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• Road trip on tap for NASA's Mars rover in new year

  December 29, 2012 12:44 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA's newest Mars rover is gearing up for a road trip. But first, it has to drill into a rock. Curiosity's first priority in the new year is to test out its drill. Mission managers had wanted to get it done this year, but they ran... more »

• Beam me to work, Scotty! Sort of

  December 23, 2012 11:53 AM

  PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) - More employees are working remotely with computers, smartphones and video-conferencing. But those technologies are still no substitute for actually being in the office. A growing number of tech companies are trying to address that problem with so-called telepresence robots. These mobile video-conferencing systems are designed... more »

• Circus camel takes off through Calif. city

  November 24, 2012 10:41 AM

  GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) - It wasn't a typical jam up that slowed traffic Southern California's Glendale - it was a runaway circus camel. KCAL-TV reports that a camel escaped from Ramos Brothers Circus Friday and began galloping down Glendale Boulevard with handlers in hot pursuit. The circus says that "Atula"... more »

• Major hurdles remain to end veteran homelessness

  November 11, 2012 12:59 PM

  CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) - Arthur Lute's arduous journey from his days as a U.S. Marine to his nights sleeping on the streets illustrates the challenge for the Obama administration to fulfill its promise to end homelessness among veterans by 2015. Lute has post-traumatic stress disorder from the 1983 bombing... more »

• NASA Curiosity rover takes a bite of Martian soil

  October 30, 2012 8:23 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Scientists say the Martian soil at the rover Curiosity's landing site contains minerals similar to what's found on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. The finding released Tuesday is the latest step in trying to better understand whether the environment could have been hospitable to microbial life. Curiosity... more »

• Singer Arlo Guthrie says wife, Jackie, has died

  October 16, 2012 8:50 PM

  WASHINGTON, Mass. (AP) - Folk singer Arlo Guthrie has announced the death of his wife, Jackie, at age 68. An obituary released by Guthrie's record label says Jackie Guthrie had inoperable cancer and died Sunday at the couple's winter home in Sebastian, Fla. They had recently celebrated their 43rd wedding... more »

• 35 years later, Voyager 1 is heading for the stars

  September 4, 2012 12:40 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Thirty-five years after leaving Earth, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is reaching for the stars. Voyager 1 is poised to exit the solar system and enter the space between stars. When that will happen isn't clear. But scientists say there have been signs that it is on... more »

• Curiosity rover beams new will.i.am song from Mars

  August 28, 2012 8:50 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Will.i.am has premiered his new single - from Mars. The NASA rover Curiosity beamed to Earth his new song "Reach for the Stars" on Tuesday in the first music broadcast from another planet, to the delight of students who gathered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to... more »

• Officials: 73 sickened with salmonella from mangoes

  August 28, 2012 8:44 PM

  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California public health officials are investigating a foodborne illness outbreak that has sickened 73 people and has been linked to salmonella-tainted mangoes. Authorities say they are still probing what prompted the outbreak of salmonella Braenderup cases in California. They are trying to identify which specific mango... more »

• Gas prices rise 18 cents nationwide

  August 12, 2012 4:48 PM

  CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) - The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has increased 18 cents over the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices puts the average price for a gallon of regular at $3.69, about 8 cents higher than the same time last year. Nationally,... more »

• Police: Woman trying to trick husband caught stealing baby

  August 7, 2012 7:25 PM

  GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) - A woman caught trying to steal a newborn girl from a Southern California hospital had faked a pregnancy with her estranged husband, and needed the baby to continue the deception after her due date passed, according to Garden Grove police. In an effort to pose... more »

• NASA spacecraft barreling toward a Mars landing

  August 4, 2012 3:23 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA's Curiosity rover is zooming toward Mars. With about a day to go until a landing attempt, the space agency says the nuclear-powered rover appears on course. Tension will be high Sunday night when Curiosity plummets through the thin Martian atmosphere and attempts to set its... more »

• Opening statements underway in Apple patent trial

  July 31, 2012 2:02 PM

  SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Apple Inc. has started making its case to a jury that a bitter rival owes it billions of dollars for copying its iPhones and iPads. Apple's lead lawyer Harold McElhinny began his opening statements Tuesday to a jury of 10 people who will decide the... more »

• 'SNL' to air two prime-time election spoofs this fall

  July 24, 2012 7:56 PM

  BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - NBC will air two "Saturday Night Live" prime-time election specials, and it's leaving the door open to cult-favorite comedy "Community" to return after next season's abbreviated run. NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt announced Tuesday that the "SNL" specials will air Sept. 20 and 27. He... more »

• YouTube offers face-blurring in video uploads

  July 18, 2012 4:20 PM

  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) - YouTube is offering people a way to blur faces in submitted video. The new tool is designed for human-rights activists and others who may want to protect people in a video. Simply blur faces using the tool before submitting it. It will appear among the... more »

• Google takes aim at Mexico's drug cartels

  July 18, 2012 3:55 PM

  WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (AP) - Google, so far, has won the search engine wars. Now it wants to take on Mexico's powerful drug cartels and other global crime. Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has a keen interest in the cartel problem in Mexico - and is discussing the issue with... more »

• Rover on the move after surviving Martian winter

  May 9, 2012 9:02 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The Mars rover Opportunity is on the go again. After spending nearly five months conducting experiments in one spot, the NASA rover moved for the first time this week, rolling off the rock outcrop where it hunkered down for the Martian winter. The mission team received... more »

• NASA extends planet-hunting mission through 2016

  April 4, 2012 8:50 PM

  MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (AP) - NASA has decided to keep its planet-hunting spacecraft running for several more years. The space agency said Wednesday the Kepler spacecraft will search for alien worlds through fiscal year 2016. The $600 million mission was launched in 2009 to track down other Earths in a... more »

• Rocket carrying secret payload launches from California

  April 3, 2012 8:11 PM

  VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - A rocket carrying a classified payload has launched from the California coast. Liftoff occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Launch of the Delta IV rocket was delayed nearly a week as engineers worked to fix an issue... more »

• Drones coming to a sky near you as interest surges

  April 1, 2012 12:04 PM

  BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Drones are the signature weapon of U.S. wars in the 21st century. Just as Humvees became a presence on U.S. highways in the 1990s after the first war with Iraq, interest in non-military uses of drones from policing to farming is rising. Thousands of hobbyists are... more »

• SolarReserve gets OK for Saguache County plants

  March 27, 2012 7:31 PM

  SAGUACHE, Colo. (AP) - SolarReserve says it has received its final permit from Saguache County for two planned 100-megawatt solar thermal energy facilities. The facilities would be built on private agricultural land about six miles northeast of Center. The land currently uses about 8,800 acre-feet of water annually for agricultural... more »

• NASA's Dawn craft captures new images of asteroid

  March 21, 2012 8:27 PM

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Scientists analyzing the surface of a giant asteroid are puzzling over bright spots that represent some of the purest materials seen so far by a NASA spacecraft. NASA on Wednesday released new images of the asteroid Vesta taken by the orbiting Dawn spacecraft that show some... more »

• Rural residents strike back at Lucas film empire

  February 11, 2012 11:47 AM

  NICASIO, Calif. (AP) - Marin County's planning commission will hear arguments for and against allowing filmmaker George Lucas to expand his movie-making empire in the quiet hills just north of San Francisco. Some Marin County residents are balking at the planned 270,000-square-foot digital media production compound on historic farmland... more »

• National gas prices down 9 cents in past 2 weeks

  December 4, 2011 2:48 PM

  CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) - The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped 9 cents over the past two weeks. That's according to the Lundberg Survey of fuel prices, released Sunday, which puts the price of a gallon of regular at $3.29. Midgrade costs an average... more »

• Apple: Battery life fix coming for new iPhone

  November 2, 2011 8:10 PM

  CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) - Apple Inc. says there is a problem with its latest mobile operating system that is shortening the battery life of iPhones, iPads and iPods that use the software. Spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said Wednesday that a small number of customers have reported lower-than-expected battery life on... more »

• Survey: US gas prices up 5 cents in past 2 weeks

  October 23, 2011 2:30 PM

  CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) - A survey says the average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has risen nearly five cents over the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday puts the price of a gallon of regular at $3.47. Costs have seen similar... more »

• Feds investigate solar firm that got $535 million US loan

  September 8, 2011 4:47 PM

  FREMONT, Calif. (AP) - The FBI isn't offering any details about the investigation that led to today's raid on the headquarters of a California company that makes solar panels. The company, Solyndra, received more than $500 million in federal loan guarantees before filing for bankruptcy last week. Today,... more »

• San Francisco police help look for lost iPhone

  September 5, 2011 4:06 PM

  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco's police chief says officers helped Apple Inc. investigators look for a missing iPhone prototype that was left in a city restaurant in July. Police Chief Greg Suhr told the San Francisco Chronicle that four officers accompanied two Apple investigators who searched a San... more »

• Prince Harry to train at US military bases

  August 29, 2011 2:16 PM

  EL CENTRO, Calif. (AP) - Prince Harry - a British Army captain - will train at two U.S. military bases in California and Arizona as part of an Apache attack helicopter course conducted by his country's Defense Ministry. Base spokeswoman Michelle Dee said Monday that the prince will arrive... more »

• Betty Ford will grants $500K to namesake rehab

  August 11, 2011 3:31 PM

  LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Betty Ford Center says the former first lady in her final days authorized a $400,000 donation to the rehab center that bears her names and has changed the lives of thousands of people. Officials at the center say Betty Ford approved the donation in... more »

• Mountain peak for John Denver hits snag

  August 8, 2011 3:23 PM

  ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - A movement to name an eastern Colorado mountain peak after the late John Denver has hit a snag. The effort has gained momentum in recent weeks as thousands of people signed a petition to recognize the singer with a mountain near where he wrote his... more »

• Fire fee a solution for some strapped Western states

  July 22, 2011 4:20 PM

  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The wildfire season in California has been tame so far, but that isn't stopping lawmakers from trying to make sure the cash-strapped state has enough money to fight future fires. They already have a solution: charge an annual firefighting fee to people who live in... more »

• Arraignment delayed in Calif. severed penis case

  July 22, 2011 4:14 PM

  WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) - Arraignment has been postponed for a California woman accused of cutting off her estranged husband's penis and running it through the garbage disposal. An Orange County Superior Court judge rescheduled Friday's arraignment of 48-year-old Catherine Kieu to Sept. 23 and set bail at $1 million.... more »

• Rocker accused of pharmacy robbery before show

  July 11, 2011 6:16 PM

  MANSFIELD, Mass. (AP) - The bass player for a rock band has been arrested and charged with robbing a Massachusetts pharmacy of prescription painkillers just hours before a show. Attleboro police say Michael Todd, bassist for Coheed and Cambria, entered the Walgreen's pharmacy after 1 p.m. on Sunday and... more »

• Gas prices drop slightly over past 2 weeks

  July 10, 2011 5:19 PM

  CAMARILLON, Calif. (AP) - The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped about a penny in the past two weeks. That's according to the Lundberg Survey of fuel prices, released Sunday, which puts the price of a gallon of regular at $3.62. Midgrade costs an... more »

• Spurred by NY, 10 cities launch volunteer programs

  September 29, 2010 8:18 AM

  Ten U.S. cities are recruiting volunteers to help with local challenges as part of a nationwide emphasis on service led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Volunteers will work on problems such as flood recovery in Nashville, Tenn., and childhood obesity in Newark, N.J. Bloomberg is scheduled to... more »