Northern California

Along the far northern edge of California, far from the bright lights of Hollywood and the foggy charms of San Francisco, exists a place many have never heard of: the State of Jefferson. But for those in the know, the name -- a slogan from a quixotic past -- says a lot about the state of mind in this wild, beautiful and sparsely populated country. Jefferson, a would-have-been 49th state made up of a handful of neighboring counties in Northern California and southern Oregon, lasted only a few days in 1941 before it was squashed by the cold reality of Pearl Harbor.

The owners of a Sierra Nevada mountainside who planned to build California's first major ski operation in three decades have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, prompting environmentalists to renew calls to stop the controversial project. A representative of Dyer Mountain Associates said the company still intends to pursue its proposal to turn nearly 7,000 acres abutting Walker Lake in Lassen County into a four-seasons resort with golf, mountain biking, boating and fishing and several thousand dwellings and hotel rooms.

When a masked man fired three shotgun blasts into Chauncey Bailey in August as the newspaper editor walked to work, the slaying sent a powerful tremor through Bay Area journalism circles. Mary Fricker, a longtime business reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, was about a year into retirement when she got word. Lisa Pickoff-White was driving cross-country to start her journalism studies at UC Berkeley. And Bob Butler, a member of the National Assn.

Southern California stands a much greater chance of a huge temblor in the next 30 years than Northern California, according to a statewide earthquake forecast released Monday. The report, which brought together experts from the U.S. Geological Survey, USC's Southern California Earthquake Center and the State Geological Survey, also found that California is virtually certain to experience at least one major temblor by 2028. According to the research, the chance of a 6.

A federal judge Wednesday invalidated a plan that justified boosted water exports from Northern California, ruling that it failed to account for the effects on endangered salmon and steelhead. U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Fresno found that a 2004 study by the National Marine Fisheries Service didn't adequately address global warming, the loss of habitat and other factors that could hurt the fish.

A California National Guard helicopter on an anti-drug mission was forced to make a hard landing in the Sierra Nevada foothills Thursday. All three people aboard survived. National Guard Lt. Col. Jon Siepmann said the helicopter made the emergency landing on a dirt road surrounded by hilly terrain a mile from the Georgetown airport in El Dorado County. The region is about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento. The two pilots and a U.S.

A Marine was arrested Friday and another is sought in the death of a fellow Marine found shot to death in an Orange County ditch last week, authorities said. Lance Cpl. Christian Carney, 21, was removed from the camp's brig, where he was jailed Thursday night, and handed over to Orange County sheriff's homicide detectives. He was arrested on suspicion of killing Pvt. Stephen Serrano, 20, a native of El Dorado in Northern California. Alleged accomplice Pvt. Alvin Reed Lovely, 20, a Texas native, has been absent without leave from his unit since April, said sheriff's spokesman John McDonald.

Wind-blown fires have destroyed more than 50 homes, burned thousands of acres and on Wednesday overran three firefighters who suffered burns. A grass fire near Lincoln, about 30 miles northeast of the state capital, consumed 65 acres of brush, but reversed direction amid the shifting winds and blazed toward a fire crew working the edges.

Despite a little firefighting help from Mother Nature and the governor's office, a wind-blown blaze in Butte County spread to more than 8,000 acres Thursday, destroying about 30 homes and forcing more than 9,000 residents in a rural enclave to flee the flames. Fire leaped up canyons toward Paradise, a heavily wooded town of nearly 30,000 residents 15 miles northeast of Chico, despite improving conditions during a day that saw winds in Northern California ease for the first time in three days.

Authorities were grappling Monday to determine what drove a young father to fatally beat his 2-year-old son on a farm road outside Turlock before a police officer arrived and shot the man to death. One motorist who tried but failed to wrestle Sergio Casian Aguilar, 27, away from the child said the assailant was forceful and hollow-eyed, muttering that there were "demons" in the boy, according to a local newspaper account.