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The author reflects on the move of the U.S. Federal District Court which issued an order in February 2014 accusing California state officials to taking no significant steps toward prison overcrowding and reducing the prison population and relieving overcrowding despite court orders.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds, baseball's home run champion, avoided a prison term Friday when a federal judge sentenced him to 30 days of house arrest, 2 years of probation, 250 hours of community service with youth groups and a $4,000 fine for providing evasive testimony to a federal grand jury eight years ago. Bonds's lawyers stated their intention to appeal the guilty verdict, and the judge, Susan Illston of United States District Court, agreed to stay the sentence through the appeal process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Score one for the screenwriter. A United States District Court judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit by an Iraq war veteran, Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver, that claimed the film ''The Hurt Locker'' was based on him without his permission and that he had suffered ridicule because of it and was denied employment. Sergeant Sarver sued Mark Boal, who wrote ''The Hurt Locker,'' a few days before the film won the Oscar for best picture at the 2010 Academy Awards and Mr. Boal took home a trophy for best original screenplay. Mr. Boal was embedded with Sergeant Sarver's unit in 2004 as part of an assignment for Playboy and wrote about him and other bomb disposal experts in the resulting article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]