I get no pleasure out of writing that the most important corner in downtown Redding is soon going to have a vacancy. The corporate honchos in Seattle decided that the Starbucks at the corner of California and Placer streets in downtown Redding will close.

The Starbucks with a drive-through window at the edge of downtown? That one stays. So does the Starbucks at the other end of downtown inside of Safeway. But the coffee house at the most visible corner in downtown? The store that was supposed to anchor a cornerstone adaptive reuse project? It's closing.

A logging plan and endangered species permit that were part of the Headwaters Forest deal approved by the state in 1999 have been invalidated by the state Supreme Court. The court set important precedents by rejecting both a "sustained yield plan" and an "incidental take" permit held by Pacific Lumber Company.

A case involving Santa Cruz County's second unit ordinance has been returned to the Sixth District Court of Appeal by the state Supreme Court because the county has amended the ordinance.

The county has asked the court to dismiss the case entirely because the county has eliminated the ordinance provisions in question, Deputy County Counsel Dwight Herr said. Those provisions dictate rent levels and who may occupy a second unit.

Is California running out of water? Or are we just running out of political will?

A local agency formation commission may alter the boundaries of a proposed new city beyond those drawn by incorporation proponents, according to a state attorney general's opinion.

An unusual Coastal Commission mitigation fee to offset the impact of a private seawall has been upheld by the Sixth District Court of Appeal, which rejected arguments that the fee was unconstitutional, was prohibited by the Coastal Act and was the result of post hoc rationalization.

An irrigation district that provides wholesale electricity may not begin providing retail electric service without approval of the Local Agency Formation Commission, the Third District Court of Appeal has ruled.

In a related decision, the Third District also ruled that the irrigation district may not depose two members and the executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) for the district's lawsuit regarding denial of the retail electricity service application. Both decisions bolster the authority and integrity of LAFCOs.

A bomb detonated in my front yard at 3:30 a.m. on June 21. Actually, it was an explosive from the sky in the form of lightning, and it was the start of an electrical storm that continued for 11 hours.

The Calaveras County Community Development Agency is in the political cross-hairs after the county grand jury issued a scathing report that questions the agency's hiring practices, the director's management style and the use of consultants.

Sound familiar? Not the details, but the tone. Your local newspaper has probably struck similar notes recently. That's because it is the season for grand juries to release their annual reports on local government.

Joel Kotkin is at it again. In yesterday's Los Angeles Times Sunday opinion section, the enfant terrible of L.A. urbanism dissed the "suburbs as slums" thesis of Brookings' Christopher Leinberger. But in once again coming to the defense of "suburbs", he has revealed that he can't tell the difference between Glendale and Palmdale.

It has taken 25 years, but various government and private investments have turned downtown Modesto into a center for the arts, entertainment and dining. Still, there is a long way to go before downtown is completely "back" from the dead.

San Ramon City Center is an ambitious, 39-acre mixed-use project in the Contra Costa County city of 50,000 people. CP&DR Contributing Editor Morris Newman doesn't think much of the project, but he concedes that he might be asking for a little too much.

The California Air Resources Board's release of a draft scoping plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions strikes me as important for several reasons. The plan provides a starting point for how California will dramatically reduce its output of gases that cause global climate change, and the plan downplays the role of land use planning in those reductions.

Perhaps most important, however, the plan marks the State of California's return to the role of public policy leader.

Redevelopment agencies may soon have authority to assist homeowners with subprime loans who are facing foreclosure, and to acquire foreclosed housing.

Under a measure likely to pass the Legislature, redevelopment agencies could aid homeowners, lenders and developers whether or not the subject property is within a redevelopment project area. However, a late amendment to the bill would prevent agencies from using their 20% housing set-aside fund for the activities.