Opinion

Oakland’s downtown Chinatown area returned to normal yesterday afternoon following a gas leak that forced the evacuation of numerous businesses along Eighth Street. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — State regulators expanded a program to help low-income residents pay their power bills on Thursday, but left unaddressed a laundry list of other issues that will determine the future of California’s electricity market. -more-

NEW YORK — The big issue in Social Security reform isn’t limited to just strengthening the system. It’s bigger than that. As big, perhaps, as saving the entire economy. -more-

SACRAMENTO — A 3-year-old boy’s body was found in a cardboard TV box in a grassy field just a few miles from where his father, Nikolay Soltys, is suspected of also killing his wife, aunt, uncle and two young cousins. -more-

According to a 1996 Department of Energy report on residential lighting, in the average U.S. home, lighting accounts for about 1,800 kilowatt-hours a year of the total electricity bill, more than $200 annually at current energy rates. -more-

YUBA CITY – Everyone was ecstatic a year ago when test scores soared at April Lane Elementary, one of 430 schools in the first group going through Gov. Gray Davis’ three-year improvement program. -more-