NewsLinks is a collection of recent news items relating primarily to the California judicial branch. NewsLinks does not verify or endorse the accuracy or fairness of the news items, and the views expressed in opinions, editorials, and commentaries are those of the writers only. Some news articles linked from this page may require a subscription or be behind a paywall.

NewsLinks

  • Shasta County Courthouse sets date to reopen floor after water damage repairs

    Redding Record Searchlight
    October 31, 2025

    After being closed for months due to significant water damage, the second floor of the Shasta County Superior Court building in Redding is reopening on Monday. The second floor of the six-story courthouse, including criminal courtrooms, was closed in May for repairs. As a result, some courtroom services had been temporarily reassigned to alternate courtrooms.

  • Prop. 36 one year later: Thousands more prosecuted, but is it working?

    Orange County Register
    November 2, 2025

    Prosecutors in three Southern California counties have charged more than 13,000 people under Proposition 36, the tougher-on-crime law passed overwhelmingly a year ago this week, according to data collected by the Southern California News Group. The new law contributes to overcrowding in jails and increased caseloads across the state without providing the alternatives to incarceration that California voters expected, opponents say.

  • Retired [U.S.] Supreme Court Justice Kennedy reflects on cases, politics, Sacramento boyhood

    Sacramento Bee
    November 3, 2025

    The conservative jurist whose powerful belief in individual liberty shaped some of most influential U.S. Supreme Court rulings of the past 40 years has blue eyes that flash and sparkle as he looks at you, and a life story that outlines the history, culture and politics of Sacramento, his beloved hometown.

  • Governor Appoints Three to State's Trial Courts

    The Recorder
    October 31, 2025

    (Subscription required) The trio's selection follows by just one week Newsom's naming of 12 other new superior court judges as the governor acts to fill roughly four dozen vacancies. His latest picks all have experience as lawyers in the criminal justice system.

    Related: Daily Journal, SFGATE, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

  • Celebrating Forever Families Across the State

    California Courts Newsroom
    November 3, 2025

    California courts are partnering with communities to finalize adoptions, uplift kinship care, and support children’s paths to permanent homes.

  • No Conflict Between Two Laws Governing Post-Death Support

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    November 3, 2025

    Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that an order in marital dissolution proceedings requiring that an elderly husband establish a $3 million trust to provide for the support of his wife, 13 years his junior, after he dies is authorized under the Family Code and is not precluded by a separate provision that specifies that alimony obligations terminate upon the death of either party.

  • Calif. Panel Says Court Must Hear 2nd Resentencing Bid

    Law360
    October 31, 2025

    (Subscription required) A California state appeals court has ruled that a man should be entitled to a resentencing hearing after he was unfairly sentenced using a firearm enhancement and that he is likely being made to serve longer in prison than necessary.

  • Judge lets social media firms keep key defenses in youth suits

    Daily Journal
    October 31, 2025

    (Subscription required) While Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl's decisions do not determine liability, they ensure that the social media companies will be able to argue immunity, free-speech protection and fault apportionment to jurors.