In a victory for the owners of senior water rights, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the operators of the Central Valley Project (CVP), in times of water shortage, could reduce a larger proportion of water from the two districts than from other entities with older water rights and separate contracts.

A divided panel of federal judges has upheld an Arizona state law that requires adult-oriented businesses to shut down at 1 a.m.

Opponents of a power plant near Blythe may proceed with a lawsuit that had been thrown out for being filed too late.

Development at Playa Vista, the controversial project on Los Angeles's West Side, is proceeding even though the project is getting smaller. During the same week in September that Playa Vista hosted an official grand opening, Gov. Gray Davis said he would sign a bill to spend $25 million of state bond money to partially purchase 193 acres at Playa Vista for habitat restoration and open space.

Negative reaction to Riverside County's integrated planning effort is spurring an incorporation movement in Menifee Valley, on Interstate 215 about 30 miles south of Riverside.

In a lawsuit over the siting of a Seattle area transit line, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Department of Transportation environmental justice regulation cannot be enforced in court under the Federal Civil Rights Act.

A Huntington Beach property tax override intended to fund employee retirement benefits violated Proposition 13, a divided Fourth District Court of Appeal panel has ruled. The court majority held that the tax override approved by voters in 1978 allowed the city to assess property owners only for retirement benefits offered at that time � and not for increased benefits the city had given to employees since.

A developer's allegation that a City of San Dimas general plan amendment was an unconstitutional taking has been rejected by the Second District Court of Appeal.

The importance of a complete and clear administrative record for development projects came to the forefront in a case from Merced County in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal overturned approval of a gravel mine because the administrative record was muddled. The court said it could discern little from the administrative record and, therefore, could not uphold the project's environmental impact report.

Remember the frightening things your mother used to tell you in the name of safety when you were a child? If you went running around with scissors in your hand, you could put out an eye. Or if you went back into the swimming pool too quickly after eating, you could double up with cramps and drown.

Two audits of redevelopment agencies that the Department of Housing and Community Development completed in August strike hard at local agency practices. The state found a number of accounting and planning deficiencies at the Baldwin Park Redevelopment Agency and told the City of Concord to stop using housing set-aside funds for general code enforcement activity.

The $99 billion 2003-04 state budget signed in August by Gov. Gray Davis contained almost nothing to cheer the planning and development community. The budget added another layer to an already complicated system of funding local government, shifted money away from redevelopment agencies, cut funding for some land use programs, and appeared to delay many of the toughest decisions for at least a year.

The First District Court of Appeal has published its decision upholding a slow-growth initiative approved by Alameda County voters in November 2000.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the constitutionality of a Riverside County sign and billboard ordinance because of its content-neutral approach to regulation.