Hearst Corp. has named a new publisher and president for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jurors who spent five months determining Jodi Arias' fate couldn't decide whether she should get life in prison or die for murdering her boyfriend, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case of sex, lies and violence to another 12 people.

Measures aimed at creating new taxes on Californians were held by the Senate Appropriations Committee today, making it extremely unlikely that taxes on cigarettes, soda, strip clubs, plastic bags or oil extraction will become law this year.

A Sacramento doctor has been convicted of sexually abusing two patients at a workers' compensation clinic.

Immigrants who are not U.S. citizens could serve as poll workers in California under one of several election-related bills that passed the state Assembly on Thursday.

Firefighters are battling a 550-acre fire in rugged and remote eastern San Diego County.

A former Penn State women's basketball player has written a new book to champion the anti-bullying efforts she supported during her playing days in Happy Valley.

State agencies would be required to give journalists five days' notice before they issue subpoenas to a third-party company for telephone records under legislation announced Thursday by a state senator.

A man who has been wanted in Los Angeles on attempted-murder charges for 13 years has been taken into custody in Colorado after being arrested for urinating in public.

The director of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum has announced his resignation after the museum's board declined to move forward with plans to create an inflatable pavilion at the museum.

Music and sports fans would have one less obstacle in buying tickets to popular events under a bill advancing through the California Legislature.

Los Angeles police have obtained the decades-old taped conversations between a Manson family disciple and his attorney, officials confirmed Thursday.

A state appeals court has okayed an environmental study of a Marin County water district's proposed desalination project.

A San Diego jury has convicted a man on charges involving freeway shootings that wounded a college student in 2011.

The Christian Brothers have agreed to pay more than $16 million to people who were molested as children by members of the U.S. religious order.

Four officers who fatally shot a man suspected of killing two Santa Cruz police detectives likely saved additional lives, the police chief said Thursday when new details of the deadly encounter were revealed.

A California Senate budget subcommittee delivered a setback to a planned upgrade for the state's job website today by rejecting a proposal to fund it.

A New Jersey man behind the wheel of a van that careened off of an Illinois freeway and overturned, killing five passengers returning from a California ministry gathering, had his driving privileges suspended last year for administrative reasons, motor vehicle records show.

Three men have been arrested for investigation of stealing fuel from a Southern California gas station after an off-duty police officer grew suspicious of their activities.

A San Francisco International Airport baggage handler is facing charges that he stole items from passengers' bags.

Gov. Jerry Brown complained bitterly this morning that the news media ignores climate change, in a speech attended by more than a dozen photographers and reporters.

Surrounded by engineers, NASA chief Charles Bolden inspected a prototype spacecraft engine that could power an audacious mission to lasso an asteroid and tow it closer to Earth for astronauts to explore.

Authorities say a Southern California couple arrested on felony grand theft charges purported to be psychics and promised at least one customer they could rid her of negative spirits.

A Northern California man accused of torturing his 84-year-old grandfather by dragging him behind a pickup truck for nearly six miles is set to be evaluated by a second doctor.

Less winter runoff has allowed visitors to enjoy mostly clean water at California beaches, according to a report released Thursday.

Our column in today's fiber/cyber Bee looks at the how budget decisions regarding the failed MyCalPays project highlight the inherent tensions of governing.

A San Francisco State University professor considering a run for Oakland mayor is drawing scrutiny for a class assignment that asked students to create a political campaign ad and gave them the option of developing it for him.

About 50 California cities saw populations declines last year, even as most California cities grew slowly, new census figures show.

Californians received the bottom line Thursday on which insurance firms will sell policies on the state's new health-care exchange this fall and how much those premiums will cost.

A San Francisco State University professor is drawing scrutiny for a class assignment that asked students to create a political campaign ad.

Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world's largest tortoises and other fantastical creatures that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

California authorities have arrested a 31-year-old woman accused of helping coordinate activities of Los Angeles gang members from her home in central Kansas.

Three Bakersfield High School students have been arrested in connection with three small explosions on the school's campus this week.

Managers at the San Onofre nuclear generating plant made a "Star Trek"-themed video stressing safety two years before the plant was shut down in the wake of a radiation leak, officials said.

Your daily look at late-breaking California news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:

The nation's two largest firefighting planes are moving out of California.

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee and Board Chair Diana Dooley will both be there.

Kern County Democrat Leticia Perez has lost her bid to capture former senator Michael Rubio's Senate seat, but the real loser, Dan says, is the "Democratic left."

Orange County has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit by a former sheriff's lieutenant who was demoted after running against ex-Sheriff Mike Carona.

A lawsuit accuses state and federal regulators of causing the death of dozens of migratory cliff swallows by placing nets on a Sonoma County bridge during a highway widening project.

Officials say a Northern California subdivision that partly sank into a hilltop has stabilized after several homes, roads and sections of a sewer system were damaged.

Gov. Jerry Brown warned scientists and policymakers Thursday that they are losing the war on climate change and urged them to become advocates for the planet.

A solar-powered plane has landed in Texas, completing the second leg of a trip across the United States.

Californians are finally getting to see what "Obamacare" means for them.

A jury has completed its first full day of deliberations in the murder trial of a woman accused of strangling an aspiring model and actress in her Santa Monica apartment.

An American man is suspected of killing a family of four and is on the run in the Czech Republic and likely armed, officials said Thursday.

U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Doug Burns was on a night reconnaissance mission searching for enemy trucks when he was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and taken prisoner during the Vietnam War.

A solar-powered plane has landed in Texas, completing the second leg of a trip across the United States.

A two-day strike by hospital workers ended on Thursday, with both sides claiming victory even though there was no resolution to a contract dispute involving staffing and pensions.