Legislators

The Medical Board of California would be stripped of its power to investigate physician misconduct under a sweeping reform plan by legislators who say the agency has struggled to hold problem doctors accountable. The medical board has come under fire for failing to discipline doctors accused of harming patients, particularly those suspected of recklessly prescribing drugs. Under the proposed legislation, amended Thursday, investigations of doctors would be handled by the California attorney general, leaving the board to deal mostly with licensing doctors.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans announced the first in a series of immigration-related bills that would attempt to reshape the system one piece at a time, a contrast with the comprehensive approach the Senate is pursuing. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, was careful Thursday to say the two bills he would unveil this week - and "several" more after that - were simply starting points for debate. The effort does not preclude the broader overhauls being drafted by bipartisan groups in both chambers, he said.

Earlier this month, President Obama visited San Francisco and was joined by Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for a fundraising event. In the course of the evening, Obama told the donors that he expected that after the 2014 election, Pelosi would resume her place as speaker, which she relinquished after the 2010 election. It's easy to see why the president would want that to be so. If the Democrats were to win the 218 House seats needed for the majority and put Pelosi back in the speaker's chair, it would allow Obama to spend his final two years in office doing more than marking time as a lame duck.

SACRAMENTO - A full-court press by professional sports leagues to limit the ability of out-of-state players to file for workers' compensation benefits in California scored big in a crucial first vote by state lawmakers. A bill, backed by the owners of 16 California teams, including basketball's Los Angeles Lakers, baseball's Dodgers, hockey's Kings and soccer's Galaxy, passed out of the Assembly Insurance Committee with a unanimous 11-0 tally over objections from players and labor unions.

Legislation that would have outlawed restrictions on the resale of sports and concert tickets was killed by a California Assembly committee Tuesday. The bill, backed by StubHub, would have granted fans ownership of whatever ticket they buy. StubHub and its allies argued that a team was no different than a car dealer - once you buy a commodity, you should be allowed to resell it whenever and however you liked. The Angels aligned with other teams and venues in opposing the bill, arguing that it would help StubHub and other ticket resellers buy blocks of tickets and sell them above face value.

With rare bipartisan support, the Senate is poised to pass a bill this week that could lead largely to the end of the nation's long online sales tax holiday. The measure would allow states to require that large online retailers collect sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, closing a loophole that has benefited the likes of EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The White House gave the legislation its approval Monday, and it passed a key procedural hurdle. The Senate voted 74 to 20 to begin consideration of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, with a final vote expected in a few days.

Irma Garcia pulled back her sweater to show me where the bullet entered her shoulder and spun her around. It then torpedoed through her body and exited near the middle of her back. "I still have problems with it," she said, standing to show me how the left side of her upper body is still somewhat twisted. It happened 47 years ago in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Charles Whitman, who had served as a Marine, killed his wife and mother and then proceeded to the University of Texas at Austin, where he ascended a campus tower with rifles and handguns and began shooting at people below.

WASHINGTON - The background of the Boston bombing suspects quickly emerged Friday as a potential hurdle to immigration reform, as renewed fears of terrorism gave conservative opponents a fresh argument against a proposed new law. "Given the events of this week, it's important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system," Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at a...

SACRAMENTO - A key state Senate committee has blessed a compromise among bedding manufacturers, environmentalists and local governments about how best to keep about 2 million used mattresses a year from being dumped on California streets or into landfills. Still to be determined is exactly what kind of consumer fee or tax would be levied on mattress and box spring purchases, which manufacturers have estimated might be around $25. The money would create a first-in-the-nation "recovery and recycling" program that would be run by the mattress industry and overseen by California regulators.

WASHINGTON - After four months of debate and maneuvering, the Senate headed for a showdown over gun control - a series of back-to-back votes on rival plans Wednesday afternoon that could end in the collapse of the entire effort. The impending climax, after weeks of inconclusive negotiations, came as gun control supporters tried, without apparent success, to get enough senators to commit themselves to a compromise reached last week by Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.)