OC TO DEFEND OFFENDER RULES AT STATE HIGH COURT: LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Orange County district attorney's office will go to the California Supreme Court to defend local regulations banning sex offenders from parks and beaches.
An appeals court ruled Friday that state law trumps the county regulations, dealing a serious setback to some of the strictest sex-offender rules in California.
Passed in 201, Orange County's restrictions barred offenders from parks and beaches unless they got written permission from the sheriff.
The appeals judges on Friday found that the rule amounted to a "de facto registration requirement" and conflicts with laws passed by the state.
COURT REFUSES TO REOPEN OYSTER FARM CASE: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a decision that shutters a popular Northern California oyster farm in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said it wouldn't appoint a special 11-judge panel to reconsider the ruling of a three-judge panel.
The three-judge panel ruled in September that the federal government had legal authority to deny Drakes Bay Oyster Co. a new lease so the waters of the Drakes Estero could be returned to wilderness.
VIDEO HELPED LEAD TO WILDFIRE SUSPECT: REDDING (AP) — Court documents show that surveillance footage helped lead to the arrest of the man suspected of starting a wildfire in rural Northern California that left one person dead and destroyed dozens of homes.
Twenty-nine-year-old Zane Peterson has pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges in connection with the Sept. 9 Clover Fire in Shasta County. The fire, which began as two separate blazes, destroyed 68 homes about 150 miles north of Sacramento and claimed the life of 55-year-old Brian Henry.
Peterson's pick-up truck was recorded by video cameras passing by both of the fire's origin points.
An analysis of his text messages, additionally, showed he was having financial and addiction problems and wanted to return to work as a firefighter.
