Bob Egelko

3 days ago | sanluisobispo.com | Bob Egelko

Once again, a state parole board has found one of cult leader Charles Manson's followers - Patricia Krenwinkel - suitable for release after more than 56 years behind bars for her role in seven 1969 murders. And once again, Gov. Gavin Newsom must decide whether there is any evidence that Krenwinkel, 77, would pose any danger if released - and whether a decision to free her would affect his political future.

3 days ago | insider.govtech.com | Bob Egelko

(TNS) — California's first bar exam to be prepared by a private contractor accomplished one of its main goals in February: lowering financial costs for the deficit-plagued state bar. And its passage rate of 55.9% was the highest for a February exam in many years, compared with rates in the low to mid-30s earlier in the decade. But the performance reviews have not been favorable. Computer programs frequently stopped and started while transmitting questions.

3 days ago | sfchronicle.com | Bob Egelko

Of the three female defendants convicted of murder in the Manson trial in 1971, from left, Susan Atkins died in 2009, Patricia Krenwinkel is up for parole, and Leslie Van Houten was released in 2023. A state parole board has found Krenwinkel suitable for release. File/AP PhotoOnce again, a state parole board has found one of cult leader Charles Manson’s followers – Patricia Krenwinkel – suitable for release after more than 56 years behind bars for her role in seven 1969 murders.

4 days ago | sfchronicle.com | Bob Egelko

In a rare victory for the gun-control movement, the U.S. Supreme Court left intact a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia upholding Maryland’s AR-15 ban. Michael Macor/The ChronicleA divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed states to continue to ban semiautomatic AR-15-style rifles, which can be fired repeatedly without reloading and are owned by millions of Americans. But the issue is far from settled.

4 days ago | govtech.com | Bob Egelko

But the performance reviews have not been favorable. Computer programs frequently stopped and started while transmitting questions. Some of the questions were mistakenly imported from the "Baby Bar," a lower-level exam given to first-year law students. Proctors assigned to monitor exam sites were reported to have interrupted test-takers. And there was evidence that some questions on the exam were the products of artificial intelligence. "Everything went wrong.