JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune Students passed the main staircase at Cal State San Marcos. Last year the university accepted qualified students through March for fall admission, but now it cannot guarantee that anyone applying after Nov. 30 will get in.

An unprecedented decision to limit admissions across the California State University system could force many San Diego County high school seniors to look closer to home for a college education. Facing a reduction in state funding and a surge in applications, the CSU system is moving up application deadlines, eliminating 10,000 admission slots for fall 2009 and raising academic standards for students who want to attend campuses outside their local area.

The state Supreme Court stepped right back into the contentious debate over same-sex marriage yesterday by agreeing to review challenges to Proposition 8, the voter-approved constitutional amendment that denies gays and lesbians the right to wed. The justices said they would hear arguments in three separate challenges filed in the days after the proposition passed Nov. 4.

After gyrating wildly for weeks, the stock market lurched lower yesterday falling to its lowest point in nearly six years, as concern spread that the economy might be beset by declining consumer prices.

WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Tom Daschle is in line to become President-elect Barack Obama's health and human services secretary while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to be a step closer to becoming his secretary of state.

Good news for worried parents: All those hours their teenagers spend socializing on the Internet have some positive results, according to a new study by the MacArthur Foundation.