(Subscription required) Two lawsuits filed Tuesday in Santa Barbara County aim to stop a Texas oil company from restarting a pipeline system linked to the 2015 Refugio spill. Environmental groups say the state sidestepped safety laws and public oversight to push the project forward.

California, the world’s fifth largest economy, 

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a website’s display of an already checked box, next to a notation indicating that the user agrees to the company’s hyperlinked terms of service, failed to bind consumers because the company did not explicitly advise that clicking a button marked “[c]onnect now” would be a signal of assent, drawing a separate opinion criticizing the rule as an “erroneous doctrinal path.”

While domestic violence incidents in suburban and rural counties have declined dramatically, urban counties have seen an uptick. In addition, the statewide shares of incidents involving aggravated assault and objects such as household items have risen markedly in the last few years, even as the share involving firearms has fallen after peaking in 2021.