Charles Breyer

Boeing has asked a federal judge to limit the amount of information it must provide relatives of those killed on Alaska Airlines Flight 261 until formal settlement talks are completed. Lawyers for the family members say their clients need more information about how their loved ones died before they can resolve dozens of wrongful death suits. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he would rule by Dec. 14.

A federal judge who is considering a challenge to the state's mandated high school exit examination said Thursday that he does not intend to block the test. "I am not of the opinion I want to stop this entire process," U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said during a court hearing here. "I am of the opinion a test should go forward."

Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," will get no prison time despite a conviction for growing and distributing hundreds of marijuana plants, a federal judge ruled Friday. A jury convicted Rosenthal, 63, in May of three cultivation and conspiracy charges after U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer prohibited Rosenthal's lawyers from telling the jury that he was working for a pot club sanctioned by the city of Oakland.

A federal judge has ruled that the city's former policy allowing new prisoners to be strip-searched, regardless of the charges against them, was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled last week that the policy, which was changed in January 2004, violated constitutional rules allowing such searches only when inmates are newly arrested on suspicion of crimes involving drugs or violence, or when guards have evidence that an inmate is concealing weapons or contraband.

A federal judge has halted rebuilding at the Yosemite Lodge after the Sierra Club alleged that construction would harm the environment. Hundreds of rooms and cabins were destroyed in Yosemite Valley during last year's flooding. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction saying that park officials may be in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act for failing to gauge the environmental impact and not considering alternate sites.

The National Park Service has rescinded its approval for a plan to restore a popular lodge at Yosemite National Park that was destroyed during flooding in 1997. But the park refused Friday to withdraw its plans to replace a sewer line, and was asked by a judge to meet with the Sierra Club to work out an agreement. The ongoing court battle over the Yosemite Lodge plan focused Friday on the sewer line, three weeks after U.S.

The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative says that it will reopen Monday, offering hemp products, not medical marijuana. The organization, which dispensed marijuana to about 2,000 member-patients, was closed last month by a federal judge. Closure was sought by the Clinton administration's Justice Department, which said the distribution of medical marijuana, authorized by a 1996 California initiative, violated federal drug laws. The cooperative is appealing U.S.

A federal judge entered innocent pleas Thursday for 13 Nuestra Familia gang members and associates facing a litany of federal charges including murder, robbery, conspiracy and drug-related crimes. The charges came in a 25-count indictment handed down last week at the end of a three-year, $5-million local, state and federal investigation. The 12 men and one woman filled the jury box in Judge Charles Breyer's courtroom. Most were heavily tattooed and all wore red jail jumpsuits.

The former human resources director of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. was sentenced Thursday to four months in prison and fined $1.25 million following her conviction for backdating stock-option grants. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco told Stephanie Jensen before sentencing her that he believed her remorse was genuine. "The sentence is to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct," Breyer said. "You have lived a very modest life. You have never used money in a flamboyant way."

A federal judge Wednesday dismissed charges of tax evasion and money laundering against High Times columnist and medical marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal. Rosenthal had been busted for growing pot for dispensaries. During his 2003 trial on three felony charges for cultivating marijuana, he was prohibited from citing medical marijuana in his defense. After delivering a guilty verdict, several jurors criticized the government for not allowing that evidence to be aired during the trial.