Today's Headlines

Catching up on Valley politics

Westside Connect. Valley voters divided as election heats up.
Synopsis: The focus of this story is CD 13, pitting 10-year Assemblymember Adam Gray against rookie congressman John Duarte. The story quotes 25-year-old Jane Lopez of Los Banos, “I believe Adam Gray understands the challenges young people face, especially those of us just starting our careers. … Gray’s plans for expanding vocational training and internship opportunities re exactly what we need.” A Bay Area teacher now living in Gustine also is leaning toward Gray because he has a more comprehensive plan to benefit education.
MAD Take: Two of Duarte’s supporters mentioned his support for water rights. Perhaps these folks don’t know that water is Gray’s signature issue. He secured state money for flood protection, groundwater recharge and was an avid supporter of voluntary agreements. Even Duarte showed up at Gray’s monster rally at the Capitol in 2018, long before Duarte started hinting that the rally was his idea.  

Merced County Times. In the Wind: Boyle holds fundraiser at lodge despite power outage.
Synopsis: Jon Whitaker writes about Sarah Boyle’s fundraiser at the Italo American Lodge, which hasn’t had power for a month. A nearby transformer burned out, and PG&E has yet to fix it. So, anyone using the facility, like Boyle, has to bring a generator. Boyle said her fundraiser will aid her campaign but also the D Street Shelter. … Jon also noted that the public-safety sales tax bump being sought will raise the sales tax to 8.75% in Merced and 9.25% in Atwater, Winton, Snelling and Los Banos.

Merced County Times. Local candidates get hands dirty cleaning Bear Creek as campaigns heat up.
Synopsis: The Bear Creek Yacht Club invited those running for office to do some cleaning up. Among those picking up trash and wading into the creek to remove debris were Mayor Matt Serratto, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, Sarah Boyle, Birdi Olivarez-Kidwell, Mike Harris and Felipe Rojas-Flores among others.

Sacramento Bee / Merced Sun Star. A CA lawmaker switched to GOP; what happened to her bills?
Synopsis: The surprising part is that 2 of Marie Alvarado-Gil’s 9 bills survived. One reclassifies rape-after-drugging as a violent felony, not just a felony. Her bill providing some in-home services to foster children also survived. Still, she had the senate’s highest rate for bills being thrown into the wastebin.

Merced to Hawaii in a Cessna

KSEE / CBS47. How did this pilot fly a 4-seat Cessna alone from Merced to Honolulu for 17 hours?
Synopsis: Tom Lopes decided to deliver a Cessna 172 to Honolulu. But there was a slight challenge – the Cessna 172 has a range of only 700 miles. Considering that Hawaii is 2,400 miles from Merced, some adjustments in the cabin were required. He filled it with fuel tanks. Now his feat is a viral sensation.

Merced County Times. AirFest Fly-In offers families closeup view of Castle Airport.
Synopsis: AirFest will be Oct. 19 on the tarmac, says coordinator George Clover. He notes many military branches still use the airport and its 11,000-foot runway. He says it’s not uncommon to see C-130s, Blackhawk helicopters and F-15s parked in Atwater.

Refusing to let Laci rest in peace

Modesto Bee. Who was Laci Peterson? More about Modesto murder victim in Netflix’s new series.
Synopsis: The most famous victim of one of America’s most infamous murderers gets the “look-what-I-just-found” treatment from a young reporter who probably was in diapers when Laci’s story gripped the nation. The story talks about this latest Netflix effort – which relies on the TV reporters who so often cribbed off Modesto Bee reporting – but notes that yet another series is coming to Peacock. That one will look at this story from Scott’s POV – aka, a criminal’s fantasy that someone else did it. Interestingly, the story has photos but doesn’t include some of the most famous images from the Bee’s archives – such as angry Scott rushing at Al Golub on Christmas Eve. Or Scott talking on a cellphone during the big huge “find Laci” rally.

Patterson fights BEAM plan

Patterson Irrigator. County board of supervisors meeting gets heated.
Synopsis: Patterson Mayor Michael Clauzel and former mayor Deborah Novelli led the resistance to an allocation of $9.2 million in Stanislaus County’s ARPA money to BEAM Circular, a non-profit group trying to bring bio-manufacturing to the old Crows Landing Naval Air Base. “We cannot allow our agricultural heritage and the health of our community to be compromised by this project,” said Novelli. Of the five board members, Channce Condit was the only opponent. The expenditure passed 4-1, thus continuing the 20-year saga of repurposing the World War II-era airfield.  

More charges for lab owner

Fresno / Modesto Bee. Owner behind secret Chinese-run lab charged with federal crimes by DOJ. 
Synopsis: A federal grand jury charged Jai Bei Zhu with conspiracy and wire fraud. He had already been charged with illegally misbranding COVID-19 tests and lying to investors. The “secret” lab was found in Reedley, where he was storing lab mice and biological materials. Jai was undoubtedly a scammer. But so far no one has accused him of terrorism or plotting to harm anyone.

Wild Bunch’s local connection

Merced County Times. The infamous Daltons and their Central Valley ties.
Synopsis: Excellent story from the Merced Historical Society about how Bill Dalton – killed in Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma -- was first buried at his father-in-law’s home in Livingston. He was later exhumed and reburied in an unmarked grave in Turlock Cemetery. Still there, probably. Lots of details about the Dalton Gang, aka Wild Bunch, and their many exploits – including Bill’s stay in the Stanislaus County jail.

Just how much water is there?

Maven / DWR. CA aims to improve ability to measure how much water is flowing in the state.
Synopsis: DWR Director Karla Nemeth says you can’t manage what you don’t measure. So, she has $7 million to spend with other agencies to install better flow meters on the state’s rivers and waterways. That should help DWR “make better decisions about managing our precious water supply.”
MAD Take: “Better decisions” would be nice considering just how uniformly horrible DWR’s decisions have been in the past. Like that time in the middle of a drought when DWR decided to 650,000 acre feet out of Lake Oroville because it was expecting runoff that never arrived. Or how about all those bad calculations from snow-depth the state relies on while the federal government and most irrigation districts use satellite imagery and atmospheric data. Maybe this is her response to the audit, demanded by Adam Gray, that pointed to outdated practices and extremely poor modeling.  

Maven / State Water Contractors. Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program advance to water board.
Synopsis: Public water agencies “from Redding to the Mexican border” are working with state and federal agencies on a “transformational approach to managing CA’s water,” says Jennifer Pierre. Purportedly, the program will incorporate feedback from all those water agencies on managing the delta watershed “in a way that is inclusive, science-based and response to climate extremes.”
MAD Take: Believe it when you see it.  

Napa has wine; Merced tomatoes

Bloomberg. Record heat is testing Kraft Heinz’s efforts to climate-proof its ketchup.
Synopsis: CEO Miguel Patricio says his firm produces 660 million bottles of ketchup a year, selling 300 million in the US. He says using CA-grown tomatoes is a point of pride for his company, though a typical bottle contains 10 different varieties. There is less water in processing tomatoes, so the big issue is color. The story quotes Derek Azevedo of Bowles Farming near Los Banos, saying Los Banos is to ketchup what Napa is to wine. Now, Bowles and others are looking for fruit that can handle heat stress.

Madera hospital gets new CEO

Fresno Bee. CEO steps aside at Madera Community Hospital; who will lead as it looks to reopen?
Synopsis: The MCH board of trustees handed the reins to Steve Stark after Karen Paolinelli stepped aside. She’ll remain as a consultant as Stark, who has run three Valley hospitals, gets up to speed. “There was a recognition organization-wide that we needed a fresh face,” said Matt Beehler, a spokesman for Modesto-based AMM, the hospital’s new owners.

Honored at the Harvest of Hope

Merced County Times. Scheuerman of Merced honored during Harvest of Hope festival.
Synopsis: Catholic Charities honored Bob and his family at the 10^th Harvest of Hope celebration at St. Patrick’s last week. Bishop Joe Brennan of Fresno attended, praising the retired UC Cooperative Extension agent for his devotion to the church. Among those honored in the past were Maria Giampaoli, the Pedrozo family, Mike & Lori Gallo, the Serrano family and Aldo Sandoni, to name a few.