Central California

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state was battling “367 known fires” earlier this week.

A former California state prison inmate tells her story of sexual abuse by prison staff during her time incarcerated. A closer look at newly released records reveals a culture of sexual misconduct in California’s women’s prisons.

The two inmates charged with murder who broke out of a California jail over the weekend are back in custody, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Firefighters on Monday continued to battle a destructive wildfire in Northern California’s wine country, trying to beat back flames that forced thousands to flee their homes.

Authorities ordered at least 50,000 residents to evacuate towns near a massive Northern California wildfire Saturday, and the state’s largest utility announced power shut-offs for an estimated 2.35 million people due to forecasts of severe winds and extreme fire danger. Two previous electricity shut-offs in recent weeks were carried out amid concern that gusty winds could disrupt or knock down...

Lights went out across large portions of Northern California on Wednesday, as the state’s largest utility began its second massive blackout in two weeks, citing the return of dangerous fire weather. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said the rolling blackouts that initially stretched from the Sierra foothills to north of the San Francisco Bay Area would ultimately impact a half-million...

Less than two weeks after blacking out much of Northern California, the state’s largest utility is warning that dangerous fire weather could prompt it to shut off power to over 200,000 customers.

One of the most recent threats to California’s environment has webbed feet, white whiskers, shaggy fur and orange buck teeth that could be mistaken for carrots.

A central California resident has died from complications related to the use of e-cigarettes, the seventh person to die of a vaping-related illness. The Tulare County Public Health Office confirmed the death Monday in a Facebook post, hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to spend $20 million on raising awareness about the dangers of vaping nicotine and...

At least seven people were injured after a U.S. Navy fighter jet crashed in the California desert Wednesday while on a routine training mission, according to the U.S. Naval Air Forces Pacific.

The Trump administration plans to cancel $929 million in U.S. money for California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project and wants the state to return an additional $2.5 billion it’s already spent.

Faced with potentially ruinous lawsuits over California’s recent wildfires, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday in a move that could lead to higher bills for customers of the nation’s biggest utility and reduce the size of any payouts to fire victims.

Health officials on Thursday issued an update to their previous warnings about romaine lettuce, urging consumers to find out where their lettuce originated. In a statement Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises consumers to “not eat and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any romaine lettuce harvested from certain counties in the Central Coastal growing regions...

A high school teacher in central California was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after forcibly cutting the hair of one of her students while singing the national anthem, authorities said.

The story of money in politics doesn’t stop with spending on races for Congress. Candidates for governor, legislature and other state offices this year have brought in $2.2 billion in campaign contributions — nearly matching the combined total of $2.4 billion for candidates for the U.S. House and Senate. That makes this year among the most expensive ever in state-level...

Now that plastic straws may be headed for extinction, could Americans’ love of balloons be deflated? The joyous celebration of releasing balloons into the air has long bothered environmentalists, who say the pieces that fall back to earth can be deadly to seabirds and turtles that eat them. So as companies vow to banish plastic straws, there are signs balloons...

A helicopter blew down a tent at the Fort Hunter Liggett military base in California on Wednesday night, injuring 22 people, a spokeswoman said. A U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter was landing about 9:30 p.m. when the wind from its rotor caused the tent to collapse, said Amy Phillips, public information officer at the Monterey County base.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are reviewing an encounter between a Border Patrol agent and two U.S. citizens who were detained and questioned after speaking Spanish at a gas station in northern Montana, the agency said Monday. Ana Suda told NBC News she and her friend Mimi Hernandez made a midnight run Wednesday for milk and eggs at a...