In a 2-1 ruling, a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has ruled that federal agencies have the authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate "deep ripping" of wetlands by farmers.

You learn in school that planning is about vision, but in the real world planning usually boils down to numbers � numbers about what's going to happen in the future. But you can never really know what's going to happen in the future. The best you can do is guess.

A general plan requirement that placed a one-mile buffer on private land around a landfill in Placer County was supported by evidence in the record even though there appeared to be no scientific basis for it, the Third District Court of Appeal has ruled.

An appellate court has ordered the City of Concord's Rent Review Board to reconsider a request for rent increases filed by the owner of two mobile home parks.

Gov. Gray Davis completed the 2001 legislative year by signing every high-profile planning bill that hit his desk. Davis signed a bill that severely curtails the use of lot line adjustments and certificates of compliance in creating subdivisions. He approved a three-package bill that forces a closer link between planning and water availability. The governor also signed a $2.6 billion park bond initiative that will appear on the March ballot, and a measure that allows redevelopment agencies to extend thei