California, it is oft-noted, has a larger economy than all but a handful of countries in the world. And the ongoing state budget deficit suggests the government could use more tax revenue. Yet the economic development bills that lawmakers introduced this year are a motley collection.

This month's selection of In Brief items includes: purchase of El Toro Marine Corps base; failed slow-growth initiative in Santee; Malibu land use controversy resolved; Orange County light rail project in trouble; and more...

WASHINGTON _ The U.S. Supreme Court appeared unreceptive in late February to arguments by property-rights advocates to rein in the use of eminent domain by municipalities that take land and turn it over to private companies for economic development.

A county may not rely on mitigation measures to determine that a project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A county may extend the life of a tentative subdivision map that has expired if the subdivider filed for an extension before the map expired, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

The fight over a gigantic addition to a house in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades area has resulted in an appellate court decision revoking three building permits and the certificate of occupancy for the structure. The order to revoke permits, originally issued by the trial court, came because the city let the property owner build 14 feet closer to the street than permitted by the Municipal Code.

After years of planning, negotiations and political battles, redevelopment of the former Marine Corps base in Tustin is proceeding. A developer is in the midst of building 565 single-family homes, townhouses and "paired homes," and another 4,000 housing units are on the way.

Here is a list of one-liners about suburbia, inspired by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, originator of the popular "you-know-you're-a-redneck-when" jokes. You know you're in suburbia when: The only ethnic restaurants you can find are Italian and Chinese. The churches are all bunched together in a "religious-use" district. The synagogues have no Hebrew lettering on them, only English transliterations that make sense in no language whatsoever...

An airport land use compatibility plan that discourages housing development on hundreds of thousands of acres is a "project" that requires a review of potential environmental impacts, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.