Fresno City Manager Mark Scott said it's likely the SPCA in Fresno County will continue to provide a full array of animal-control services to the city for at least another year. But the agency will need $1 million more than the $2.2 million per year the city had been paying.

House Republicans have passed a budget plan that would bring the federal government's finances into balance in 10 years by sharply cutting safety-net programs for the poor and by clamping down on domestic agencies.

Nearly a dozen burly raisin growers watched intently Wednesday as Supreme Court justices struggled to figure out how their industry works.

What was once called a "spaghetti bowl" of 14 potential high-speed rail routes in and around Chowchilla has been narrowed to four, and residents got their first close-up look at how their town could be affected in a workshop Wednesday.

A Fresno County judge delayed for two weeks an arraignment for Kyle Scarber, his wife, Gail, and her daughter, Crystal Reynoso, who have been charged with helping son Spencer Scarber escape to Mexico.

Collection of a fee rural California homeowners were supposed to pay for fire prevention service is being delayed as California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials say they're sorting through thousands of complaints challenging its billing data.

About 1,400 high school Clovis High juniors and seniors Wednesday watched a performance that dramatizes the costs of drunken driving. The Every 15 Minutes presentation used student actors and people from Clovis' police, fire and ambulance services.

With the arrival of spring on Wednesday, it's the perfect time to visit local public gardens that celebrate the season and inspire ideas for home landscapes. Consider these two gems: Clovis Botanical Garden and Fresno's Garden of the Sun.

The President revealed Wednesday that he has picked Cal as one of his Final Four women's basketball teams for the NCAA Tournament.

They're chasing a common dream -- a chance to play football on Sundays -- only with a difference.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Kingsburg High star Tyler Bray was one of several Volunteers trying to impress Wednesday at Tennessee's Pro Day event.

A 17-year-old boy seeking treatment for cuts to his hand was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of burglary at a Hanford home where blood was found near a shattered sliding glass door, police said.

Students pushing for a restorative justice program for Fresno Unified schools implored trustees Wednesday night not to wait to reform discipline policies that they said are too harsh and lead to students dropping out of school.

Seeking a fresh start to a strained relationship, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday demonstrated solidarity on the key issues that have stirred tensions between them. The U.S. president vowed he would do "what is necessary" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while Netanyahu reaffirmed that his newly formed government seeks a two-state solution to Israel's decades-long dispute with the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON -- A top Department of Veterans Affairs official told a congressional committee Wednesday that the agency's decision to temporarily shutter and retrain staff at its troubled Oakland office proved so successful that it has employed the same tactics to speed the delivery of benefits to disabled veterans in Los Angeles and Baltimore.

Fresno police officers arrested a 44-year-old parolee who allegedly was driving a stolen car and had a loaded Glock handgun in a holster on his belt.

An 18-year-old Coarsegold man was arrested Tuesday after brandishing a replica handgun at a school bus stop as he rode past in a car, prompting the lockdown of a campus, the Madera County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.

The improving housing market is helping Fresno homeowners regain equity in their homes, according to a fourth-quarter 2012 negative equity report released Tuesday.

A little more than a month ago, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy quietly came to Fresno, where he briefed prominent area business and agriculture leaders on Washington, D.C.'s political climate.