CALIFORNIA

Home sales in Southern California jumped in December from November helped by demand from investors but slipped from their year-earlier level as many other buyers remained on the sidelines, a DataQuick report said on Tuesday.

Netflix's stock has suffered a much-publicized nosedive in recent months, and now a group of shareholders is hitting the subscription service with a class action suit.

Porn stars in Los Angeles will be legally required to wear condoms during film shoots after the city council voted on Tuesday to mandate their use, despite a threat by skin flick producers to leave town over the requirement.

Severed head found in bag under Hollywood sign, police say

Apple is reportedly weeks away from debuting the iPad 3, but the actual release date for the device is slated for a month later, in early March 2012.

A new expansion pack, The Sims 3 Showtime Katy Perry Collector's Edition, will feature the singer through in game content and virtual goods, including her favorite blue hairstyle. The game is set for release in March 2012, but The Sims enthusiasts can pre-order the game now from EA Games' website.

Hewlett-Packard Co on Tuesday named software veteran Bill Veghte as chief strategy officer as it overhauls its top ranks following a series of missteps over the past year.

The House Minority Leaders claimed even his own party doesn't believe Mitt Romney can win in November 2012, which is why support for him has been so half-hearted. But Pelosi had even less regard for his fellow candidates, who she called third tier representatives that show the Party's disconnect from what Pelosi asserts are the true carriers of the American Dream: the Democrats.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday his bill rivaling the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act pending in the U.S. Congress now has more co-sponsors than SOPA.

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has aggressively been tracking down and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants.

A handful of technology leaders – IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Google and Apple – are all scheduled to report quarterly earnings over the next week. Here are five things to watch when the numbers come out because they may indicate prospects for 2012.

Every January, John Brockman, the impresario and literary agent who presides over the online salon Edge.org, asks his circle of scientists, digerati and humanities scholars to tackle one question. This year, he posed the open-ended question what is your favorite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation? Scientists around the world explained their favorite theories.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may have to start campaigning early, if a petition drive to recall the embattled lawmaker proves fruitful on Tuesday.

Dwarf tossing, a barroom attraction where revelers throw padded-down dwarfs, got notoriety during the Golden Globes Sunday after actor Peter Dinklage mentioned British little person Martin Henderson who in October was picked up, dropped and severely injured in an attack outside a pub.

Wikipedia will initiate a blackout on Wednesday, Jan. 18, in protest of the anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA. SOPA and PIPA are two Congressional bills meant to halt the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Internet. However, major Internet organizations- such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing - claim the bills will hinder their operations and they are ready to protest.

Kansas is the latest state to introduce personhood legislation, which aims to outlaw abortion by declaring life begins at the moment of conception.

Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, has announced a delay in its mission to send its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS).

Ron Paul's campaign is gaining momentum.

The three states with the highest number of beauty queens -- California, Ohio and Oklahoma – boast six winners each

A man from Southern California has been arrested for poising his wife's Rice Krispies.

Google has joined the nation to celebrate what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 83'rd birthday, transforming it's six letter logo into a Google Doodle marking King's famous I Have a Dream Speech