Sreenivas “Sree” Mokkapati has been missing since Dec. 8. A memorial will be held for a rescuer who fell to his death in the search for the hiker.

Your phone rings. The number on your caller ID isn’t one of your contacts. You wince, wondering whether to answer just in case, or let it go to voicemail. If there’s a recorded voice on the other end of the line — probably trying to sell you something or scam you into giving up money…

LOS ANGELES — Southern California will catch a break Tuesday from the weather, but a cold, strong storm with the potential to drop up to 3 inches of rain in some parts of Los Angeles County and up to 2 feet of snow in the local mountains is forecast to slam the region on Christmas…

California’s legal marijuana industry remains outmatched by illegal sellers, sparking calls for action, including possibly a new ballot measure.

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.