Republicans have been waging class warfare for years — and winning without working up a sweat. For proof, just take a look at the welfare program for the wealthy that is the U.S. tax code.

The Defense Department on Thursday announced it is allowing service members to march in uniform in a gay pride parade for the first time in U.S. history.

It’s July, and for many of us, that brings back fond childhood memories of family vacations; summer camp; or long, happy days spent playing with friends. But this quaint notion of summers as a kids’ paradise is dangerously misleading, evidence from social research suggests.

Mitt Romney planned to run for U.S. president as a successful businessman who would bring some hard-headed business common sense and smarts to the job of running the badly dysfunctional federal government.

Last week, a friend put the U.S. presidential race in depressingly clear terms: This election is a choice between a Democratic president who voters don’t think is able to solve our economic problems and a Republican candidate who voters think is committed to the same doctrines and institutions that helped produce them.

Voters will decide whether to legalize medical marijuana clinics in Del Mar, despite opposition from the city attorney.

A Mission Viejo man has been sentenced for impersonating a police officer to demand a rubdown and $200 at a massage parlor.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has defended his work for a ballot measure that overhauled the city pension plan.

The city of San Bernardino has declared a fiscal emergency to avoid a lengthy mediation process and head straight to federal bankruptcy court.

Prosecutors say a Los Angeles mother pleaded guilty to driving her 14-year-old daughter to former friends' homes where the girl vandalized them with swastikas and human feces.

Sheriff's officials say they've arrested a Santa Barbara man for helping a fugitive sought in a child sex abuse case hide in Guatemala for 18 years.

Authorities in Orange County say a 71-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the rape of one 10-year-old girl, committing lewd acts with another and possessing pornographic photos of more than a dozen young girls.

After testifying for about 40 minutes Wednesday, the wife of San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is scheduled to appear in front of the city's Ethics Commission again Thursday.

Fire crews aided by cooler temperatures and higher humidity made significant gains Wednesday against California's wildfires as most residents driven out by approaching flames had returned home.

A Huntington Beach police officer has been accidentally shot in the leg during SWAT team debriefing at the station house.

A California woman has been sentenced to six years in jail for fleecing elderly people out of their life savings.

The commission that runs the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has been sued over a decision to give the University of Southern California control of the taxpayer-owned stadium.

A former San Diego police officer accused of forcing a prostitute to have sex has pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.

A California appeals court says Disneyland must consider use of Segways by disabled people.

Health officials have confirmed the year's first known human case of West Nile in Los Angeles County.

An investigation by a Southern California cold case squad has led to the Florida arrest of a man for a 2005 killing.

A Chico doctor and his nurse wife are being held on suspicion of murder, felony child endangerment and other charges after their two-year-old adopted son died after suffering head and brain injuries.

Authorities say the largest child porn sweep ever in Northern California is underway as detectives are serving search warrants at 20 homes across Silicon Valley.

Authorities have arrested a suspect in a hit-and-run crash in Sacramento County that left four dogs dead and severed a man's leg.

Three murder suspects who shared a home equipped with a “sex dungeon” and bondage devices may have targeted a Marine's wife to satisfy their fetishes, investigators say in newly unsealed search warrants.

The San Diego Stock Exchange Index closed lower Thursday at 127.63, down 0.16 percent from Wednesday. Declining issues beat advancers 49 to 37, and 56 issues were unchanged.