By JIM SANDERS, Sacramento Bee

Job applicants sought -- but only if they don't need work.

The message in some job advertisements these days is pretty blunt: Don't bother sending a resume if you're not bringing home a paycheck already.

California's death penalty has new life.

Legislation seeking to eliminate the death penalty was shelved Thursday in the state Assembly Appropriations Committee. Senate Bill 490 would have placed before voters in November 2012 a measure to close death row and replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole.

California is the only state that provides lawmakers with a car, gas and maintenance paid largely by taxpayers.

The perk has withstood the recessionary economy and several rounds of budget-cutting, including $11.2 billion in measures the Legislature approved and Gov. Jerry Brown signed in March.

California's tiniest city is fighting to survive by launching a big-money brawl pitting some of the state Capitol's most powerful players against Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, a Los Angeles Democrat.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Smile at the windshield -- and say cheese?

California is giving the green light to allowing video cameras to be mounted onto vehicle windshields in an attempt to improve road safety.

The goal is to make participants aware of bad habits by recording their behavior seconds before and after a crash or erratic driving maneuver.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Beer, wine and liquor tastings could be as near as your neighborhood supermarket under legislation sitting on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk.

Spurred by a fatal motorcycle crash, two Sacramento teenagers with painful memories are on the verge of changing California law.

Sawyer Cole and his best friend, Michael Kelleher, are ordinary citizens who rose above the din of partisan fighting and Capitol interests to capture lawmakers' attention.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The supermarket shopping experience usually is marked by a simple question: Paper or plastic?

In California, the answer soon may be neither.

California would become the first state to ban grocery, liquor and drug stores from providing free paper or plastic bags under legislation pushed by Democrats and supported by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California lawmakers are taking aim at a protest movement that encourages participants to show up at public places en masse with handguns strapped to their side.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust?

Not necessarily.

California lawmakers have taken a major step toward allowing funeral homes to dispose of human bodies without burial or incineration.

The issue is fraught with personal, ethical and financial implications.