Larger than the state of California, Hurricane Earl prepared to take a swipe at the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday as residents scrambled to ready themselves ahead of its arrival.

Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and into Massachusetts, where a hurricane warning was issued for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and the surrounding area. A hurricane watch was also issued for the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Tropical storm watches and warnings were in effect for most other coastal areas between North Carolina and Nova Scotia.

You need four things to get ready for body painting: “A shave, clean underwear, wine and nipple coverings,” says model Veronica Guerra.

Remember when conservatives were against judicial activism? It seems like just a few weeks ago. In fact, it was a few weeks ago. A federal judge had just struck down California’s ban on gay marriage. National Review, among others, called it a “raw exercise of judicial imperiousness” by a judge who “smuggled in his own moral sentiments.”

Ah, but that was then. This is now. A different judge has ruled that the federal government can no longer fund embryonic stem-cell research. He bases his ruling on the annual Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which forbids federal funding of “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed.”

You don’t need a meteorologist to know this economy is befogged. We need jobs. Big companies are sitting on cash and not hiring. Small businesses have a hard time sustaining credit lines, much less getting more credit. Foreclosures are still coming. States and localities are starting to cut services and layoff employees. And Washington is virtually gridlocked because of partisan division.

Consumers are being warned to check their freezers for recalled beef that may be contaminated with E. coli. The Modesto California-based meat processor Valley Meat Company is voluntarily recalling approximately one million pounds of ground beef. The beef may contain a rare strain of the bacterium E. coli O157:H7.

It’s going to cost vacationers more to visit with Mickey Mouse starting Thursday, when Disney parks in California and Florida will raise ticket prices.

Disney posted an announcement about the price hikes Tuesday on its Disney Parks blog.

According to CNN A federal judge in California is expected to issue his ruling Wednesday on whether the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

The closely watched case, to be decided by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, comes some two years after Californians voted to pass Proposition 8, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Wednesday’s ruling, expected in the early afterno

A House ethics investigative panel has charged a high-ranking Democratic congresswoman with violating House rules by seeking federal financial assistance for a bank with ties to her husband.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) issued the following statement today:

“I have not violated any House rules.

Therefore, I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do and instead have chosen to respond to charges made by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in a public hearing.

Rick Norsigian’s hobby of picking through piles of unwanted items at garage sales in search of antiques has paid off for the Fresno, California, painter.

Two small boxes he bought 10 years ago for $45 — negotiated down from $70 — is now estimated to be worth at least $200 million dollars, according to a Beverly Hills art appraiser.

Actress Lindsay Lohan showed little emotion as a deputy put her in handcuffs in a Beverly Hills, California, courtroom Tuesday morning to take her to jail to begin what it expected to be a two-week stay.

Actress Lindsay Lohan showed little emotion as a deputy put her in handcuffs in a Beverly Hills, California court Tuesday morning.

Justin Hauner and his friend, Ben Fucik, were in a hurry. Their flight home from San Diego, California, to Appleton, Wisconsin, was taking off soon, and they had to get to the airport in time.

Authorities in Malibu, California, have started a domestic violence investigation involving actor Mel Gibson and his former girlfriend, Oksana Grigoieva.

More than 20 million Americans are unemployed. Nearly half of them have been unemployed for more than six months. Families are losing their homes. And the Senate of the United States– faced with a Republican filibuster — has refused to pass an extension of unemployment insurance for those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

One in five of the more than 1 million HIV-infected Americans don’t know it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To help people know their status for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, 10 cities will be taking part in the first “Be Greater Than AIDS: Get Yourself Tested” week.

“American Pie” actor Chris Klein checked himself into rehab “to deal with his addiction,” his representative said Monday.

A lot of the attention this week was focused on the female Senate and gubernatorial candidates winning primaries in California, Arkansas, Nevada and South Carolina. Their wins were huge as they fought back salacious rumors of affairs and charges of buying an election, fended off a huge battle against big labor, and rode the tea party express to victory.

A flight attendant with a pilot’s license who stepped in for a sick co-pilot said the experience was “not your ordinary workday,” but downplayed her role in the safe landing of an American Airlines flight in Chicago, Illinois.

Robert Cabral, founder of “Black Belt” Dog Training (http://www.blackbeltdogtraining.com) in Malibu, Calif., shares his 10 Tips to Avoid Dog Bites. According to the CDC, dog bites send nearly 368,000 victims to hospital emergency departments per year (1,008 per day). Dogs bite nearly two percent of the U.S. population — more than 4.7 million people annually. Getting bitten by a dog is the fifth most frequent cause of visits to emergency rooms caused by activities common among children. Cabral’s tips include: