• California builds AI oversight unit and presses on xAI investigation

    Reuters
    February 17, 2026

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta is building an artificial intelligence accountability program as his office probes Elon Musk’s xAI over the generation of non-consensual sexually explicit images, he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

  • San Diego jury awards $2.3M in disability bias case against property manager

    Daily Journal
    February 17, 2026

    (Subscription required) A San Diego County jury found that Fairgrove Property Management violated California's Fair Employment and Housing Act by firing an employee after a disabling back injury, awarding $2.335 million in damages, including $1.3 million in punitive damages. 

  • Report: California courts log 1.75 million remote hearings as satisfaction tops 90%

    Daily Journal
    February 17, 2026

    (Subscription required) California's 58 superior courts conducted nearly 1.75 million remote proceedings between September 2024 and August 2025, with user satisfaction exceeding 90%, according to a report the Judicial Council of California will consider at its Feb. 20 meeting.

  • Error to Deny Racial Justice Challenge With No Explanation

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    February 17, 2026

    Div. Five of the First District Court of Appeal held Friday that the conviction of a man accused of contacting a minor for lewd purposes, after a law enforcement child predator sting revealed sexual messages he sent to a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl, must be reversed due to a trial judge failing to provide any reasoning when denying a defense objection to the prosecutor’s exercise of a peremptory challenge based on the Racial Justice Act.