Rep. Doolittle hits back at feds over home search -- GOP Rep. John Doolittle accused the government Sunday of leaking word of an FBI search on his home to coincide with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony on the fired U.S. attorneys controversy. ERICA WERNER AP -- 5/6/07

MacArthur Maze ramp set to re-open Monday -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that the I-880 connector in the Oakland freeway maze was set to reopen early Monday morning, a week after a fiery crash damaged the ramp and destroyed the connector above it. Steve Geissinger in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/6/07

Officers in May Day Melee Off the Street -- Police Chief William Bratton said Sunday that up to 60 members of an elite squad that swarmed into a park and fired rubber bullets during a May Day immigration rally are no longer on the street. AP -- 5/6/07

Bill would ban chemical from plastic baby toys -- A common chemical found in plastic ducks, teething rings and other soft, chewable baby toys would be banned in California under a bill before an Assembly committee this week. SAMANTHA YOUNG AP -- 5/6/07

Brown leans on backers for help with legal bills from failed GOP suit -- A little-noticed lawsuit is costing newly installed state Attorney General Jerry Brown some very big bucks in legal fees -- so he's become the latest politico to turn to his supporters for help paying his bills. Brown's Public Integrity Legal Defense Fund has collected $86,500 since he was sworn in to office in January, records on file with the secretary of state show. Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Accounting for money spent and lives changed -- A little more than two years after California voters slapped a surtax on millionaires to pay for expanded mental health services, that money is beginning to move out to counties across the state, where it will be spent to treat people with psychiatric disorders. When fully implemented, the measure will provide $600 million to $800 million a year for new programs, depending on the strength of the state's economy and the number of million-dollar earners paying the tax. Daniel Weintraub in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Caltrans starting to get some respect -- Caltrans has always been on the tips of the tongues of Californians -- usually with a distinctively bitter taste. Motorists stuck in traffic have cursed the state's transportation department. Taxpayers watching seemingly unending construction projects have disparaged the agency. And the men and women in orange have become the butt of jokes. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Roads are full of trucks hauling hazardous loads -- Chevron Corp., California's second-largest supplier of retail gasoline, operates a fleet of 80 tanker trucks and contracts with about 80 others to deliver its product to stations up and down the state. Most of the trucks operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's close to 50,000 miles driven each day, and most of the time without incident or attention. Tom Chorneau in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Inferno puts big rig inspectors in the spotlight -- The trucks outside the inspection station crawl by in a slow-motion conga line. Moving van. New-car carrier. Bread truck. Most get the green light and move on. Hay hauler. UPS. Gas tanker. But many do not. Patrick May and Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/6/07

Traffic hassles could put people on road to high-tech meetings -- Valerie Williamson was afraid the drive from her home in Belmont to San Francisco would be a nightmare, that the East Bay freeway meltdown would cause traffic havoc throughout the region. So, on Tuesday, she canceled a face-to-face meeting with a colleague in the city and got together instead in Second Life, an online virtual world. Ellen Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

How Philadelphia, Detroit handled highway collapses -- A tale of two other cities struck by infernos that melted freeways holds hope for Bay Area motorists. The Philadelphia and Detroit areas have suffered major interstate freeway catastrophes involving gasoline haulers that were nearly identical to the one in Oakland a week ago. Steve Geissinger in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/6/07

A disaster will focus our minds -- An emergency like Sunday's meltdown in the MacArthur Maze floods the body politic with a rush of adrenaline. Suddenly the impossible becomes the imperative. Vicki Haddock in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Driver could drive again, even after the crash -- Eight criminal convictions, all of them years ago, weren't enough to keep the man whose tanker melted a piece of Interstate 580 from hauling thousands of gallons of gasoline on California's roads. And it might not have kept him from driving a school bus, a city bus, a tour bus or a Greyhound bus, either. Dan Reed in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/6/07

Phone 'bill of rights' battle resumes -- As a member of the California Public Utilities Commission, Susan Kennedy helped dismantle the nation's first "bill of rights" for telephone customers and replace it with a less restrictive one. Kennedy is now Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief of staff -- and Democrats who control the Legislature are shepherding through a set of bills designed to reassemble some protections that were shelved. Aurelio Rojas in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

California can't avoid expansion -- When California surged past New York in the early 1960s to become the nation's most populous state, the state's political and civic leaders, including Gov. Pat Brown, hailed it as a proud milestone. The state's population at the time: about 17 million. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Death too young -- Sacramento County has seen an alarming jump in youth suicides, raising the call for more help. Phillip Reese in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Early release risk downplayed -- The head of an Oakland-based criminal justice think tank says that the prospect of early releases for an untold number of inmates might actually lower recidivism rates and cause crime to go down. Andy Furillo in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

On Iraq, Gates may not be following Bush's playbook -- As the president pushes for more time and money for the war, the Pentagon chief's message has seemed to run counter. Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

To the gates of hell -- Standing firmly on the land that Ronald Reagan loved, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., did not shrink from his own principles at the first GOP presidential candidates' debate held at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley Thursday night. More than any other national figure today -- no, I take that back because Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut has put his career on the line as well -- McCain has shown that he puts what is best for his country and U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan before his political career. Debra J. Saunders in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Father, husband, and now, soldier -- Brian Hancock joined the Army Reserve at age 36. It's a decision he doesn't regret, but one that doesn't sit well with his wife. Anita Creamer in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Issa's not shy about mixing it up -- Darrell Issa didn't earn his millions by thinking small – and he didn't come to Congress thinking that way, either. It's not enough, apparently, that the self-made millionaire in six short years has taken on a sitting governor, the Interior Department and a U.S. attorney, and crossed a president of his own party. Dana Wilkie in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 5/6/07

Immigrant labor, U.S. jobs cross paths at the border -- The footpaths across our southern border go in both directions. We encourage Mexican workers to sneak into this country to work in jobs we don't want, and we send jobs to Mexico that we do want. While our political leaders say these seemingly conflicting policies should be fixed, there are too many people benefiting from this system for any real changes to be made. Jim Boren in the Fresno Bee -- 5/6/07

Opposing immigration groups face off at protest -- More than 300 boisterous protesters, chanting and carrying signs, faced off across Maine Avenue on Saturday over the issue of illegal immigration. Fred Ortega, and Brian Day in the Inland Daily Bulletin -- 5/6/07

Anti-Chinese law had effect for generations / Exclusion Act forced many immigrants to lie in order to stay -- In 1881, an 11-year-old boy in China named Yung Wah Gok begged for a chance to go to the United States like the thousands of other Chinese workers who had already left to seek their fortune on the railroad, in laundries and working other jobs. Vanessa Hua in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Religion, law and roadkill collide -- Fred Velasquez wants the right to practice his religion. Velasquez's faith is the Roundhouse tradition, the religion handed down by the Miwok people who have lived in these hills since before the arrival of European settlers. Currently, however, it is illegal for Velasquez to pick up the dead birds and animals whose bones and feathers make the regalia used in Roundhouse ceremonies. Dana M. Nichols in the Stockton Record -- 5/6/07

Governor puts spotlight on career technical education -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting a lot of bang for the buck as he leads a drive to reverse California's dramatic decline in job-training courses in high school. The additional funding Schwarzenegger has provided for career technical education, formerly known as vocational education, is a drop in the bucket in a state budget spending $2.2 billion on high school jobs programs this year. But the attention it is getting is not. Ed Mendel in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 5/6/07

Slashing L.A. Unified bureaucracy may be tougher than it seems -- Los Angeles Unified's bloated bureaucracy, long decried by the mayor and teachers' union, has now become a key issue for the district's new superintendent and a hot-button topic in the school board race. NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 5/6/07

Stanford divided on tobacco dollars -- A group of prominent Stanford University academics are urging the school to reject money from the tobacco industry, triggering a prickly debate about the best way to safeguard the integrity of a university's research, reputation and academic freedoms. A resolution, to be voted on May 17, divides the university's top intellects, with leaders such as President John Hennessy and School of Medicine Dean Philip Pizzo taking opposing stances. Lisa M. Krieger in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/6/07

Discretion lacking in classroom controversy -- Sometimes, when seeking justice, a news conference, an elevated voice and questions relating to racial inequality are vital tools to get results. Using these tactics, the Sacramento branch of the NAACP was an indispensable public servant in the effort to shed more light on abuses at Sacramento's Main Jail. But sometimes justice requires discretion. Sometimes the best way to help people is to shield them from the lights instead of joining them on stage. Marcos Bretón in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Tough questions for new CUSD chief -- Nine months ago, Dennis Smith watched from afar as Capistrano Unified's superintendent faced investigations by law enforcement, chastisement from city leaders and accusations that district officials used student databases to create lists of political opponents. SAM MILLER in the Orange County Register -- 5/6/07

Stem cells mixing with politics, morality, funding and risk -- Duct tape patched on windows keeps out water and mold. Clear plastic sealed over an air vent provides more insulation. Tom Kisken in the Ventura Star -- 5/6/07

If paramedics err, what happens to them? -- In California, there's no guarantee that they or emergency medical technicians will be reported, investigated or disciplined. Rich Connell and Robert J. Lopez in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

Clinics help close racial gap in immunization for children -- More than a third of African-American toddlers in Contra Costa don't get the immunizations doctors recommend, compared with 28 percent of Latinos and 15 percent of whites. Contra Costa health officials are working to reduce the disparity -- which likely reflects differing access to health care -- through outreach sessions such as the one held Friday at the Richmond office of the Women, Infants and Children program. Sara Steffens in the Contra Costa Times -- 5/6/07

Huge bill for husband in state mental hospital -- Honorato Rodriguez had a history of mental illness and delusions that neighbors were out to get him when he lobbed a Molotov cocktail over the fence of his Galt home. Nobody was hurt and no home burned down, but the dangerous act landed the 55-year-old Rodriguez, a victim of Parkinson's disease, in a state mental hospital. Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

HDTV messes up service for deaf -- For two months early this year, Janel Edmiston and her family enjoyed their new Panasonic high-definition TV, which occupies a big chunk of the family room wall in their Elk Grove home. But for Edmiston, who began losing her hearing at age 23, the pleasure was fleeting. In March, she said, closed captioning that came via her cable box disappeared. Clint Swett in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

A calculated risk was the answer for boy's scary ailment -- When a 5-year-old is diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening illness, what is a parent to do? Dorsey Griffith in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Pump doubts raised years ago -- State water officials four years ago inquired about getting approval to kill imperiled fish at the massive water pumps near Tracy, according to internal government e-mails obtained by the Times. But the Department of Water Resources never got that approval, and as a result the pumps are now operating under a legal cloud and the threat of a court-ordered shutdown. Mike Taugher in the Contra Costa Times -- 5/6/07

Better-heeled failing home economics too -- As more owners are unable to make higher payments, Deputy Strickland finds himself evicting people in nicer neighborhoods. David Streitfeld in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

Quick action can head off a foreclosure nightmare -- With more homeowners defaulting, lenders reach out to borrowers to avert disaster. Michelle Hofmann in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

Prepare for new smoke screens on global warming -- During my 20-plus years at newspapers, I've received truckloads of environmental bric-a-brac. Fishermen in Alaska once sent me vials of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill. Timber companies continue to send me tree seedlings. Stuart Leavenworth in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/6/07

Fuel prices keep rising -- For some, that bike lane is looking better every day. For others, car pools are the answer to soaring gasoline prices that threaten three-figure prices to fill up the SUV. At $3.42 for a gallon of regular gas, today's record- setting prices have motorists looking at their options and determining their breaking points. Lurking in the back of their minds is the hope that this is a one-time high - but the fear that it's the face of things to come. SUE DOYLE in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 5/6/07

Bay Area gas prices shattering records -- California's high-flying gas prices rocketed higher than ever Saturday, with records set in all 25 cities surveyed daily by the state auto club. And some oil companies are starting to hunt for extra signage supplies - the numeral 4 - just in case prices reach a once unthinkable level. Gary Richards in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/6/07

Friends in foul waters -- Camaraderie forms among those who anchor at a marina in Wilmington. To them, home is 'where the sewer meets the sea.' Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

Developers feel pressure in Anaheim -- A new coalition of unions, faith-based groups and community organizations is pressuring developers to build low-cost homes and pay sufficient wages at a proposed complex next to Angel Stadium. SARAH TULLY in the Orange County Register -- 5/6/07

Mortgage brokers get fatter payoff for selling riskier loans -- When mortgage brokers sign up borrowers, they have a big financial incentive to promote risky loans, according to a variety of industry experts. Over the last three years, risky loans have fueled the rise in mortgage defaults, foreclosures and bank auctions of distressed properties throughout the state, a loan industry watchdog said last week. WILLIAM FINN BENNETT in the North County Times -- 5/6/07

Yosemite entrance fee to rise -- The Bush administration is quietly moving forward with plans to raise entrance fees at 135 national parks, from Yosemite to the Everglades, in the most sweeping proposed fee increase in the history of the 91-year-old National Park Service. The fees would be boosted over the next two years. Yosemite's gate fee would jump from $20 to $25 per vehicle, starting Jan. 1. Other parks, such as Rocky Mountain, Olympic, Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Zion, would also raise vehicle fees to $25,while some, including Everglades, Arches and Lassen, would double vehicle fees to $20. Paul Rogers in the Oakland Tribune -- 5/6/07

L.A. mayor vows action against guilty officers -- In a show of solidarity with families confronted by police during Tuesday's immigrant rally at MacArthur Park, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told Cinco de Mayo audiences around Los Angeles on Saturday that action would be taken against officers found to have violated the law. The mayor stepped up to a downtown pulpit Saturday night and vowed, "There will be consequences. Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

Protest gives LAPD image another beating -- Since the '92 riots, the department has sought to improve tactics and community relations. But lessons learned failed Tuesday's test. Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

L.A says fewer dogs, cats being euthanized -- The Los Angeles Animal Services Department took in more dogs and cats in the first half of the current fiscal year than last, but it also euthanized fewer. Carla Hall in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/6/07

Sheriff's deputy accused of stealing money / Theft is alleged to have taken place during medical call -- An Alameda County sheriff's deputy has been arrested and accused of stealing money from the scene of a medical call he was investigating in Castro Valley, authorities said Saturday. Deputy Robert Tracy, a 10-year veteran, was booked Friday on suspicion of grand theft and embezzlement, both felonies. Tracy was released from the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility in Oakland after posting $20,000 bail. Henry K. Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/6/07

Copper and robbers -- They scurry out at nightfall, moving into orchards, scrap yards and housing projects in search of metal, leaving behind damaged equipment, plundered buildings and neighborhoods darkened by power outages. James Guy and Tim Bragg in the Fresno Bee -- 5/6/07