In the News

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Across the nation, lawmakers are debating where to draw the line on young teen tanning, considering proposals that would make it illegal to expose minors to ultraviolet rays from sunlamps.

Those who support such a ban say the need is obvious. "Tanning booths, like cigarettes, cause cancer and should be off-limits to teenagers," said Dr. Brian Druker, the director of the Oregon Health and Science University's Knight Cancer Institute.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The number of paroled sex offenders who are fugitives in California is 15 percent higher today than before Gov. Jerry Brown's sweeping law enforcement realignment law took effect 17 months ago, according to figures released Wednesday by the state corrections department.

The increase amounts to 360 more sex offenders whose whereabouts were unknown and who were not reporting to their parole officers last year.

By Marc Lifsher
 
SACRAMENTO -- A bipartisan trio of lawmakers and a tax official have unveiled bills they say they'll use to save some California investors from getting hit with a collective $120 million in retroactive taxes.

One bill would reverse plans by the California Franchise Tax Board to force about 2,000 filers to return the tax breaks they received between 2008 and 2011 on the sale of stock in qualified small businesses.

By Paige St. John

This post has been updated. Please see below for details.

SACRAMENTO -- California's growing trouble with sex offenders removing their GPS monitors now involves an alleged murder.

A convicted sex offender with a history of repeated arrests for ditching his state-mandated GPS tracker is accused of killing his 76-year-old grandmother, Racheal Russell. Her body was found Tuesday in a wheelbarrow in the backyard of her Stockton home. Stockton police say Sidney Jerome DeAvila, 39, was arrested in a nearby park several hours later.