At first blush, the 108th Congress might not seem a welcoming venue for legislation expanding the nation's wilderness system. Majority control in both the House and Senate lies with Republican lawmakers whose attitude toward initiatives backed by environmentalists has ranged from indifference to hostility.

Any comparison between Cal Poly Pomona and a hermit crab is likely to be met with skepticism. It is absurd to suggest that a 1,050-acre university campus in Los Angeles County has anything in common with a crustacean scuttling across the ocean floor. Except for one thing, that is: Both the university and the deep-sea creature want to set up housekeeping in structures left behind by others.

Stockton's inland shipping port is poised to triple its capacity if port officials can stave off a lawsuit filed by environmentalists and port neighbors. At issue is a plan to enlarge the port by 1,400 acres of land on the San Joaquin River that the Stockton Port District acquired from the federal government three years ago.

Oakland might be famous for having "no there there," but maybe no place is more sorely lacking a "there" than the San Fernando Valley. A team of architects and other professionals who are working with business boosters, however, hope to give the San Fernando Valley the city center it has never had.

This month's selection of In Brief items includes the Governor's action on several important housing bills, an invalidated urban water management plan in Castaic, and a conflict between a condominium tower and a multi-modal transportation depot in downtown San Francisco, among others.

This month's selection of In Brief items includes: surplus state property recommendations, audits of LA City's Community Redevelopment Agency, limits on development in the Santa Monica Mountains, housing shortfalls in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, approval of the Rancho Mission Viejo development in Orange County, uncollected impact fees in Riverside County, and migration to and from the Central Valley

California's population growth never seems to change much - a half-million more people per year, give or take. But where all those people come from and what the growth means for the future of the state are always changing.

The purely aesthetic impacts of a housing project in an urban area are not enough to require preparation of an environmental impact report, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. In a lengthy opinion, the court appeared to conclude that where aesthetics are the lone issue, a local government's design review process could substitute for environmental review.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear three cases during its 2004-05 session with potential implications for planning, land regulation and development in California. The court has accepted for review an eminent domain case from Connecticut, a case involving the installation of a radio antenna in Rancho Palos Verdes, and a takings case from Hawaii.

Mendocino County's automatic merger of four lots into one has been upheld by an appellate court. The court rejected the property owners' argument that they should have received advance notice from the county before the lot merger became effective.

Monterey County should have completed an environmental impact report for a proposal to demolish a county jail that many people consider historic for cultural and architectural reasons, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

In the first published ruling on the subject, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled that the newly incorporated City of Goleta had the discretion to reject a final subdivision map.

A sweetheart deal that permitted nearly 300 mobile home owners to maintain homes in a state park at the beach has reached a conclusion.

A Placer County judge's decision to throw out a mitigated negative declaration for an employee housing project in the high Sierra has been upheld by the Third District Court of Appeal.