(Subscription required) Presiding Judge Bunmi O. Awoniyi of Sacramento County Superior Court was named Judge of the Year by the county bar association Thursday, marking the culmination of a tenure that reshaped the bench and welcomed a new courthouse.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal has declared that items that are available to general-population female prison inmates that are not gender-specific—such as tweezers, robes, earrings and alarm clocks—must also be accessible to their male counterparts under compulsion of the equal-protection provisions of the state and federal constitutions.

Long known as a nationwide leader in climate and environmental policy, the Golden State has been in Trump’s crosshairs since his first administration, when he sparred with Gov. Gavin Newsom over issues such as forest and water-supply management. In recent months, Trump has escalated his California-specific efforts, including vowing to block the state’s ability to set strict tailpipe emission standards — a battle that has wound all the way up to the Senate.

(Subscription required) Filed by the Western Growers Association and Fallbrook-based Olive Hill Greenhouses, the suit claims the 2022 law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom violates federal labor law and constitutional protections. The Attorney General's Office argues the challenge is not ripe, as no collective bargaining agreement has been finalized.