state

Severed heads discovered in Mexico state DURANGO Mexico, Eight severed human heads were discovered in four locations in the capital of the Mexican state of Durango, authorities said. Officials were led to the first discovery of two heads in Durango City Tuesday by an anonymous phone call...

More furloughs for Calif. state workers SACRAMENTO, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ordering unpaid furloughs for most state workers until a state budget is adopted, a union official said. The order, which had not yet been made public, would apply to about 200,000 state employees but...

Celebrities due unclaimed cash in New York ALBANY, N.Y., A New York state database of unclaimed accounts says movie star Angelina Jolie and ex-Yankees Manager Joe Torre are among those who have money coming to them. Torre has a credit with a water company from 2002 waiting to be collected, and...

Judge rules on Calif. state paychecks SACRAMENTO, California state employees will get their full paychecks for July and August, a judge has ruled in denying an injunction sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger had asked the court to order state employees' paychecks be reduced to...

ACLU: Wash. must stop surveillance SEATTLE, (UPI) -- University of Washington campus police officers attended at least two student meetings under cover, the American Civil Liberties Union says. The group called on the state legislature Thursday to pass a bill to ban surveillance of political...

NEW YORK – Financial shares are pulling the stock market higher after a second-quarter profit forecast from State Street Corp. topped analysts' expectations. The climb Wednesday comes a day after the Dow Jones industrials broke a seven-day losing streak. The reversal is helping draw in traders...

Violence hangs over Mexican polls MEXICO CITY, (UPI) -- Violence and the threat of it hung heavily over Mexico's elections Sunday, observers said. The Los Angeles Times reported some polling stations never opened because many election workers feared for their safety. The newspaper said four...

2 French ministers resign PARIS, (UPI) -- Spending scandals felled two members of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Cabinet Sunday night. The Los Angeles Times reported Sarkozy had accepted the resignations of Christian Blanc, secretary of state for the greater Paris area, and Alain...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A state appellate court on Friday sided with the Schwarzenegger administration in its attempt to temporarily impose the federal minimum wage on tens of thousands of state workers. It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order a...

Calif. state workers face wage cuts SACRAMENTO, (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to cut state workers' pay to minimum wage levels if state lawmakers do not pass a budget on time, officials said. In a memo sent Wednesday to state agency and department heads, Debbie...

TALLAHASSEE , Fla., (UPI) -- Florida has ordered the U.S. Navy Veterans Association to stop fundraising in the state. Investigators for the state say the group appears to operate out of mail boxes rented from commercial companies with officers who do not live at their listed addresses, The...

Flash flooding strikes Oklahoma City OKLAHOMA CITY (UPI) -- Oklahoma officials Monday declared a state of emergency for 59 counties affected by storms that dumped up to 10 inches of rain in some parts of the state. "We urge everyone to use caution as storms continue across our state," Lt...

39 die in Mexican violence MAZATLAN, Mexico, (UPI) -- Twenty-nine inmates were killed in a prison melee and at least 10 police officers died in shootouts Monday in Mexico, authorities said. A spokesman for the Sinaloa state attorney general said 29 prisoners were either shot to death or...

Flash flood hits Ark. campground, 16 dead MENA, Ark., (UPI) -- Rescue teams searched Friday for survivors and victims in the mountains of western Arkansas, where flash floods in a national forest killed at least 16 people. Gov. Mike Beebe, who earlier said 20 people were known to be dead...

Good Samaritans rescue drowning man FORT COLLINS, Colo., (UPI) -- The Colorado State Patrol Thursday credited two Good Samaritans with saving the life of a drowning man whose car had plunged into a canal. The State Patrol said Christopher Lyons was the first to enter the canal after seeing...

Colorado seeks missing moon rocks DENVER, (UPI) -- Colorado officials said they do not know what happened to a set of moon rocks presented to the governor in 1974, but amateur detectives are on the case. Officials said the rocks, encased in a sphere on a plaque, were presented to Gov. John...

Massachusetts challenges Marriage Act BOSTON, (UPI) -- The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office Wednesday was to argue against a federal law that bans same-sex marriage, lawyers in Boston said. Lawyers from state Attorney General Martha Coakley's office were to appear before U.S. District...

Ill. gov: State to sell prison to feds SPRINGFIELD, Ill., (UPI) -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said the state will sell a never-used prison to the federal government regardless of whether it houses Guantanamo Bay prisoners. "We anticipate having a federal prison in Thomson this year," Quinn told...

100,000 N.Y. workers face 1-day furlough ALBANY, N.Y., (UPI) -- New York lawmakers Monday authorized the governor to idle about half the state workforce -- about 100,000 people -- for one day, setting up a court fight. Passage of the emergency budget bill quickly led leaders of the state's...

MEXICO CITY – The pre-dawn discovery of two bodies cut into pieces and shoved into two black bags brought a tragic end Monday to a search for two missing police officers in the southern state of Guerrero. Law enforcement officials say the bagged body parts were found at 3:15 a.m. outside police...