The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the seven states in the Colorado River Basin, as well as 30 tribes and Mexico, are negotiating a plan to protect the river after a decades-long megadrought depleted flows and left key reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell in danger of running dry.

(Subscription required) On Jan. 1, Marin County Superior Court Judge Beth S. Jordan became supervising judge of the unified family court division. After six years overseeing criminal cases, it was a return to familiar territory for the former family law practitioner.

At its meeting March 21–22, the State Bar of California Board of Trustees approved a request for an increase in the 2025 mandatory licensing fee of $125 per active licensee.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland, who has presided over the case since it was filed in 1994, said Wednesday that major changes were needed because of the state’s long-standing “failure to adopt policies and procedures to ensure that (prisoners) with hearing and vision disabilities receive the reasonable accommodations they need” to prepare for parole hearings, take part in the hearings and appeal unfavorable decisions “to the same extent as non-disabled prisoners.”