SACRAMENTO >> A little-known yet revolutionary new state law aimed at mode izing Califo ia’s initiative system — which paved the way for a higher minimum wage — will soon face a second, tougher test as legislators attempt to tighten rules for gun owners. Before the bill was signed by Gov. Jerry Brow...

Rows of newly minted houses sit at the foot of Blue Mountain in the sprawling Spring Mountain Ranch development near Riverside. Solar panels mark every rooftop of the nearly 785-acre development. On streets with names such as Old Mule Road and Pitchfork Drive, drought-tolerant Califo ia grasses and ...

Barry Hooper’s co-workers can be forgiven if they try to avoid him in the office. No one wants to be fingered as an energy hog. Hooper manages San Francisco’s five-year-old building-efficiency ordinance, created to measure wasted energy in the city’s largest structures, give them a score the public ...

Eight years ago, when Califo ia regulators decided that by 2020 every newly built home should produce as much power as it used, the idea was novel enough to be nearly unimaginable. Even in a state where energy-saving construction was already the norm, there was only a handful of such super-efficient...

Underscoring his commitment to supporting youth sports and educational programs, Mayor Robert Garcia hosted the 10th a ual Long Beach Mayor’s Trophy Charity Golf Tou ament on May 5. “It was a pleasure to support this event,” said Mayor Garcia. “Education and healthy development through sports go han...

When I was a kid, my mom often described me with one of those parental winks. “She’s a willful little one.” The scene would’ve been ugly: I would likely be pounding my fists on the filthy floor of a Thrifty’s or something because the bubble gum ice cream wasn’t the right shade of blue. I’d be flushe...

A Long Beach native and pioneering orthodontist who helped develop braces better suited to people of Asian descent died May 8. Dr. Raymond Sugiyama died from complications of pulmonary fibrosis, Sharon, his widow, said Friday. He was 78. Sugiyama was bo in Long Beach April 23, 1938, she said. He was...

BAGHDAD >> More than a dozen suicide bombers attacked a residential and gove ment complex outside Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least six people, an official said. The police chief of the town of Amiriyat Fallujah, Col. Ali al-Issawi, said at least 14 suicide attackers broke into the complex at da...

WASHINGTON >> Thousands of people have gathered in Washington to remember fallen law enforcement officers. Media outlets report that candles illuminated the National Mall during Friday night’s ceremony, which honored the 252 officers who were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial t...

Self-expression is hardly a part of life for cadets at the United States Military Academy. So it was far from ordinary when 16 black women put their own spin on the traditional graduation photo, hoisting their fists in the air while posing in their dress uniforms, swords at their sides. A social med...

BEIRUT >> The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Saturday that the explosion in Damascus that killed its top militant commander was caused by insurgent shelling and vowed to continue fighting alongside the Syrian gove ment until the rebels are defeated. Mustafa Badreddine was the highest-ranking...

DES MOINES, Iowa >> Rock concert rallies versus intimate town halls. Adoring groupies versus dutiful voters. Sweeping promises versus targeted proposals. Whether Hillary Clinton is competing against Democratic rival Be ie Sanders or presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, one conce is much the ...

SOUTH GATE >> Los Angeles County firefighters needed nearly an hour to knock down a fast-moving fire inside a mattress factory in South Gate tonight. The blaze broke out inside the commercial building in the 9500 block of Califo ia Avenue about 9:37 p.m., according to Los Angeles County Fire Departm...

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK >> Three men could face fines of up to $50,000 and a year in jail for an alleged drunken spree that resulted in the death of one of the world’s rarest fish at Devils Hole pool in a Nevada portion of the national park. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office identified the men as T...

On June 17, 27 top officials for the IAAF, track and field’s global gove ing body, will meet in Vie a to likely decide whether to lift a ban that would allow Russian track athletes to compete in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer. The IOC will have to make a similar decision on the enti...

The president of Cal State Long Beach a ounced Friday that temporary orders put in place to protect undocumented people from being detained for immigration violations by campus police are now permanent. “You can be certain this year’s graduation ceremonies will continue CSULB’s long-standing traditi...

Alfonso Gonzales was the first person in his family to go to college, but he missed his graduation ceremony at USC more than six decades ago. The Hermosa Beach resident — who treated wounded soldiers on the battlefield as a Marine in World War II — had to work that day in 1953. He never got his dipl...

Citing lower-than expected consumer spending and a shift in ship deployments, Port of Long Beach officials a ounced Friday that cargo volumes decreased in April compared to the same month in 2015. After a strong first quarter, volume was down 22.1 percent last month, amid a soft retail climate in th...

WASHINGTON >> Back when Donald Trump’s love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessman’s personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once. The spokesman identif...

The Obama administration’s directive that public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity is already policy in the Long Beach Unified School District. The guidance from leaders at the Justice and Education departments, wh...