Valley Headlines

Explaining away a water grab

Maven’s Notebook. Water wasted to sea?
Synopsis: The PPIC’s Jeffrey Mount, UC Davis’s Peter Moyle and a few others make the case for keeping through-Delta water volumes high. It’s not just an environmental priority, they write, but important for agriculture, cities and the fishing industry. If flows are insufficient, salt encroaches deeper into the Delta. Too much salt, and Delta water becomes untenable for all the uses we require. For instance, they write, higher flows to the ocean are essential because more water “dilutes and flushes such urban pollutants as metals, microplastics and nutrients” out to the ocean.  
MAD Take: This essay apparently was written for grade-schoolers. Even so, it fails to explain “the Delta” is a dry ditch without the state’s rivers. The Sacramento, Stanislaus, Mokelumne, Tuolumne and Merced rivers create the Delta. Of all the elementary arguments proffered, the most outrageous is that we should provide more water rivers so that “the Delta” can be used to clean up the mess made each day by 47 water-treatment facilities surrounding the Bay. Hardly any of those facilities meet federal water-quality discharge standards – the same standards Valley facilities have attained. Sometimes, those facilities release untreated sewage. It's one thing for 27 Bay Area cities to take our water, but then to demand even more so they can flush their toilet, uh Bay, is an outrage. When Mount uses the word “nutrients” he’s talking about fecal matter.

Big hit coming to Valley ag

Fresno Bee. Trump policies cost CA farmers during his last presidency; could this time be worse?
Synopsis: Reporter Robert Rodriguez looks into the likely costs of the tariffs and immigration crackdowns promised by President Trump. He says 60% tariffs on products from China will fix everything. What they’ll create is similar tariffs on US food products. Seven years ago, when he first tried tariffs, the Chinese immediately imposed tariffs on walnuts, milk powder, corn meal and almonds. UC Davis professor Colin Carter estimates a $6 billion hit in California alone. Consider, the last time around, almond prices fell from $2.50 to $1.40 a pound. Many ag organizations believe they will be able to mitigate those losses by explaining the costs to the new administration. Joe Del Bosque – who often speaks for farming – is less sanguine. He fears deportation polices more than anything else and says a fast-track approval process is essential before executing the great deportation.

Two-buck-Chuck winery for sale

Sacramento Bee. Once home to Charles Shaw winery – Trader Joe’s ‘2-buck Chuck’ – hits market.
Synopsis: The original Charles Shaw winery and its Benessere Vineyards in Napa County are up for sale – asking price, $35 million. The Napa River flows through the 43 acres near St. Helena. The house has 6,300 square feet of living space just off the Silverado Trail. Shaw’s original winery went bankrupt in 1990. In 1995 Fred Franzia purchased the name out of bankruptcy and started making the namesake wine in Ceres.

Bean thief brought down

Modesto Bee. Queen Bean burglary suspect called a ‘career criminal.’
Synopsis: Emmanuel Dominguez is from Milpitas but had taken up residence at a nearby Modesto motel. Folks in the neighborhood recognized him from the surveillance photos taken while he was in the act of robbing the Bean. They turned him in to the MPD. ED’s resume includes B&E, kidnapping, assault. Interestingly, he was out on bail from other offenses in Santa Clara County. Bean owner Sam Pierstorff is happy that “the community” was able to “take down a career criminal. That’s something to be proud of.”

Election news, good & bad

SF Standard. ‘People really want to smash stuff’: Coping with election, locals turn to rage rooms.
Synopsis: Story says massage parlors, bars and pet-adoption agencies are seeing a big uptick in business since the election. Says massage therapist: “Everybody’s insanely stressed. Their knots were way bigger than usual.” Feeling special levels of distress and fear are gay couples, says the story. Others “chose to eat their feelings.” Bakeries are doing brisk business and Halloween candy seems to be popular a week later.

Patterson Irrigator. The people have spoken: Out with the old, in with the new.
Synopsis: Jessica Wilkinson writes about early vote counts in local races, apparently believing them to be final and official. Wilkinson writes that Gabriela Hernandez beat Shawun Anderson by 109 votes in District A, Dominic Farinha lost by 62 votes in District C and Tim Benefield won a seat on the Del Puerto Health Care District.
MAD Take: Cool your jets, Jessica. She has only recently arrived in California, so she might not know our registrars have until Dec. 3 to get the votes certified. Take this story with a grain of sodium chloride.

Reservoir news, good & bad

Maven / Sites Authority. Sites Reservoir: A once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Synopsis: Sites Project Authority chair Fritz Durst writes that his project is a wise investment that CA must make. As an off-stream reservoir, Sites will siphon off 4% of Sacramento River overflows to be held for later use by farms, cities, businesses and in the Delta. Climate change makes this project absolutely necessary; without additional storage, water systems will run dry just as they did in 2022. Soon, Sites will be out of the permitting phase and into construction. Already, land purchases are taking place.

Contra Costa News. Contra Costa Water District ends participation in Los Vaqueros expansion.
Synopsis: The CCWD board made it official this week, joining other water districts in pulling the plug on a massive expansion of the off-stream reservoir that provides water for East Bay cities. It was one of only two surface-storage projects deemed viable by the California Water Commission for funding from 2014’s Prop 1. The other is Sites.

New residency for heart docs

Modesto Bee. As needs grow, Modesto hospital teams with UC Davis to train heart surgeons.
Synopsis: There will be a cardiothoracic surgery residency at Doctors Medical Center, under the tutelage of Dr. John deGraft-Johnson. Profiled is Dr. Devon Anderson, who is already doing the work of a cardio surgeon. Other specialties in this program include obstetrics and general surgery.

Low turkey prices hurt farmers

Ag Daily. Turkey prices low ahead of Thanksgiving holiday.
Synopsis: Prices for 8- to 16-pound birds were at 99 cents in stores this week, compared to $1.12 last year and the 5-year average of $1.22. As they deal with lower prices, farmers are facing higher input costs. It takes 18 weeks to grow a small bird, 20 weeks for a larger one. And bird flu isn’t helping. The only silver lining is that there are fewer birds in cold storage, so low prices might rise.

Fixing Westley’s water problems

Patterson Irrigator. Grayson Elementary water issues discussed.
Synopsis: Apparently, when Stanislaus County or the federal government come to Westley to work on water-system contamination issues in the huge migrant housing project, they shut off the water the entire community. That’s been three times this year, meaning fountains and faucets don’t work at the school. County supervisor Channce Condit says there’s nothing he can do. But the school district is trying. It wants to install a filtration and tank system so water service won’t be interrupted. The board also approved two new trustees – Lena Barrientos and Jeremy Saavedra. BTW, Grayson Elementary School is in Westley – not Grayson, which is a mile away.

Next win is 200th for Scheidt

Merced Sun Star. Longtime Merced High coach can earn 200^th win in playoff opener.
Synopsis: Rob Scheidt is on the verge of a monumental achievement as his 7-3 Bears face Rio Americano in the Sac-Joaquin Section D3 playoffs. He’s 199-120 in 30 years as coach. His father, Tom, coached at Dos Palos for years. Rob would be the first 200-game winner since Mike Sparks – who replaced Tom’s dad at Dos Palos. Sparks won his 200^th in 2010. Other playoff details included.