(Subscription required) When a federal court in Florida issued an order in an unprecedented wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI, it reasoned that free speech protections did not apply to the output of the generative AI-powered chatbot service. Experts say that the judge's watershed order may move the needle on navigating future products liability cases involving artificial intelligence.

The research found that the region lost 27.8 million acre-feet of groundwater since 2003, roughly the same volume as the total capacity of Lake Mead — the nation’s largest reservoir — and that the decline accelerated rapidly over the past decade. These groundwater losses accounted for more than twice the amount taken out of reservoirs in the region during that time.

Both the state-managed SWP and the federally managed Central Valley Project export water from the Delta and deliver it via a system of aqueducts and canals to Southern California cities and Central Valley farms. LAO Bottom Line: We recommend deferring action on both proposals, without prejudice.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a middle-school student’s claim he had a free-speech right to wear a T-shirt stating there are “only two genders.” Over two dissents, the justices let stand a ruling that said a school may enforce a dress code to protect students from “hate speech” or bullying.