Politics

4 things to know about student loan interest rates

7:16 PM, Jun 18, 2013

Congress faces July 1 deadline on doubling interest rate on subsidized student loans. Here's your study guide.

Feds pay millions for employees' student loans

4:58 PM, Jun 18, 2013

The perk was designed to make government jobs more appealing to those who might earn more in the private sector. But a debate is brewing about whether it's due for the chopping block.

House passes far-reaching bill to limit abortions

4:38 PM, Jun 18, 2013

WASHINGTON - The Republican-led House of Representatives approved a far-reaching bill to ban a woman's ability to seek an abortion after 20 weeks on a mostly party-line 228-196 vote Tuesday.

Just in time to pass Calif. budget and make it to his wedding

6:51 PM, Jun 15, 2013

SACRAMENTO - The Legislature's Democratic leaders touted their passage of a state budget ahead of their constitutional deadline, but no one was happier about it than Assemblyman Roger Hernandez.

Legislature passes Medicaid expansion in California

11:43 AM, Jun 15, 2013

SACRAMENTO - The state Legislature has passed a major piece of the federal Affordable Care Act, opting to expand Medicaid to 1.4 million low-income Californians.

Legislature cooperates, clashes in budget debate

10:21 PM, Jun 14, 2013

Both houses of the Legislature send the bulk of the 2013-14 budget bills to the governor on Friday, with final passage of the spending plan expected just before the constitutional deadline.

Facebook: NSA data requests involved 19K users

9:48 PM, Jun 14, 2013

MENLO PARK - Facebook's top attorney says after a week of negotiations with national security officials, the company is allowed to make new revelations about government orders for user data.

Legislature passes $96.3B Democratic budget

4:49 PM, Jun 14, 2013

SACRAMENTO - The state Legislature has passed the state's massive spending plan amid sharp divisions over whether the Democratic budget will further the state's recovery or eventually return it to the multibillion-dollar deficits common during the recession.

Calif. growers lobby for Senate immigration bill

1:52 PM, Jun 14, 2013

WASHINGTON - Farm groups in California are lobbying for the Senate's immigration bill, which proposes bringing in thousands of new migrant workers and allowing undocumented employees already in the U.S. to become legal, permanent residents in about 10 years.

6 months after Newtown: Rush of gun laws, mixed results

7:28 PM, Jun 13, 2013

In the six months since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, lawmakers in four key states have approved significant restrictions on access to firearms. But elsewhere in the USA, the picture is far from clear.

Source: Obama approves arming Syrian rebels

7:25 PM, Jun 13, 2013

The Obama administration announced Thursday that it has determined that the Syrian government has deployed chemical weapons against opposition groups, crossing what President Obama had called a "red line" and prompting him to provide direct military aid to the Syrian opposition groups for the first time.

Brown plan gives big money to close education gap

4:13 PM, Jun 12, 2013

SACRAMENTO - California schools will receive an infusion of more than $3.6 billion in extra money this year, much of it targeted to the neediest students as part of a redistribution plan pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Walmart, big box stores accused of 'dumping' employees into Medi-Cal

4:31 PM, Jun 11, 2013

SACRAMENTO - Some state lawmakers accuse Walmart and other big businesses of paying employees such low wages the employees are forced to go Medi-Cal.

Brown, lawmakers reach budget accord

4:06 PM, Jun 10, 2013

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Brown and state lawmakers reached a budget deal Monday on two of the main sticking points between them: education spending and revenue estimates, according to State Capitol sources.

Obama, Xi get closer but gap remains on cybersecurity

6:50 PM, Jun 8, 2013

President Obama completed two days of wide-ranging talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, with the two sides inching closer in their concerns about North Korea's nuclear program.

GOP senator introduces bill requiring warrant 1st for surveillance

1:49 PM, Jun 7, 2013

WASHINGTON - Senator Rand Paul has introduced legislation that would require a warrant before any government agency could search the phone records of Americans.

Obama proud, pensive, defiant in San Jose speech

12:36 PM, Jun 7, 2013

President Obama's speech in praise of California's efforts on his signature health care law was somewhat upstaged by the furor over news about national security surveillance.

Bill would charge 911 fees on prepaid cellphones

2:16 PM, Jun 6, 2013

SACRAMENTO - Californians who use prepaid cellphones would pay a little more to add minutes under a bill moving through the Legislature.

FBI raid on legislator roils state Capitol

5:52 PM, Jun 5, 2013

Federal agents raid a state legislator's office, with sources confirming that the investigation in Sacramento seems to be widening.

Bill would criminalize 'cyber revenge porn'

4:52 PM, Jun 5, 2013

SACRAMENTO - A bill is heading through the state Legislature to crack down on what's known as "revenge porn."

FBI searches Sen. Ron Calderon's Capitol office

1:34 PM, Jun 5, 2013

SACRAMENTO - The FBI searched the State Capitol office of state Sen. Ron Calderon and the Latino Legislative Caucus office in connection to a case out of Los Angeles Tuesday evening.

Obama poised to make mark on the judiciary

7:43 PM, Jun 4, 2013

President Obama's simultaneous nominations of three judges to fill the nation's most powerful appellate court signals a new chapter in a political battle that's been raging for more than a quarter century.

GOP senators say immigration bill has 'serious flaws'

4:37 PM, Jun 4, 2013

As the Senate prepares to debate a sweeping immigration bill that would allow the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants to become U.S. citizens, some Republicans, including one who helped write the law, are sounding skeptical about its chances of clearing the chamber.

Assembly passes bill to raise minimum wage

4:46 PM, May 30, 2013

SACRAMENTO - Minimum-wage workers in California would see their first raises in six years under a bill that has passed the state Assembly.

Brown orders full review of CalTrans

7:28 PM, May 29, 2013

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown is ordering a full review of CalTrans following news that the Bay Bridge bolts might not be working properly and could delay the bridge's opening.

Bill would protect Calif. reporters' phone records

4:39 PM, May 23, 2013

SACRAMENTO - Government agencies would be required to give journalists five days' notice before they issue subpoenas to a third-party company for telephone records under a bill being introduced in the California Legislature.

Obama threatens veto of House student loan plan

1:21 PM, May 22, 2013

WASHINGTON - The White House Budget Office said Wednesday the GOP plan does not guarantee current low interest rates for students and creates uncertainty for them. The budget office says that if Obama were presented the current bill, officials would urge a veto.

House panel moves to curb military sexual assaults

1:12 PM, May 22, 2013

WASHINGTON - A bill approved by a House panel Wednesday authorizes changes to military law that would strip commanding officers of their authority to unilaterally change or dismiss court-martial convictions in major cases, such as rape and assault.

Senate Judiciary Committee approves immigration overhaul

9:58 PM, May 21, 2013

After three long weeks of hearings and debates, spectators burst out into screams and applause Tuesday night after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an immigration bill that would be the biggest overhaul to the nation's immigration laws in a generation.