western news

For just the second time since the Great Depression, California began paying some of its bills with IOUs this week, as this year's version of the state's annual budget battle dragged on.

The IOUs began going out a few hours after state financial officials set a 3.75 percent interest rate on them Friday, along with a redemption date of Oct. 2.

In the first few months after California's hands-free law went into effect one year ago Wednesday, Richard Sim was on the right side of the law.

When wedding budgets just won't cover filet mignon, some couples are getting creative -- treating guests to burgers or tacos, going the potluck route or sticking with snacks or appetizers.

About this time every year, as the California legislature and governor wrestle over how to pass the state budget, somewhere, somebody blames Sacramento's stalemate -- and the state of the California's mediocre schools and crumbling roads -- on Proposition 13.

A record number of people who have been spending their nights at Cal Expo's seasonal homeless shelter will have to find another place to sleep next week.

Shelter operators have been trying to line up housing for more than 200 clients slated to lose their Cal Expo beds Wednesday.

Come July 1, Kathia Pereira's family business won't have to toss up to 1,000 rolls and loaves of bread into the trash every week.

A new Nevada law, which she helped write, takes effect on that date, protecting donors of perishable food from liability.

The California Air Resources Board wants your car to stay a little cooler in the summer sun.

Got a spare $6,000?

Chancellor Don Griffin at City College of San Francisco suggests using it to rescue an endangered community college class. Contribute and the class will be named for you.

Olive oil has the grape harvester to thank for its status as one of the fastest growing industries in California, soaring by 50 percent this year alone.

Without a modified version of the mechanical contraption -- it drives over treetops to harvest olives at up to 670 trees an hour -- olive oil would still be a boutique industry.

Fluctuating ocean conditions may be depleting the food supply of young sea lions that are turning up skinny and ill on California beaches, mirroring the fate of Brandt's cormorants earlier this spring.