Volunteers convert a hillside plot into the Valmonte Farm and Nature Garden, the latest project in nonprofit group's effort to teach youngsters about healthful food.The temperature had soared to nearly 100 degrees by late morning in Palos Verdes Estates, making it a fine day to cool off at the beach or a water park.

Efforts to save mountain yellow-legged frogs, which had been dwindling, seem to be paying off, with the fist-sized amphibians breeding in numbers not seen in decades.To reach one of the last wild populations of the mountain yellow-legged frog on Earth, Adam Backlin and Elizabeth Gallegos tramped down a no-nonsense trail, scaled cliffs and barged through nettles along a vein of water in a scowling ...

Volunteers picking up debris in Santa Monica will get a chance to learn about the Inkwell, a beach where African Americans gathered for decades in the Jim Crow era.For much of the early to mid-20th century, a stretch of Santa Monica sand was the preferred hangout for African American beachgoers who didn't feel welcomed on other beaches. Some called it the Inkwell.

The blaze started on the east side of the 405 and burned through the night. Firefighting efforts are set to resume at first light.A fast-moving brush fire in the Sepulveda Pass that snarled traffic across the Westside and sent jitters through Bel-Air canyon neighborhoods burned through the night Friday, forcing crews to prepare for a second day of battle in record-breaking heat.

The Tustin vigil came as law enforcement personnel patrolled near Coptic Christian churches because of the role of Egyptian Christians in making the film that spurred violence in the Mideast.About 60 Southern California Muslims gathered Friday evening at the intersection of Barranca Parkway and Jamboree Road in Tustin to mourn the loss of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and the three others...

After a five-day teachers strike in Chicago, L.A. Unified and union officials underscore differences between the districts, though the role of student test scores in evaluations is an issue in both.They're both large, urban school districts under fire from teachers unions for pushing to incorporate student test scores into instructors' evaluations.

Cal State plans to send a letter to applicants saying, in effect, their chances for admission are higher if the tax hike on the Nov. 6 ballot passes. Tax foes say that's illegal.SACRAMENTO — Hundreds of thousands of applicants to California State University campuses this year will be receiving a warning instead of the typical warm note thanking them for their interest.

City officials plan to look into an LAFD study that raises concerns about time-consuming questions dispatchers must ask before giving CPR instructions or sending rescue units. Several Los Angeles officials on Friday said they would probe the findings of an internal Los Angeles Fire Department report detailing delays in getting 911 callers to begin CPR on cardiac arrest victims.

Metrolink names Michael DePallo chief executive of the commuter rail line that is still dealing with the aftermath of the deadly 2008 Chatsworth crash. He replaces John Fenton, who left in May.A veteran New York area transit leader Friday was named chief executive of the Metrolink commuter rail service at a challenging time in its efforts to improve safety and increase ridership.

California will take over the Inglewood Unified School District, which could otherwise run out of money by December. The bill is one of 22 the governor signed.SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed a $55-million emergency bailout and state-takeover plan for the nearly bankrupt Inglewood Unified School District.

Rick Caruso, the developer of the Grove and Americana at Brand, controls a high-profile portfolio of real estate holdings in the same city he would be trying to govern.Will the mayor of the Grove run for mayor of Los Angeles?

Facebook users assume they have a lot in common with their social network 'friends.' The presidential election is causing many to discover otherwise. Click!He's the younger brother of a girl I knew in elementary school in Cleveland. Until he friended me on Facebook a few years ago, we hadn't been in touch since Lyndon Johnson was battling Barry Goldwater for the presidency.

About $1,500 of the money stolen in a Canyon Country bank robbery and tossed by suspects during a police chase through South L.A. has been recovered. Officials say they are looking to find more.

The organization that runs California's energy grid is planning ahead in case the San Onofre nuclear plant remains out of commission in the summer of 2013.The organization responsible for overseeing California's power grid is already developing plans to meet next summer's electricity needs in Southern California if the San Onofre nuclear plant remains offline.

More than 200 protesters march from downtown to Boyle Heights in a show of frustration over some Metro projects, which displaced residents of affordable housing. More than 200 protesters marched through Union Station on Thursday afternoon, banging drums as they passed train platforms, loudly demanding more community say in how the region's transit agency manages and develops property along its rap...

Planning Commission decides that economic benefits of bringing the NFL to downtown L.A. outweigh the stadium's effects on traffic, air quality and other issues.A $1.2-billion plan for bringing an NFL stadium to Los Angeles passed a major test Thursday, even as anti-poverty activists pressed powerful developer Anschutz Entertainment Group to make millions of dollars in additional concessions.

Campaigning to be Los Angeles mayor, Councilman Eric Garcetti gives a policy speech laying out a plan to create jobs and reform a City Hall system he called 'broken.'In one of the first major policy speeches in a mayoral campaign that so far has been dominated by fundraising pitches, Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti laid out a plan to create jobs and reform a City Hall system he called "b...

A crane operator found the 10-inch-long tooth while digging for a new transit center in downtown San Francisco. Other treasures have been uncovered at the construction site, including a gold nugget.SAN FRANCISCO — A woolly mammoth tooth with its enamel still intact has been discovered during excavation for a new transit center in downtown San Francisco.

UC leaders agree to pay settlement to 21 UC Davis students and alumni who sued over campus officers' use of pepper spray during a November 2011 protest.SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California will pay damages to the UC Davis students and alumni who were pepper sprayed by campus police during an otherwise peaceful protest 10 months ago, officials said Thursday.

The Sacramento County woman was beaten so severely with an extension cord that she was hospitalized. Her son, suspected of the attack, seems to have been her primary caregiver.ELK GROVE, Calif. — An 11-year-old boy was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse after his disabled mother was beaten so severely with an extension cord that she was hospitalized, authorities said. ...

The person, who had a mild infection and has recovered, stayed at Curry Village.Another person has been sickened by hantavirus originating in Yosemite National Park, the ninth case in a rash of the rodent-borne disease that has killed three visitors since mid-June.

How we choose to build our families and impart values are personal matters, not public ones.Everyone else seems to have calmed down. But I'm still shaking my head at the mom Olympics that competed with the real ones this political season.

California Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill directing Sheriff Lee Baca and the Alameda County D.A. to determine whether new laws are needed to curb Web crime.SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday directed the Los Angeles County sheriff to help determine whether Internet-related crimes are a significant problem requiring new state laws.

Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih of Media for Christ in Duarte and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula of Cerritos emerge as forces behind 'Innocence of Muslims,' the film whose trailer has incited violence across the Arab world.One ran a low-profile Christian charity from a sleepy suburb east of Los Angeles. The other was a financially strapped gas station operator just out of federal prison.

A new study raises concerns about time-consuming questions the dispatchers are required to ask. Often CPR does not start until after brain death can begin.Los Angeles Fire Department dispatchers waste valuable time getting 911 callers to start CPR on cardiac arrest victims, often beginning the life-saving procedure after the point at which brain death begins, according to an internal study obtaine...

A U.S. crackdown on pot shops threatens a father's search for cannabidiol in hopes of halting his son's seizures from Dravet syndrome.MODESTO —Topamax. Depakote. Phenobarbital. The list goes on. Before Jayden David turned 5, he had tried a dozen powerful medications to tame a rare form of epilepsy. The side effects were devastating.

The trial of a Lomita restaurant owner accused of killing his wife began Wednesday with hints of how the suspected killer may have gotten rid of the body.

Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign to build the bear a permanent home at a sanctuary east of San Diego kicks into high gear.Having launched the Glendale bear known as Meatball to stardom and nurtured a growing fundraising and media campaign to secure him a permanent sanctuary, Sarah Aujero was understandably excited to become one of few nonofficial people to see the 400-pound black bear in person. ...

An operator for part of L.A.'s DASH bus is complicit in Israel's violation of international law, says a protest group. A council panel backs the contract. A routine Los Angeles City Hall meeting Wednesday showed how volatile Middle East politics can erupt in unexpected places and around the most seemingly mundane of issues — awarding a shuttle bus contract.

Jacqueline Viens recounts a drunken talk with David Viens in which he said his wife choked to death on her own vomit after he tied her up and taped her mouth.One night in 2009, during a drunken conversation, Jacqueline Viens said her father told her why her stepmother had recently vanished.