SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Research restrictions
pushed by the National Rifle Association have stopped the United
States from finding solutions to firearms violence, more than a
hundred scientists from virtually every major U.S. university
told Vice President Joe Biden’s task force on gun violence in a
letter on Thursday.

In the wake of the December school massacre in Newtown,
Connecticut, and other mass homicides, the group of economists,
health researchers, educators, doctors and criminologists said
funding should be restored to a range of study areas, from gun
safety to tracking illegal guns.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat fresh off a triumphant election in which voters approved higher taxes, will face a new challenge as he presents his proposed budget this week: fending off demands for more spending from his own emboldened party.

The election also gave Democrats a super majority in the state legislature, while the California economy is on the mend and the projected budget deficit is just $2 billion – compared with a $25 billion shortfall two years ago.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The biggest U.S. pension
fund argued in a court filing that its status as a state agency
gave it sweeping powers in the San Bernardino, California
bankruptcy case and that the federal jurisdiction that applies
in bankruptcy should be overridden by the state’s rights.

San Bernardino is emerging as a precedent-setting case in
determining how creditors, including Wall Street bondholders and
retirees, are treated in a municipal bankruptcy.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A little stability would go a long way in reviving the pace of initial public offerings, the head of the National Venture Capital Association trade group said on Monday, predicting a good 2013 for U.S. start-up companies and their investors.

The U.S. presidential election, and concerns about tax hikes and other issues known as the fiscal cliff have depressed venture capital recently, NVCA President Mark Heesen said in an interview.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to review California’s same-sex marriage ban disappointed some Golden State gay couples who would have been able to wed if the court refused to hear the case.

If the court had not taken the case, a federal appeals court ruling that had overturned the ban would have been the law of the state, opening the way to same-sex marriages in California and leaving the nation unchanged.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Oakland on Wednesday sought to avert a rare federal court takeover of its police department, striking a proposed deal in a civil rights suit to give a new official sweeping power to force change but leaving day-to-day operations in city hands.

The northern California city, with a history of civil unrest and police violence, in 2003 settled a civil rights case in which police allegedly planted evidence and beat suspects.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A California oyster farm on
Tuesday sued the federal government, challenging a U.S. Interior
Department decision last week to end its 40-year lease on public
land.

The suit by the Drakes Bay Oyster Company, located on land
an hour north of San Francisco, pits environmentalists eager to
create the first West Coast marine wilderness outside Alaska
against sustainable and local agriculture groups who see the
operation as striking the ideal balance between using and
preserving nature.

INVERNESS, California (Reuters) – In the famously liberal and prosperous enclave of Marin County, California, environmentalists and local food fans usually line up on the same side of any given cause. The oyster, however, has managed to cleave them far apart.

The U.S. government sided with environmental groups on Thursday with its decision to shut down a 40-year-old Northern California oyster farm in an attempt to restore wilderness.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – America’s biggest public pension moved aggressively against the bankrupt city of San Bernardino, California, on Tuesday night over the city’s decision to halt payments to the fund.

The move laid bare a high-stakes battle shaping up between Wall Street and state pension funds over how they are treated when cities run out of money.

LOS ANGELES, Nov 28 (Reuters) – America’s biggest public
pension moved aggressively against the bankrupt city of San
Bernardino, California, on Tuesday night over the city’s
decision to halt payments to the fund.

The move laid bare a high-stakes battle shaping up between
Wall Street and state pension funds over how they are treated
when cities run out of money.