western news

In rural Capay Valley, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. powers the packing sheds of organic farmers, the slot machines of the Cache Creek Casino Resort and just about every TV and light bulb in the 24 miles between the hamlets of Rumsey and Madison.

Now, some valley residents are ready to flip a switch on the energy giant.

In the dusty Nevada desert, about 30 miles east of the playa where Bay Area artists and hipsters gather annually to build a temporary city at the Burning Man festival, a San Francisco garbage company wants to build a dump for Bay Area trash.

A sweeping statewide study released today points to soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages as one of the main reasons why we are fat.

Much has happened since a proposal to honor gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk each year with a state-declared day of recognition was vetoed last September by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:

-- Milk's life was portrayed in an Academy Award-winning movie, "Milk," that resulted in a best-actor Oscar for Sean Penn.

Cristal Dawn Speller saw a need in Redding for her medical marijuana clinic.

So the Glendale-based doctor opened Natural Care For Wellness in downtown Redding in July and has been doing brisk business.

On national television, President Obama contended this week that his plan to overhaul the country's health care system wouldn't spend a single federal dime on undocumented immigrants.

As he spoke, a Republican congressman called the president a liar -- once again bringing the incendiary issue of illegal immigration to the forefront of the national debate on health care.

California card clubs and a major casino tribe pushing to legalize Internet poker are folding their cards on getting a bill passed this year.

Tattoos were once a standard way for a guy to thumb his forearm at authority.

But veteran tattoo artist Courtney McIntyre says more authority may be what's needed to better protect customers of the expanding body-art industry.

The stalemate over water reform in California these days swirls around a single word that for decades has ignited conflict among ideological opposites: dams.

Conservatives, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, insist on building new dams, believing that pooling water in a canyon will end California's thirst.

Single men, listen up: Sacramento, Calif., is the only metropolitan area on the West Coast where there are more single women than men.

What has the region's singles scene so lopsided are the 20,000 more single women than single men over age 34, according U.S. census data from 2006.