CALIFORNIA

Students planning to enroll in California state colleges and universities may be asked to declare their sexual orientation from next year on application or enrollment forms, in an effort to gauge the size of the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) population.

Well, there are too many options for those interested in investing in the posh Beverly Hills area, home to more than half American celebrities. Not only are Madonna's and Michael Jackson’s properties on sale, but now Britney Spears too has sold off her Beverly Hills mansion for a staggering $4,253,000.

Following the whole Antennagate debacle, Apple iPhone 4 owners can now collect a cool $15 in cash settlement for their phone's antenna issues. A Web page with the inspired name of iPhone4settlement.com has popped up and gone live on Thursday, March 29, allowing iPhone 4 owners affected by the smartphone's antenna troubles to collect their cash settlement.

Five women, now in their 40s and 50s, have come forward saying that a Colorado based gymnastics coach sexually assaulted them when they were children and teenagers in Southern California.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), the second largest U.S. oil company, lost its fourth attempt to avoid paying $18 billion in environmental fines for polluting tracts of the Amazon.

The California based Internet search giant is reportedly working on a cheap android tablet that the company will release with a co-partnership with Asian tablet manufacturer - Asus.

An F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed on Wednesday near a military base in Southwest Asia, killing one pilot.

Sixty-nine-year-old California hiker Robert Biggs claims that he was attacked by a mountain lion and saved by a bear.

Robert Biggs, 69 of Paradise, Calif, had a pretty wild encounter when he went out for a hike on Monday. Hiking near Whiskey Flats, Biggs stopped to watch a mother bear and her cub by a stream, but was jumped from behind by another animal when he turned to leave.

The top after-market NASDAQ gainers Thursday were: OraSure Technologies, GRAVITY Co, Pacific Biosciences of California, Digital River, Saba Software and Aceto Corp. The top after-market NASDAQ losers were: Xyratex Ltd, VIVUS, American Realty Capital Trust, Savient Pharmaceuticals, Research in Motion and Orexigen Therapeutics.

A California woman filed a lawsuit in federal court there, claiming McDonald's played a prominent role in turning her from a burger jocky to a lady of the evening. Yes--the allegation is that McyD's turns nice girls to turning tricks.

Katy Perry's Part of Me video features a story in which she plays a dejected lover who sees an ad for the U.S. Marines and signs up in order to get over her cheating man.

Research In Motion Ltd. (Nasdaq: RIMM), the BlackBerry developer, reported a net loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, for the fourth quarter, as revenue plunged 25 percent to only $4.19 billion.

Congress has passed a stopgap transportation funding bill, ending a partisan stalemate that risked halting money that U.S. states are counting on to pay for updates to roads, bridges and other transit projects.

Facebook (NYSE: FB), the No. 1 social network website, will stop insider trades of its shares Friday because its initial public offering roadshow will begin next week.

Florida East Coast Industries announced plans last week to run private passenger trains from Miami to Orlando, which would be the first new private passenger rail service in the U.S. in decades.

Owners of Apple iPhone 4 received a legal notice on Thursday from iPhone4Settlement.com with information about their eligibility and how to obtain a $15 cash settlement or free bumper case from the Antennagate scandal after the release of the iPhone 4, when users reported reception issues caused by the antenna. But who is eligible for the settlement refund and how does one go about to obtain it?

Shares of AOL (NYSE: AOL), the seventh most-visited website, have gained nearly 7 percent this week after the company said a patent sale is an option to increase shareholder value.

Garth and Facinelli first announced their divorce two weeks ago.

The ‘Material Girl’, Madonna, has decided to sell her Beverly Hills mansion, which she bought in 2003 for a cool $12 million.

House Republicans are decrying revised rules for U.S. detention centers that house undocumented immigrants as too lenient. Democrats say conditions for detainees are still too harsh.