California, Bakersfield | featured news

Melanie Moore easily clinched the grand prize on "So You Think You Can Dance." Viewer votes overwhelmingly awarded the pixie-haired 19-year-old college student from Marietta, Ga., the title of "America's Favorite Dancer" and the $250,000 cash prize. Moore bested fierce runner-up Sasha Mallory, 23, of Bakersfield, Calif., and powerful third-place finisher Marko Germar, 22, of Los Angeles.

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...

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.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in Bakersfield, Calif., gives a speech that sounds a lot like a 2012 trial balloon, or at least an effort to drum up speculation and boost her GOP brand.