"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week with nearly $33 million.

Under some of the state laws taking effect with the new year, homeowners will have increased protections from foreclosure.

Authorities have released the names of a father and son who died after they were swept into the sea while fishing near the Golden Gate Bridge Friday.

Experts say two rocket launchers turned in during a one-day gun buyback program in Los Angeles appear to be antitank weapons from the military.

Authorities say three people were killed when a home-built airplane crashed in a San Diego County nature preserve.

The state Medical Board is asking for the public's help as it combats reckless prescribing by doctors.

Backers of a proposal to build a commercial spaceport in the southernmost tip of Texas are looking for ways to attract the company with full knowledge that money will be tight in the upcoming legislative session.

A Delta Airlines passenger jet en route from Japan landed without incident after being struck by lightning as it approached Los Angeles International Airport.

Forecasters say another weather system moving into Northern California will be bringing cold temperatures and snow to some of the mountains in the San Francisco Bay area.

Gov. Jerry Brown has checked off most of the items from his 2012 to-do list.

NASA's newest Mars rover is gearing up for a road trip. But first, it has to drill into a rock.

Los Angeles County prosecutors have filed murder charges against two people who allegedly led Pasadena police on a brief chase Christmas Day that ended in a crash, killing a woman and an 11-year-old boy.

The executive director of the California-based environmentalist group Rainforest Action Network has died in a swimming accident at a beach near Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta.

The western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is getting spruced up with 25,000 white LED lights, transforming the gray, workhorse of a bridge into a light sculpture.

A California Air National Guard fighter jet crashed during a routine training mission but the pilot safely ejected.

A man was found shot in a Bay Area Rapid Transit parking lot and his wounds are considered life-threatening.

A new California law aimed at making it faster and less expensive for women to get pregnant using sperm from a donor they know is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1.

One person is dead and at least two others injured after the driver of a BMW pulled over by the California Highway Patrol in Oakland fled and crashed into another vehicle.

Ray Collins, who invited guitarist Frank Zappa to join the band that eventually became the Mothers of Invention, has died at age 75.

Authorities in Ecuador say an American expert on teen sexual health has died while climbing a volcano in the South American nation.

Yosemite National Park officials are suspending the search for a missing plane until spring.

Los Angeles police have identified a man arrested for allegedly setting a 67-year-old woman on fire as she was sleeping on a bus bench.

A one-day gun buyback program in Los Angeles brought in 2,037 firearms.

A Northern California animal rescue group is trying to help an orphaned bobcat kitten with a problem: She's too nice.

Officials say several early season storms have pushed California's snowpack - which supplies much of the state's water - to well above normal levels.