SACRAMENTO (AP) - Water contracts that often turn 60 miles of California's second-longest river into a sandy desert fail to adequately take into account the damage to endangered species, a federal judge has ruled. But he did not immediately alter the agreements that send San Joaquin River water flowing to 15,000 central California farmers and cities. The 25-year water contracts signed four years ago divert water at the Friant Dam near Fresno that otherwise would flow down the San Joaquin River and help sustain species there and in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco. The water instead...
