CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Family Planning Funds Back on Hold

Restoration of $24 million in state funds for family-planning clinics for the poor has been blocked again, this time by the California Supreme Court. The justices issued a stay, halting further proceedings, while they consider a challenge by the Deukmejian Administration to a lower-court ruling that would require release of the disputed money. The high court set no timetable for action in the case. The battle over funding began last summer when Gov. George Deukmejian, exercising his line-item veto powers, trimmed two-thirds of a $36-million appropriation for the clinics in the state budget.