Valley Headlines

What a waste of water

CBS13 (Sacramento). Expert describes Trump-ordered NorCal water release as ‘dumb.’
Synopsis: As originally reported Friday by Lois Henry at the website SJV Water, someone at the Army Corps of Engineers in Sacramento ordered flood-level releases of water into the Kaweah and Tule rivers. Apparently they were trying to make good on Donald Trump’s promise to provide water for fighting fires in LA. But that water could never get to LA and had the impact of swamping the rivers and pooling in the Tulare Lake basin. Said water expert Barry Nelson: “California has the most complex plumbing system on the planet. If you think it’s simple, and order people to make what looks like simple decision to you, you wind up making really dumb decisions.”
MAD Note: Henry reported Sunday that water managers have been able to divert significant portions of those errant flows into areas where the water can sink into aquifers.

LA Times. What does Trump know about CA’s water system? So much less than he’d ever admit.
Synopsis: George Skelton, one of California’s preeminent columnists, provides an accurate overview of how water gets to LA. Then he writes that Donald Trump is either “misinformed and fantasizing,” or is “outright lying, as he meddles deeply in CA water.” Skelton suggests Trump and Karen Bass should sit down together for an evening of movies, starting with “Chinatown.”

Maven / Jim Costa. Rep. Costa presses Trump administration for answers to Army Corps’ release.
Synopsis: As a senior member of the House Ag Committee, Rep. Jim Costa says he’s seeking answers from Pete Hegseth about why anyone would waste that much water – 27,000 acre feet at least – by ordering the Corps to open the flood gates. These actions pose “significant threats to a reliable water supply.” Worse, there was no notice of the water coming from Terminus and Schafer dams.

Speaking of water waste …

Cal Matters. Newsom orders more water for farmers, towns.
Synopsis: Reporter Alastair Bland disguises his opinion as “reporting” on Gavin Newsom’s weekend order that cleared the way for local water agencies to divert atmospheric river flows to areas where it can replenish aquifers. Newsom’s order is similar to those issued two years ago when the ARC storms hit but the hands of local officials were tied by state regulations that prevented them from moving water onto areas where it could be stored; millions of acre feet were lost. Instead of applauding the Governor’s move, Bland turns to Jon Rosenfield of SF Baykeeper for analysis: “Trump issued an executive order that is nothing short of an assault on California’s environment, and it’s like Newsom then said, ‘Hold my beer.’” Bland explained Rosenfield’s anger by writing that salmon are “spiraling toward extinction” and somehow need the flood flows.  
MAD Take: Those who released massive flows down the Kaweah and Tule rivers at Trumps request were idiots. But insisting that destructive, habitat-scouring flows are preferrable to using flood water to replenish aquifers is, well, just as idiotic.

Why the dispatch dust-up?

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus County sheriff in dispute with board over dispatch services.
Synopsis: Ken Carlson reports on Jeff Dirkse’s efforts to remove the sheriff’s department from the county’s regional dispatch center and create a dispatching partnership with the city of Ceres. While the elected sheriff determines the direction and conduct of investigations, the county board of supervisors has final approval over his department’s budget and expenditures -- like dispatch computer systems, which is at the heart of the dispute. On Jan. 24 the stakes appear to have been raised when deputies conducted a search warrant at the county’s dispatch center.  Dirkse would not say what they were looking for, only that it was an ongoing investigation.
MAD Note: As usual, Carlson offers thorough, down-the-middle reporting. Excellent work.

New boss on YCCD board

Turlock Journal. Richard to lead YCCD board in 2025.
Synopsis: Milt Richard, the first-mister of Turlock, has been chosen president of the Yosemite Community College District board that governs Modesto Junior and Columbia colleges. Leslie Beggs, Antonio Aguilar and Darin Gharat also were re-elected.  

Finding sister on the street

Turlock Journal. Volunteers hit the streets for annual homeless count.
Synopsis: Joe Cortez writes about the annual homeless count conducted by the Stanislaus Community System of Care last month. Along with checking the shelters, volunteers go out before dawn to find people living in camps, in doorways and sleeping on exhaust grates. Among those Joe walked with was a woman whose twin sister is living on the streets of Turlock. She found her sister walking in the cold. Said the volunteer: “I just feel sadness in my heart. She doesn’t belong out here.”
MAD Take: Does anyone?

State Farm being slammed

Merced Sun Star. CA State Farm homeowners frustrated by rejected water-damage claims.
Synopsis: The insurance giant has been rejecting any claim from water damage, saying the damage is the result of normal wear-and-tear and should have been addressed through maintenance. Now lawsuits are being brought, and the Dept of Insurance is seeing a pattern.

Another rung on bird flu ladder

Merced Focus / KVPR. What we know – and don’t know – about new strain of bird flu in Merced.
Synopsis: KVPR’s Kerry Klein looks at the H5N9 strain of bird flu that has been found in the county – though it turns out the ducks were sickened back in November and the new strain was just confirmed last week. H5N9 has been around a long time, but now has become “highly contagious” for other birds. As Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF put it, “the good news is that the new strain was found in ducks, not people. The bad news is that it really illustrates that these viruses are just swapping genes left, right and center.”

Wildfire fighters walking away

Washington Post. Federal firefighters fought LA’s blazes, then came resignation offers.
Synopsis: Following instructions from Elon Musk, the Trump administration offered “early retirement” to a host of federal employees, including wildland firefighters. Those offers left “deep cuts” in the ranks of those still on the front lines of fires, reports the Post. “Getting that letter just took morale out of the workforce,” said one worker. Fearing the impact ahead of forest-fire season, Sen. Alex Padilla warned firefighters that those offers aren’t legal and probably not real. He said anyone considering taking up Musk and Trump on the offer should consider how Trump treated workers the thousands of private contractors who worked on his hotels – refusing to pay them until sued. The National Federation of Federal Employees agrees, urging workers not to take the bait.

Trust in Valley’s new leaders

Valley Citizen. The Valley after Trump.
Synopsis: Eric Caine writes about the “buyer’s remorse” hitting at least a few of Donald Trump’s supporters in the Valley, but says who you voted for to be president matters less than being willing to act locally. He applauds a new generation of political leadership, including Josh Harder, Adam Gray, Channce Condit and Esmeralda Soria. They will be “working on behalf of Valley citizens long after the Trump zeppelin has crumpled and fallen to the ground.”

Gray takes his vows

Merced Sun-Star. Congressman Adam Gray takes oath of office in hometown.
Synopsis: Reporter Andy Kuhn writes about Rep. Gray coming to Merced to be sworn into office last week by Judge John Kirihara. Gray put his hand on a 102-year-old bible kept at the Merced County Courthouse Museum, where the event took place. Roughly 300 people attended.

Galaxy quest begins here

Fresno Bee. A patch of land east of Fresno is a gateway to the galaxy.
Synopsis: The Sierra Remote Observatories is a 5-acre facility founded in 2007 by medical Dr. Keith Quattrocchi and friends so they could get better images of the night sky. Now there are 150 telescopes set up at the facility near Auberry. At 4,610 feet, it’s above the inversion layer, the skies are clear 290 nights a year, it’s dark and it’s an hour’s drive for the Fresno airport. “Seeing” value is measure in arc-seconds; at 1.2, the SRO is one of the best in the lower 48 states. The developers have equipped the site with 1 Gbps fiber optics. During daylight “it seems like a ghost town.” Not at night.