeological site north of San Francisco.

An old commune where the Grateful Dead and other bands used to romp is being excavated and items catalogued by state park archaeologists at Olompali State Historic Park in California.