No regrets for Perata, Swanson for missing convention -- Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata warned several weeks ago that it could come to this: If there was no budget resolution by Monday, lawmakers would be forced to skip the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Dan Walters: California businesses may score in legislative duel -- As important and visible as it may be, the political stalemate over the state budget - whether to close a whopping deficit with new taxes, spending cuts and loans - is not truly uppermost in the minds of most legislators. While legislative leaders wrangle over the budget, rank-and-file lawmakers are more concerned with the annual game that pits business groups against unions, environmentalists, plaintiffs' attorneys and consumer activists over the latter's bills that would impose new costs and red tape on the former.

'We are one' - except when it comes to state budget -- State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, was living in the moment Monday - while dreading it was about to end. He stood before the California delegation, delivering a thundering speech for the party to unify behind presumptive nominee Barack Obama. "We are one! We are one! We are one!" he shouted.

Court rules S.F. teen illegal needs services -- A San Francisco court set aside a drug-trafficking case Monday against a 14-year-old Honduran immigrant - a ruling that juvenile justice officials fear will undermine Mayor Gavin Newsom's new policy requiring that such offenders be held for possible deportation. Juvenile Court Commissioner Abby Abinanti concluded that the youth, identified only as Francisco G. because of his age, should be treated within the social welfare system, not as a criminal offender.

Home sales in state soar as prices plunge -- ornia home sales surged last month even while prices plunged a record amount, as buyers snapped up bargains among the state's hundreds of thousands of foreclosed and distressed properties, according to an industry trade group.

California attorney general issues medical marijuana guidelines -- Jerry Brown outlines steps to help patients and dispensaries stay within the law, help police know when to step in and, it's hoped, keep the federal government at bay.

Orange County woman is 1st in California to die from West Nile virus -- The 72-year-old from Buena Park had a serious neurological form of the disease, which an Orange County Health Care Agency spokesman said she likely contracted from a mosquito bite.

State tobacco control pays off, advocate says -- A newly published study by researchers at UCSF estimates that the California Tobacco Control Program has saved some $86 billion in personal health care costs - a 50-fold return on investment.

Gang violence seeps into Sacramento suburbs -- Nearly two years after the fatal shooting, a sense of unease - a memory of murder - lingers behind the peaceful facade of a middle-class neighborhood in Elk Grove called The Villas. Kids played basketball in the street on a sunny afternoon last week and neighbors kept their grass green and trim. Missing was a beloved neighbor killed by a gangster's bullet, a violent urban death stamped into the history of one of Sacramento's staunchest suburban enclaves.