California probes whether firm sold unauthorized voting machines -- The secretary of state's office is investigating whether a company that manufactures electronic voting machines sold the equipment to five California counties after making unauthorized changes. DON THOMPSON AP -- 10/15/07

California Supreme Court allows arrests of paroled sex offenders -- Parole agents can continue their sweeps of sex offenders who live too close to schools and parks after the state Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant a broad injunction seeking to halt the arrests. DON THOMPSON AP -- 10/15/07

Lawmakers miss deadline on water bond, but there may be more time -- Unable to agree on a far-reaching California water policy, state lawmakers will miss a Tuesday deadline to put a bond measure on the February ballot. But that doesn't mean they're out of time. SAMANTHA YOUNG AP -- 10/15/07

Congressman Doolittle outraised by GOP challenger -- Republican California congressman John Doolittle has been outraised by a political newcomer seeking to unseat him in next year's GOP primary, according to new federal campaign finance reports. Doolittle raised just under $55,000 during the third quarter of this year. Air Force reservist Eric Egland, one of several potential Republican opponents, raised almost $80,000. ERICA WERNER AP -- 10/15/07

Motorist fee increases signed by governor -- Acting on the last batch of bills from what experts called a disappointing regular legislative year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed into law a controversial increase in motorists' fees that is intended to raise millions to develop alternative fuel and clean-air technology. Consumer advocates condemned the bill for putting the costs on the backs of motorists rather than oil companies. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Governor rushes to clear bills -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has used his governorship to raise environmental awareness and push healthy eating, on Sunday vetoed bills that would have forced chain restaurants to post nutritional information and encouraged "green" construction of buildings. Dan Smith in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

Californians support term limits proposal, sales tax hike for health care, legal residency for undocumented immigrants -- Although fewer than half of California voters are familiar with the measure on legislative term limits that will appear on the February 5th primary ballot, a narrow majority favors the reform measure when read the official summary, a new poll by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University has found. -- 10/15/07

Governor should reconsider sales tax hike -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's eyes always have been bigger than the state's wallet when it comes to healthcare expansion. It's the main reason why he and the Legislature can't agree on a plan to insure every Californian. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Inland leaders wary of state health care overhaul plans -- Governor Schwarzenegger's efforts to overhaul California's health care system received some help last month when the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce got on board. The Inland area's largest business group remains unconvinced. JIM MILLER and KIMBERLY TRONE in the Riverside Press -- 10/15/07

Democrats vow new bill on kids' healthcare -- House Democratic leaders, almost conceding defeat in their quest to override President Bush's veto of a popular children's health bill, promised on Sunday to pass another version of the bill after an anticipated showdown this week. Janet Hook in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Southland Republicans unlikely to be hurt by health insurance fight -- Even as a fierce battle brews in Congress over Republican opposition to a $35 billion expansion of children's health insurance, California's heavily gerrymandered election districts mean Southland GOP lawmakers face little political risk over their stance. Every Southern California Republican voted against the bill last month, which would add as many as 3.1 million more children to health-insurance rolls nationwide, including about 203,320 in the Golden State. LISA FRIEDMAN in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 10/15/07

Initiative doesn't address real problems of Electoral College -- Imagine that for each presidential vote cast in California someone in another state gets to cast three. Daniel Borenstein in the Contra Costa Times -- 10/15/07

Governor signs bills to track bullets, ban toxic toys -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the nation's first law requiring semiautomatic pistols sold in the state to leave a unique imprint on bullets that are fired, giving police another way to try to link shootings to the criminals who carry them out. Demian Bulwa in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/07

Union's election imperils its fees -- With pension and contract fights on the horizon, California's largest state workers union first must fight off a rear-guard action that threatens to reduce its total revenue by more than 25 percent. Andy Furillo in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

San Francisco jails' tight budget means early release for petty criminals -- While the public clamors for safer streets and a crackdown on quality-of-life crimes, San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey is quietly allowing scores of drug users and petty thieves to walk out of jail early so they don't have to sleep on the floor. The early releases were ordered last week even as all but one wing of a 360-bed County Jail at San Bruno sat empty, the result of budget and staff shortages. Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/07

Walters: Lifestyles of the rich and political -- This story is a quarter-century old, but its age demonstrates that, fundamentally, the dynamics of the Capitol rarely change. There were two senators representing adjacent Northern California districts, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, and in the jockeying over redrawing legislative districts after the 1980 census, they had become rather bitter rivals. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

The Buzz: New laws run gamut, from fish to toilets -- The plethora of bills being signed into law by the governor in recent days naturally covers a vast array of subjects. Some are a bit esoteric, such as AB 1187, which among other things prohibits "the taking or possession of fish of the family Centrarchidae (that's Sacramento perch, crappie, black bass and sunfish) for commercial purposes, except where lawfully imported from out of state." Steve Wiegand in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

Monday Morning Quarterback -- The week ahead in presidential politics will be marked by financial specifics from all the campaigns, fall-out from Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize, sharpening attacks between leading candidates in both parties, questions about Fred Thompson’s campaigning, and debates next Sunday on both the Republican and Democratic sides. Bill Bradley NWN weblog -- 10/15/07

Mad Maps -- Almost all incumbents routinely win re-election and form a political elite that California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says has built "a fortress to keep the politicians in and the people out." JOHN FUND in the Wall Street Journal -- 10/15/07

New director of social services faces political, funding hurdles -- Wagner, 45, is a highly touted public assistance administrator whose stints in Wisconsin and Massachusetts caught the attention of the Schwarzenegger administration earlier this year. He has worked on projects that turned government handouts into work assistance, and he was able to enroll more people on food stamps, said Jerry Friedman, executive director of the American Public Human Services Association, which recommended Wagner for the job. Judy Lin in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

Insurance providers want your attention -- The “cave men” characters in a Geico television ad got their own television series. Allstate is sponsoring college football's Sugar Bowl. Aliens from the planet Mercury are suspected of keeping rates down. If you think there are a lot of car insurance ads on television, some wacky and others straightforward, you would be right. Ed Mendel in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 10/15/07

Police regain tool against sideshows -- Ending an accidental lapse, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed a bill that immediately reinstated a law cops use to punish potentially deadly sideshow car pranks and races across California. Steven Geissinger in the Oakland Tribune -- 10/15/07

Orange County man describes his ordeal in Iranian prison -- As days stretched into weeks and weeks into months, Ali Shakeri searched for optimism in his squalid Iranian prison cell, where the only thing between him and the floor at night was a thin blanket. Fearful and disoriented from endless interrogations and little contact with the outside world, Shakeri had to ask his guards what day it was. Tony Barboza in the Los Angeles Times VIK JOLLY in the Orange County Register -- 10/15/07

America's own unlawful combatants? -- Using private guards in Iraq could expose the U.S. to accusations of treaty violations, some experts think. Julian E. Barnes in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Leno keeping NBC up at night -- 'Tonight' host is said to be unhappy about his planned exit in 2009. Meg James in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Blacks see bleak future in Silicon Valley -- When Geoffry Brown was laid off from a marketing job with a San Jose software company in 2003, he could not know what lay ahead: several years of unemployment, a divorce and, ultimately, a pay cut when he went back to work. Mike Swift in the Oakland Tribune -- 10/15/07

Rescue Readied By Banks Is Bet To Spur Market -- The high-stakes plan to rescue banks from losses on mortgage securities amounts to a big bet that a consortium of financial giants -- at the prodding of the U.S. government -- can persuade investors to pour more money into the troubled credit market. CARRICK MOLLENKAMP, DEBORAH SOLOMON and ROBIN SIDEL in the Wall Street Journal VIKAS BAJAJ in the New York Times -- 10/15/07

Immigrant gardeners provide seed money for college scholarships -- Catalino Tapia came to the United States at age 20 with $6 in his pocket. He worked hard, as a baker and a machine operator, and eventually started his own gardening business. He and his wife bought a home in Redwood City and raised their two sons, putting the eldest through college. Tyche Hendricks in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/07

L.A. Unified to get $600 million for construction -- Despite declining public school enrollment, Los Angeles will be able to count on more than $600 million in state school construction funds because of a bill signed Sunday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, local officials said. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times RICK ORLOV in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 10/15/07

Schools turn to Internet to keep parents informed -- In days of yore -- say, pre-millenial -- parents relied on paper report cards, teacher conferences and honest children to learn how their charges were doing in school. E-mail and school Web sites have helped, but some school districts are pushing the digital envelope a bit further. Melissa Nix in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

Stanford team finds blood test to help identify Alzheimer's disease -- Researchers at Stanford University have developed a potentially pathbreaking blood test that, according to preliminary studies, is able to identify patients with Alzheimer's disease - an ailment that has been notoriously difficult to diagnose. Sabin Russell in the San Francisco Chronicle Steve Johnson in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/07

Governor signs ocean protection bills -- Schwarzenegger signed bills designed to prevent commercial ships from inadvertently carrying invasive marine species to California harbors, to beef up management of ocean fisheries, and to establish a team of scientists to conduct research for the state's new Ocean Protection Council. DAVE DOWNEY in the North County Times -- 10/15/07

Scientists gauge greenhouse gases above San Francisco in warming experiment -- In a first-of-its kind experiment, a group of university and government scientists has begun to monitor greenhouse gases in the air above San Francisco. Jane Kay in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/07

Interstate 5 is back in business -- Transportation officials reopened Interstate 5 early Monday after a fiery tunnel crash closed the freeway over the weekend. California Highway Patrol spokesman John Lutz said all main lanes on both sides of the freeway were open, while the truck tunnel where Friday's deadly crash occurred remained closed. Bettina Boxall and Mitchell Landsberg in the Los Angeles Times SUSAN ABRAM and PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 10/15/07

Flaws found in Orange County tollway foes' study -- After years of work and careful campaigning, a long-in-the-works traffic study that is a centerpiece of the effort to stop a toll road from slicing through one of Southern California's picturesque coastal parks has turned out to be flawed. Dan Weikel in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Alarm raised in Santa Cruz -- A public health hazard is going to rain down on Santa Cruz. Or a government conspiracy. Or maybe - now here's a radical thought - The Man has found a prudent way to protect California's multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry. Such are the theories and fears zinging across the central coast over the state's plans to control a tiny but voracious pest known as the light brown apple moth. Kim Vo in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/07

'Lights Out' event illuminates energy use, dark skies -- In this space last week, we poked fun at a little event this coming Saturday night in both the city and county of Los Angeles called "Lights Out." This week we're going to praise it. Steve Hymon in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Promoting the Delta diversity -- Efforts are gearing up to lure visitors to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta with an extensive trail system and activities that tap into the area's farming history. M.S. Enkoji in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/07

State bans use of toxin in toys -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Sunday making California the first state in the nation to ban use of a toxic chemical in baby toys, forging a theme of defying conservative interests as he pushed toward a midnight deadline to deal with more than 950 bills sent to his desk by state lawmakers. Steve Geissinger in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/07

Traffic signals have drivers seeing red -- It's the biggest Roadshow beef by miles, with countless complaints blasting in each week for the past 16 years. Why is my traffic light always, always, ALWAYS RED?!?!? Gary Richards in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/07

Respecting, and liking, these elders -- When USC graduate student Shaun Rushforth wants his gerontology studies to come to life, all he has to do is open the door to his East Hollywood apartment and walk down the hallway. The very quiet hallway. Larry Gordon in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/07

Battery Townsley was built to fend off any attack from sea -- A new weapon in the Bay Area's fight to preserve its military history was unveiled Sunday afternoon. It's called Battery Townsley - a refurbished World War II underground fort in the Marin Headlands. Delfin Vigil in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/07

Out of prison, out of a home -- When state parole agents have sought a place to house some of society's least-wanted ex-cons, they often have turned to a nondescript, 44-room transient hotel next to downtown San Jose's Greyhound bus station. Barry Witt in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/07