California, Cities | featured news

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mammoth Lakes, California filed on Tuesday for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection from its creditors due to a nearly $43 million legal judgment against it.

This Gold Rush-era port city, an epicenter of California's agricultural exports, will become the nation's largest city to seek protection under the U.S. bankruptcy code after its City Council on Tuesday stopped bond payments, slashed employee health and retirement benefits and adopted a day-to-day survival budget.

Stockton, the California city with the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, is facing a moment of decision on whether to become the biggest city to file for bankruptcy, as a deadline for talks between the city and its creditors approached late Monday.

Court battles with employees and lenders that could stretch over years is likely to await Stockton, Calif., if it becomes the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy.

For nearly a century the fortunes of this tiny town were tied to the oil fields that surrounded it and the people who worked them. They came by the thousands but have dwindled to 1,154 - a combination of oilers, farm workers and retirees drawn to a place of unrelenting sun and tumbleweeds 50 miles southwest of Bakersfield. Now on the eve of Maricopa's 100th anniversary the county grand jury is calling for its dismantling, describing a place in political chaos...

Trojan has just released the results of its annual "sex census," and good news for the people of Los Angeles -- they're having more sex than anyone else in the country, an average of 135 times per year. But that doesn't necessarily mean the sex is any good. Philadelphians report the highest levels of sexual satisfaction, with 82% of respondents there saying they are sexually fulfilled. Just 75% of Angelenos said the same.

Cities with the foulest air were broken down into three categories and the worst three in each were Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Visalia, all in California, as most ozone polluted; Bakersfield and Fresno, both in California, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as most polluted by short-term particle pollution; and Bakersfield, Los Angeles and Phoenix as most polluted by year-round particle pollution.

Officials in Costa Mesa say they are just trying to solve a budget problem, but some see a political motive.