Sacramento County

After more than two months of denial, both Sacramento and Orange County have begun to face the reality that there is no quick or easy way out of the county's famous fiscal crisis. For Sacramento this realization means getting more involved; for Orange County, it means thinking about new taxes, however carefully they might be raised and however temporary they might be. THE STATE: At last, Gov.

The FBI is taking another look at an unsolved bank robbery and the shooting death of a woman in Sacramento County 25 years ago, long believed to be linked to the Symbionese Liberation Army, a spokesman for the FBI's Sacramento office said. Any decision to pursue charges will probably rest with local authorities, the spokesman said. For years, the Sacramento district attorney's office has declined to pursue charges in the Carmichael bank robbery case.

Doctors in 14 California counties have been poised to receive a boost in what Medicare pays for their services under legislation being debated on Capitol Hill to expand tax breaks and federal aid to unemployed workers. But the proposed raise, which would correct a perceived imbalance in the way the federal insurance program reimburses physicians in some metropolitan areas, is emerging as a new target for Republican lawmakers fighting the legislation. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.

A man who had been holding his wife and three children hostage on Interstate 80 near the Sierra summit in Norden has released them to safety, officials said Wednesday night. The main northern artery linking California and Nevada remained shut down near the summit as authorities negotiated with the unidentified man, who remained in his car with a weapon.

At least three private schools in California were temporarily closed because of concerns about the swine flu outbreak while state officials reminded students Tuesday to take precautionary measures and practice basic hygiene. A Catholic school in Sacramento County, which has three students with confirmed cases of swine flu, shut its doors for the entire week.

A Sacramento County Superior Court judge Wednesday ruled against a group of California cities in their battle with the state over hundreds of millions of property tax dollars that used to flow to local redevelopment agencies. Judge Timothy M. Frawley said he would not grant the request from Glendale, Pasadena, Huntington Beach and other cities for an injunction that would have prevented the payout of property taxes on Friday to schools and counties. Cities believe some of the money belongs to them and should be used to pay for such projects as parks, affordable housing and freeway intersections that had been agreed upon before Gov. Jerry Brown won his battle to eliminate California's 400 municipal redevelopment agencies late last year.

Whether the serial killer known as the Original Night Stalker is still alive, nobody knows. But 30 years after a couple died while housesitting in Goleta, investigators have confirmed through DNA testing what they long suspected: The man who killed them is the same one they believe responsible for a decades-long crime spree that started with dozens of rapes in Northern California and ended with as many as 10 slayings in Santa Barbara, Ventura and...

Some of California's largest counties — including Los Angeles — could be forced to reveal the names and retirement benefits of tens of thousands of public employees under an appeals court ruling. The ruling, issued last week by the 3rd District Court of Appeal, marks the first time an appeals court has ordered the pension information released and came despite arguments from county officials and labor unions that it would violate the privacy of local government employees across the state.

The tale of the rapper and the prosecutor is a twisted one now, bent into strange shapes by scandal, celebrity and murder music, but once it was a story of straight lines and simple roles. When they first met in 1994, the rapper, Anerae Brown, was one of four gang members on trial for a spasm of early-morning violence that had left a grandmother dead in her home.

Soon after the news raced through the Rancho Cordova neighborhood of modest ranch-style houses, a street corner memorial cascaded across the sidewalk. Bouquets. Votive candles. Teddy bears. The street sign was festooned with ribbons and cards drawn by children. "I'll remember you like family . . . ." said one.