Div. One of the First District Court of Appeal held yesterday that Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer lacks authority to appeal a resentencing order entered in Alameda Superior Court that resulted in the early release of a convicted killer where the local prosecutor in that jurisdiction and the Attorney General each declined to challenge the decision.

(Subscription required) An Oakland federal judge approved Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery over objections from advocacy groups, cementing a deal with 12 state attorneys general that requires no studio or cable-network divestitures.

(Subscription required) Attorneys who have been members of the State Bar of California for at least 10 years are eligible to apply. The deadline is Dec. 1.

Ride-hailing giant Lyft agreed Thursday to pay $272.5 million to settle a lawsuit challenging its classification of drivers in California as contractors, rather than employees entitled to minimum wages, unemployment insurance and other benefits. But the settlement — most of which would be paid to drivers who worked for Lyft between April 2016 and December 2020 — doesn’t require Lyft to treat its current drivers as employees.