It's a shame that people report user errors as bugs.

In the case of the palm tree example as uploaded in the OP's thread, the opacity of the material is set to 50. Shadows are only cast if the opacity is set to 70 or higher. It's always been that way. With opacity set to 70, it works just fine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxYe26CIvuY#t

@minguinhirigue, please post an example SKP file that shows what you are referring to.

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