The board’s outgoing chair, Kern County Deputy District Attorney Brandon Stallings, and its incoming chair, José Cisneros, a non-lawyer who is treasurer of the City and County of San Francisco, said in a joint statement: “Laura’s exceptional leadership and extensive experience in policy development and legislative advocacy, as well as her law school professor credentials, will serve us well. She has demonstrated a steadfast belief in our public protection mission.”

Shasta County Superior Court in Redding and other California courts will close on Friday, Sept. 26 in observance of the California Native American Day state holiday. Redding Rancheria Tribal Chairman Jack Potter said via email that tribal members "have always had celebration" on the fourth Friday of September. "That's been a holiday for us for a long time."

A California Court of Appeal panel recently ruled that an employer faces liability to an employee who complained of a co-worker’s offsite and off-duty sexual harassment if the employee proves the employer’s response to the complaint created a hostile workplace environment.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal has rejected a defendant’s assertion that prosecutors trying a defendant for murder based on a death caused by an intoxicated driver must, based on a recent California Supreme Court decision clarifying the standard for implied malice, present expert testimony as to whether the circumstances of the case presented a high probability of a fatality.