A California irrigation district is in the midst of a conflict of interest. In July, the board of the Merced Irrigation District reviewed a proposal to build a pipeline with public funds on land that is owned by one of the board members. Other board members, seeing the potential impropriety in this action, sought the opinion of an independent review by a Sacramento law firm.

Patent protection is intended to encourage innovation and development. The cost of ignoring patent laws is not only high, but it poses a threat to innovation and research within the U.S. This is particularly relevant to companies in San Diego, which hosts a large IP industry.

The online content industry long has complained about Google's hands-off approach to copyright infringement and content piracy. Google recently produced a 25-page report defending its position regarding copyright infringement issues. The company hopes the report addresses the concerns of copyright holders in regard to the services offered by Google.

California residents who subscribe to Time Warner Cable may not be seeing CBS programming for a while. It has become increasingly common for cable companies and networks to enter into business litigation over fees that a network can charge a provider to broadcast their programming. However, as stakes get higher, these disputes have begun to drag out, and neither Time Warner nor CBS seems willing to budge.