15 years for drunken driving death of bicyclist

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) - The driver of a Hummer that struck down and killed a Southern California bicyclist has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

King tides in California used as climate change lesson

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Environmental advocates in Northern California plan to take photographs of some of the highest tides of the year to draw attention to what climate change could do decades from now.

High tide floods streets in Southern California beach city

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Astronomical high tides have caused minor street flooding in some low-lying areas along the Southern California coast.

Google Maps return to iPhone with new mobile app

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google Maps has found its way back to the iPhone. The world's most popular online mapping system returned late Wednesday with the release of the Google Maps iPhone app. The release comes nearly three months after Apple Inc. replaced Google Maps as the device's built-in navigation system and inserted its own map software into the latest version of its mobile operating system. Apple's maps application proved to be far inferior to ...

Inquest: Nurse in hoax found hanging

LONDON (AP) - A nurse was found hanging in her room three days after she had been duped by a hoax call from Australian DJs about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge, a U.K. inquest was told Thursday. The case is being treated as an apparent suicide.

NY police: LA man's killer silent, cool, precise

NEW YORK (AP) - Police say the shooter of a Los Angeles man in broad daylight on a New York City street was so cool and precise he left no doubt he's killed before, possibly as a professional hit man.

Software founder McAfee arrives in US

MIAMI (AP) - Anti-virus software founder John McAfee arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday night after being deported from Guatemala, where he had sought to evade police questioning in the killing of a man in neighboring Belize.

List of nominees for the Golden Globe Awards

Nominees for the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards, announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, Calif.:

TV Globes mostly dwell on cable, jilt broadcast fare

NEW YORK (AP) - The Golden Globes have an ear for musical drama, handing two nominations to ABC's new "Nashville" and a nod to NBC's freshman series "Smash."

'Modern Family' star's mom cut out of showbiz

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The family of teenage actress Ariel Winter agreed Wednesday to undergo counseling to try to resolve issues that led to her mother losing custody and control of her daughter's already prolific career for the near future.

'Lincoln' leads Golden Globes with 7 nominations

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Steven Spielberg's Civil War epic "Lincoln" led the Golden Globes on Thursday with seven nominations, among them best drama, best director for Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

US economy could withstand brief fall off 'cliff'

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's the scenario that's been spooking employers and investors and slowing the U.S. economy:

For good and ill, adoption transformed by Internet

NEW YORK (AP) - In the emotion-charged realm of adoption, the Internet has been a transformative force, often for good, sometimes for ill.

Police search Fullerton campus for robbery suspects

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Students at Cal State Fullerton who barricaded themselves inside classrooms and dorm rooms Wednesday afternoon prepared to stay put into the night as police searched for two suspects in a jewelry store robbery, while another suspect was caught after a high-speed pursuit that spanned three counties and ended on a baseball field where Los Angeles' police chief was giving away toys.

EPA finds contamination at Santa Susana former rocket test site

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - Lingering radioactive contamination exists at a former rocket test lab outside of Los Angeles that was the site of a partial nuclear meltdown, federal environmental regulators said Wednesday.

Auction house: We found Titanic violin

LONDON (AP) - The violin played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the oceanliner sank has been unearthed, a British auction house said Friday.

Kobe getting day of treatment on sprained ankle

Kobe Bryant says Dahntay Jones' dangerous defense left him with a sprained left ankle, and the NBA agreed.

Vatican: anti-clerical campaign against pope

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican lashed out at what it called a "defamatory" and "anti-clerical left-wing" campaign to discredit Pope Francis over his actions during Argentina's 1976-1983 military junta, saying no credible accusation had ever stuck against the new pope.

Obama wants research to wean vehicles off oil

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to authorize $200 million a year for research into clean energy technologies that can wean automobiles off oil.

GOP Sen. Portman of Ohio now supports gay marriage

CINCINNATI (AP) - Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is now supporting gay marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his sons is gay.

Missing LA-area movie exec now believed murdered

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The 10-month search for a movie executive has gone from a missing persons investigation to a murder investigation, and a convicted drug dealer has been named a person of interest.

Vatican lashes out over accusations

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican is lashing out at "defamatory" and "anti-clerical left-wing" forces seeking to discredit Pope Francis over his actions during Argentina's 1976-1983 military junta.

Westminster council meets on exclusion of gay group from parade

WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California city is reviewing its rules after a gay Vietnamese-American group was excluded from February's annual Tet Parade in Little Saigon.

Journalist charged in hacking case

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Federal authorities on Thursday charged a journalist with conspiring with the notorious hacking group "Anonymous" to deface a story on the Los Angeles Times' website a little more than two years ago.

LA pays settlement to newspaper carriers injured in Dorner case

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The city has agreed to give $40,000 to two women whose pickup was shot up by a Police Department protection detail that mistook their newspaper delivery vehicle for the truck driven by rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner during his rampage, officials announced Thursday.

Foreclosure rates falling

LOS ANGELES (AP) - While the nation's foreclosure woes persist, new data show they're easing amid a resurgent housing market, rising home prices and efforts by some states to buy homeowners more time to avoid losing their homes.

Cruise line sends passengers home by air

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) - Passengers from the cruise ship Carnival Dream headed to the airport Thursday instead of sailing home after an on-board generator problem halted their trip in the latest maintenance headache for the world's largest cruise line.

TSA stands by plan to allow small knives on planes

Software glitch delays 660,000 tax refunds

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service says 660,000 taxpayers will have their refunds delayed by up to six weeks because of a problem with the software they used to file their tax returns.

Denver Nuggets owner buying Outdoor Network

DENVER (AP) - Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke is adding the Outdoor Network to his sports empire.