By Mike Zapler SACRAMENTO -- A simmering partisan standoff over the state budget was on the verge of boiling over in the state Senate on Friday night, with Democrats and Republicans refusing to compromise on a $140 billion-plus spending plan that is already three weeks overdue.

By Mike Zapler SACRAMENTO -- A simmering partisan standoff over the state budget was on the verge of boiling over in the state Senate on Friday night, with Democrats and Republicans refusing to compromise on a $140 billion-plus spending plan that is already three weeks overdue.

By AARON C. DAVIS SACRAMENTO - A stubborn disagreement over whether to cut a tiny fraction of California's $145 billion budget proposal led to a rare legislative lock-down that left state senators stuck in their chamber Saturday.

By Steven Harmon SACRAMENTO -- Promises of bipartisan unity flowed freely as legislators were sworn in Monday at the Capitol -- even as cracks of partisan division already began to emerge.