Thirty-one cars were involved in 11 separate crashes in heavy fog along a one-mile stretch of eastbound state Highway 37 near Highway 121 in Sonoma County this morning, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Diana McDermott said. The fog was a significant factor in the collisions, she said. Several people were transported to hospitals with minor injuries, including a motorcycle rider, McDermott said. The CHP reopened eastbound state Highway 37 at 10:52 ......

A proposal to institute a fee for each paper bag provided at a store in San Francisco and also expand the city's ban on plastic bags was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Starting this October, the legislation will institute a 10-cent fee for each bag provided by any retail establishment to customers. Restaurants will also be required to charge the fee starting in October 2013. The city's ......

Preparations for the America’s Cup are causing political ripples in San Francisco — but in in the Italian city of Naples, where warm-up regattas are planned, they are drawing high-profile protests. Waterfront construction began this week in Naples, where 45-foot catamarans will race in America’s Cup World Series events this April and in May 2013. But construction crews were met by a picket line of protesters who said the work ......

In his first press conference as the newly minted Oakland police chief, Howard Jordan acknowledged a recent spate of shootings in the city, and said he needed the community to help stop crime.  Standing alongside a table strewn with illegal guns his officers had confiscated, Jordan blamed much of the violence on conflict between two rival groups in West Oakland and two additional groups from other parts of the city. ......

The housing crisis that began in 2008 could have a crippling effect on California's ability to provide government services for a generation, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Silicon Valley Communtiy Foundation and Joint Venture Silicon Valley. The problem: Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, essentially freezes property taxes on homes or businesses unless they change hands — meaning that today's low property values could mean ......