It was an average weekday morning last month at Rawesome Foods in Venice, California when federal, state, and local authorities busted in, guns drawn, looking for an illicit stash of raw milk. Law enforcement at its finest.

Residents of Bell, California are upset that their city's administrators make annual salaries that don't exactly scream "public servant." For instance, City Manager Robert Rizzo: $787,637. And Police Chief Randy Adams: $457,000. They have agreed to resign. [LAT]

A 29-year-old Californian named Travis Kevie was recently arrested after he broke into a closed-down bar and reopened it using six-packs he bought at the store. The best part? The police found out after the local paper published a profile.

A man wearing body armor opened fire on California troopers in Oakland yesterday but was subdued and hospitalized. No one was killed. But his mother thinks anger over Congress' "left-wing agenda" spurred the attack. Her cache of guns helped, too.

Some residents of Riverside County, California are up in arms about a proposed new mosque that they fear will ruin the view of tract homes and freeways, while breeding "Islamic extremists" and offering a safe haven to terrorist "sleeper cells."

[The weather in Antelope Valley in southern California was completely manic today when a rainbow glowed through a thunderstorm. Image via AP]

Michael Jackson's former Santa Barbara home was famous for having amusement park rides, a petting zoo, and for the child abuse complaints that originated there. Now the state of California wants to turn Neverland into a state park. Woo-hoo!

Geologists "have taken to Twitter" over a proposal to remove serpentine as California's state rock because it can contain asbestos. We're on the geologists' side, because asbestos-containing minerals seem like totally appropriate symbols of California. [NYT]

83-year-old televangelist Robert H. Schuller has handed the reins of Southern California's Crystal Cathedral mega church to his daughter, Sheila. She will inherit a church with a $55 million budget deficit, and $2 million worth of lawsuits. Glory be!

A 5.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hit California 28 Miles South of Palm Springs. No injuries reported.

The infamous Southern California booby trapping drug dealer, Nicholas John Smit, has been arrested and will face charges in court today for allegedly setting deadly traps to kill police officers after he was arrested for growing weed.

Earlier we heard that masturbating pageant queen and anti-gay marriage activist Carrie Prejean is doing what so many cannot: marrying in California. Now we know the date (Friday!) and location (San Diego's Grand Del Mar hotel). Many blessings, Carrie!

Meg Whitman is notorious for staging town hall meetings. But two weeks before we published police reports from her son's felony battery arrest, Meg fielded a question about family members "run[ning] afoul of the law." She evaded it.

Turns out the most depressing things sold at Walmart aren't found inside the store. A couple allegedly offered to sell their 6-month-old baby for $25 to two strangers in a Salinas, California Walmart parking lot.

California's Santa Clara County passed a law banning toys in food promotions, like those in McDonald's Happy Meals and will sue if the company doesn't comply. McD's says parents should swap fries for apple slices—with caramel dipping sauce.

In this mesmerizing new video by Justin Johnson, a split screen tracking shot down Market Street in San Francisco shows what things looked like both before and after the Great Earthquake of 1906—putting the damage into grim perspective.

The small city of Maywood, California, is broke. So the city is planning to disband its police force, lay off municipal employees, and hire outside help to run day-to-day operations. Only a handful of top officials will remain in place.

Jill Johnson is UC Davis' hipster grifter. (Instead of hip, though, she's a beauty queen.) Local blogs hunted down the "prolific and notorious scammer" with "heavy, tear-smeared makeup." The internet used to be for porn. Now it's for outing grifters.

$19-billion-in-debt California is considered putting ads on license plates: "The electric plates would look normal while the car is in motion, but would flash advertisements any time the car is stopped." Wasn't this in Wall-E? [Time, image via]

Sarah Palin has read the local campaign literature and decided to endorse the brilliant Star Parker for California's 37th congressional district. So, Star Parker: what lovely thoughts does she have about the connection between gay marriage and AIDS, for example?