These were 25 of our favorite stories, from The Times and elsewhere.

A thief fled with cash taken during a Yorba Linda bank robbery on Monday, Dec. 23. The heist took place at the Chase Bank branch in Yorba Linda, 17490 Yorba Linda Blvd., Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Joses Walehwa said. The suspect walked into the building at about 1:20 p.m. and handed a note to an…

A celebration of life ceremony is planned for Saturday, Dec. 28, for a volunteer search and rescue worker who died while looking for a hiker who went missing in early December. Tim Staples, 32, died on Saturday, Dec. 14, after an apparent fall while searching for missing hiker Sreenivas “Sree” Mokkapati, 52, of Irvine. The…

The man accused of vandalizing a Beverly Hills synagogue in a hate crime has pleaded not guilty to vandalism and burglary, prosecutors say.

Authorities say the body of a woman who vanished last week in a Southern California coastal area has been found in a car submerged in a lake.

The first of two storms to hit the West Coast from the Gulf of Alaska dumped rain across Los Angeles and Orange counties and the Inland Empire.

In October, California became the first state to kick out privately run immigrant detention centers. The law goes into effect on Jan. 1.

The Orange County Superior Courthouse in Fullerton will continue to be closed through the week because of concerns over air quality related to asbestos, authorities said Monday. It was expected to re-open on Monday, Dec. 30. The North Court buildings were shuttered Friday when workers found potential asbestos material during routine maintenance of the air-conditioning…

Police and coroner officials were out at a four-plex in Santa Ana on Monday morning after workers found bones in the crawl space. While coroner officials initially thought they were human bones, it was later determined they belonged to animal. Authorities were called about 10 a.m. Sunday about the discovery at the home, at South…

Leaders of the Ventura County-based Chumash band and academic experts challenge Mati Waiya’s claims to Chumash ancestry.