San Jose, California - A federal grand jury returned a four count indictment charging a San Jose man with transmitting threats in the mail, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson, U.S. Secret Service Acting Special Agent in Charge Russell Nelson, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Inspector in Charge Rafael E. Nunez.

Sacramento, California - The California Energy Commission approved $13.5 million for energy efficiency measures to 14 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin County and Orange County during its monthly business meeting today. The Energy Commission also approved grants to four entities to develop and research alternative and renewable fuel projects.

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointments of Assembly Speaker Emeritus John A. Pérez and Long Beach City College superintendent-president Eloy Ortiz Oakley to the University of California Board of Regents.

Los Angeles, California - Plants all over the world are more sensitive to drought than many experts realized, according to a new study by scientists at UCLA and China’s Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. The research will improve predictions of which plant species will survive the increasingly intense droughts associated with global climate change.

San Diego, California - Comet, a new petascale supercomputer designed to transform advanced scientific computing by expanding access and capacity among traditional as well as non-traditional research domains, will soon be taking shape at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego.

Los Angeles, California - Community colleges are controversial. They often are praised for offering affordable and accessible post-secondary education, but also criticized for steering disadvantaged youth away from attending four-year institutions.