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ByJulietWilliams The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Thefirstgu- bernatorial primary under California's new top-two sys- tem has evolved into a typ- ical campaign between Re- publicans hoping to come in second, pitting a state law- maker who is a tea party favorite against a socially moderate investment banker making his first run for pub- lic office. Republican Party lead- ers do not seriously expect to defeat Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall, yet the GOP governor's contest is the most high-profile race on Tuesday's statewide pri- mary ballot. The decision could determine the future of the party that has strug- gled to stay relevant in the left-leaning state. The primary also includes a number of hard-fought congressional and state leg- islative races in which candi- dates are vying to challenge incumbents in the fall. All statewide offices are up for grabs, including secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction, which have attracted more atten- tion than other races. In far Northern Califor- nia, voters will determine whether two counties will join a movement to secede from California, while vot- ers in a third county, Siski- you, will decide whether to pursue changing the coun- ty's name to "Republic of Jefferson." The lack of ballot initia- tives and an election in a non-presidential race year, combined with Brown being a shoo-in to advance to the general election, have led to predictions of extremely low turnout between 25 and 30 percent of registered vot- ers. Such a turnout would be a record low for a California gubernatorial primary, said Paul Mitchell, vice presi- dent of Political Data Inc., a consulting firm that tracks voter data. The previous low came in June 2010, when 33.1 percent of registered vot- ers cast ballots. The low- est turnout ever for a June primary was in 2008, when 28.2 percent voted after Cal- ifornia moved its presiden- tial primary to March, tak- ing the biggest race off the June ballot. The two Republicans seeking to challenge Brown in November are engaged in a tight race. And with many ballots being cast by mail at the last minute, the tally for No. 2 could remain up in the air after election night. State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly has worried GOP leaders with his far- right views and statements linking President Barack Obama to Hitler and oppo- nent Neel Kashkari to Is- lamic Sharia law. Kashkari, an Indian American and social mod- erate, has pitched himself as appealing to the state's rap- idly changing demograph- ics, which the GOP needs to attract after decades of slid- ing registration. Kashkari, however, has been dogged by criticism of his 2008 vote for Obama and his lead role in the U.S. Treasury's bank bailout. Though Tuesday's bal- lot has no hot-button initia- tives to lure voters, there are some fiercely contested seats for Congress, the state Legislature and statewide offices. Some are expensive intra-party fights in which two members of the same party could advance to No- vember. The nonpartisan super- intendent of public instruc- tion contest has drawn out- sized spending in a proxy fight between California's teachers unions and re- formers. Incumbent Tom Torlakson faces a fellow Democrat, Marshall Tuck, a former charter school ex- ecutive backed by reform- minded Democrats and Re- publicans. Outside groups have spent $4.2 million on the race so far. It is the only statewide race in which a candidate can win outright by getting more than 50 percent of the vote. In the others, the top two vote-getters move on to the general election, regard- less of party affiliation. In the race to become California's next elections chief, USC lecturer Dan Schnur, an independent, faces Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat Derek Cressman and Republican Pete Peterson. Two Democrats are run- ning for controller, with former Assembly Speaker John Perez competing against Board of Equal- ization member Betty Yee and Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearingen, a Republican, to emerge in the top two. A few seats also are in play in the Legislature. Among the more interesting is one for an eastern San Francisco Bay Area state Senate seat, in which former Assembly- woman Mary Hayashi hopes to return to the Legislature after her conviction for mis- demeanor shoplifting in 2011. She faces Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, a Democrat, and GOP rising star Peter Kuo in a campaign marked by negative advertising. California's independent redistricting process has yielded at least six compet- itive congressional districts this year, even though no in- cumbents are expected to lose their seats in the pri- mary. Voters will decide just two statewide propositions, both placed on the ballot by lawmakers. One will require local governments to com- ply with the state's public records law and pay for do- ing so, while the other is a $600 million bond for veter- ans housing. ELECTION California's top 2 primary yields surprising races RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Republican gubernatorial candidate Assemblyman Tim Donnelly is shown at the Capitol in Sacramento on Thursday. RICH PEDRONCELLI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari is shown at the Capitol in Sacramento on May 25. By Sudhin Thanawala The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO San Fran- cisco's famed cable cars stopped running on Mon- day and the rest of the city transit system experienced delays when drivers called in sick a few days after a con- tract vote, officials said. TheSanFranciscoMunic- ipal Transportation Agency operated just a third of its normal morning service, spokesman Paul Rose said. The agency runs buses, light rail and street cars in addition to the cable cars. It servesabout700,000passen- gers each day. Rose said he did not know how many employees had called in sick. "We're doing our best to balance service throughout the city and provide service on every route and line, but at this point there will be de- lays," he said. A fare inspector at the start of cable car lines at Powell and Market streets broke the bad news to tour- ists who had planned to ride the historic conveyances. "We're very disappointed," said Willfrid Strauss, 56, who wasvisitingSanFranciscowith his new wife, Corinne, from France.Thetwoweremarried inLasVegasonFriday. "We're only here in San Francisco for three days, so this is one of the highlights of our trip," he said. Cityresidentstryingtoget to work in the morning faced crowded light-rail trains and delays of up to an hour on buses. "It was jam packed, super crowded and slightly slower," architect Steve Weiss said as he left a light-rail train in Union Square. All express buses were serving every stop, the transportation agency said. BAY AREA Cable cars, buses stall as workers call in sick The Associated Press LOS ANGELES California's state universities plan to hire 700 full-time faculty members, putting the skids on years of class and staff reductions prompted by state budget cuts. The decision came as the system is under pressure to move undergraduates faster and reduce reliance on tem- porary instructors, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. Like many colleges across the country, Cal State uni- versities have hired tempo- rary teachers because of the budget cuts in recent years. Money for the new hiring will come primarily from a $125 million increase in state funding last year and the juggling of resources on individual campuses. Gov. Jerry Brown's 2014- 15 budget proposes an addi- tional $142.2 million for both the California State Univer- sity and the University of California systems. Cal State schools are looking at record demand in the fall, with the number of undergraduate applications at its 23 campuses expected to exceed 760,000. In 2010, there were only 108 new hires for the sys- tem. Last year, there were just 470. From 2008 to 2013, the number of full-time, ten- ured faculty members (or those on a tenure track de- clined from about 10,700 to 9,800, the university said. From 1991 to 2013, en- rollment grew from about 362,000 to 446,000. During that time, the system added three campuses — Mon- terey Bay, Channel Islands and the California Maritime Academy. Educators hope Cal State's actions will fore- shadow a nationwide trend, even though the number of jobs in higher education dropped slightly in the first quarter of 2014, according to HigherEdJobs, an em- ployment website that an- alyzes U.S. Department of Labor statistics. "It's great that Cal State is increasing hiring of ten- ure-track faculty and will be welcome news for the industry," said John Iken- berry, HigherEdJobs pres- ident and co-founder. EDUCATION California's state universities hiring 700 faculty By Rachel La Corte The Associated Press SEATTLE It may be weeks or months — if ever — be- fore rescuers can get on the ground to search for six climbers who likely plum- meted to their deaths high on snow-capped Mount Rainier in Washington state. Park rangers and res- cuers often are able to re- trieve bodies within days of an accident, but some- times it takes weeks or months, when conditions have improved and snow has melted on parts of the mountain. Occasionally victims are never found, as in the case of 11 people swept to their deaths in an ice fall in 1981 in Mount Rainier's deadli- est accident. The same is true of a non-alpine acci- dent in which a cargo trans- port plane crashed into the mountain in 1946 — the bod- ies of 32 Marines remain en- tombed. "The mountain is so in- accessible and can be in- hospitable. We can't always retrieve everybody who is lost there, unfortunately," said Patti Wold, a spokes- woman with Mount Rainier National Park. The bodies of the two guides and four climbers who fell to their deaths last week on the 14,410-foot gla- ciated peak may never be re- covered because of the haz- ardous terrain, authorities say. "The degree of risk in that area, due to the rock fall and ice fall that's con- tinuously coming down from that cliff onto the area where the fall ended, we cannot put anybody on the ground," Wold said. It's unclear whether the climbers were moving or camping at the time of the accident, Wold said this past weekend. Searchers located camping and climbing gear and detected signals from avalanche beacons buried in the snow at the top of the Carbon Glacier at 9,500 feet in elevation. It's also not known what caused the climbers to fall fromtheirlastknownwhere- abouts at 12,800 feet on Lib- erty Ridge, whether it was rock fall or an avalanche. They were last heard from at 6 p.m. Wednesday when the guides checked in with their Seattle-based com- pany, Alpine Ascents Inter- national, by satellite phone. The group failed to return Friday as planned. Alpine Ascents identified the two guides on its web- site. Matthew Hegeman, the lead guide, was described as intense, philosophical and always in the pursuit of ex- cellence with a good sense of humor. Eitan Green, the other guide, loved his time in the mountains and was a strong leader and quick to smile, the website said. The Seattle Times re- ported Monday that Seat- tle mountain climber John Mullally was one of the six who died. His wife, Holly Mullally, issued a statement Monday saying that she had previously been on climbs organized by the company, and had also climbed with Hegeman. "I respected his leader- ship and found him to be ex- perienced, skilled, appropri- ately conservative, thought- ful, and someone who I could count on to keep my hus- band safe, barring tragedy beyond our control," Holly Mullally wrote of Hegeman. Officials at Maine's Colby College said Green was a 2009 graduate of the college. Colby spokesman Steve Col- lins said the Massachusetts native majored in anthro- pology and was a member of the college mountaineer- ing club. A memorial ser- vice is scheduled for June 5 in Levine Chapel in Brook- line, Massachusetts. Rob Mahaney told The Associated Press that his 26-year-old nephew, Mark Mahaney, of St. Paul, Min- nesota, was among those presumed dead. He said the climber's father and brother flew to Seattle on Saturday after learning what hap- pened. Mahaney said his nephew had climbed Rain- ier before. The area will be checked periodically by air in the coming weeks and months, Wold said. They will also evaluate the potential for a helicopter-based recovery as snow melts and condi- tions change. In 2012, park rangers re- covered the bodies of three climbers about eight months after they disappeared dur- ing unrelenting storms on Mount Rainier. In 2001, the body of a 27-year-old doctor was dis- covered more than two years after he vanished while snowboarding on the mountain. Also that year, the remains of three men were removed from the mountain after being en- tombed there for nearly 30 years after their small plane crashed. A hiker and former climbing ranger found the wreckage of the single-en- gine aircraft that crashed in January 1972. WASHINGTON STATE Bodies of some who die on Mount Rainier never recovered NATIONAL PARK SERVICE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Liberty Ridge Area of Mount Rainier as viewed from the Carbon Glacier on Saturday in Washington state. Tehama County Department of Education is inviting Private School participation for the design and development of grant program activities. For more information, please contact Cynthia Cook at 530-528-7245 or by email at ccook@tehamaschools.org Whenitcomestofinding the perfect home, make sure you have the right realtor on your side. MeetYour Dream Team Stromer Realty (530) 527-3100 590 Antelope Blvd. Bldg. A, Suites 10 & 20 Red Bluff ~ Specializing in residential to ranches ~ http://redbluff.stromerrealty.com 365S.MAINST,REDBLUFF 527-2720 • www.lariatbowl.com Joinus for FUN Lariat Bowl & Miniature Golf 530-366-3166 545 Adobe Rd. 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