The 45-mile underground tunnel - known as the Delta Conveyance Project by its advocates - would divert water from the Sacramento River near Clarksburg to facilitate the export of more water to Southern San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and Southern California water agencies. Tunnel opponents say the project would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperil Delta, Tribal and environmental justice communities.

(Subscription required) A Los Angeles judge allowed sensitive alternative-cause evidence, declined to delay trial, and weighed summary judgment in coordinated social media addiction cases, as defendants challenge causation and plaintiffs push claims forward.

At the Thursday hearing, PepsiCo attorney Josh Wesneski, representing over a half dozen large food conglomerates with some of the most well-known brands on the markets, said the real party in interest is San Francisco and not California, and the city and county would receive all the potential civil penalties in the case just as an individual would.

In a decision that could lead to more development along the coastline, the state Supreme Court on Thursday limited the California Coastal Commission’s authority to restrict or halt coastal construction that has been approved by a city or county.