Valley Headlines

Newsom unveils budget surplus

SF Chronicle. In major turnaround, CA will have a budget surplus, says Newsom.
Synopsis: While visiting Stan State in Turlock, Gov. Gavin Newsom said there will likely be a surplus this year. Surprisingly, the LAO agrees. It’s all due to a soaring stock market. Newsom says that if Trump carries out his cuts of $2 trillion, it will mean staggering cuts to Medicare, Medicare and Social Security and eliminating the Dept of Education. So, any surplus will be swallowed quickly.

Modesto Bee. Gov. Newsom announced a $322.2 billion budget with no deficit.
Synopsis: Gov. Newsom said his budget will boost rainy-day reserves to $17 billion without any major cuts to state priorities, such as education, healthcare and jobs. Last year’s initial budget featured a $47 billion shortfall, so this is good news. Newsom said he saved $1.2 billion by refusing to fill 6,500 jobs. He also asked Californians to get rid of Prop 2, which limits how much the state can hold in reserve. Among those applauding the budget were Mike McGuire, Robert Rivas and even Republican Heath Flora (sort of).

Modesto Bee. Newsom visit to Turlock draws criticism from Republican leaders in Stanislaus County.
Synopsis: Decrying Newsom’s visit to the Valley, Republican Party state vice chair Corrin Rankin visited Stanislaus County to join mayors Amy Bublak and Javi Lopez and unelected Joel Campos in a tractor company parking lot. Lopez decried high gas prices, though he no longer commutes, and Bublak wants to see more money put in a rainy-day fund, which is also one of Gov. Newsom’s priorities.

First fatality from bird flu

Farms.com. US reports first fatal H5N1 infection as avian flu strikes more poultry, cats.
Synopsis: A 65-year-old-plus patient in Louisiana died after contact with backyard poultry or wild birds. Doctors say it was a different genotype from the bird flu carried by wild birds. Also reported Monday, new infections among laying hens in Stanislaus County – though there are no numbers – and two more infected dairy herds in the state. That pushed the total of dairy herds hit in CA to 701, or over half of the total. Nationally, 917 herds have been infected. There were additional poultry cases in Delaware and Michigan and the loss of 44,700 commercial chickens in Butte County, CA. There have been more reports of infections found in wild animals, including a mountain lion near Carson City.

 ‘People elect us to solve problems’

ABC10 (Sacramento). Rep. Adam Gray’s plan for his new job in Congress.
The local station picks up the Associated Press story in which newly elected Congressman Adam Gray talks about the dissatisfaction that many people feel with their government, and how they simply want to see policies that work for them. That will take a bipartisan effort. “People elect us to solve problems in their lives.”

New marching orders for water

Center Square. Newsom, Biden unveil water plan amid drought, fish protection debate.
Synopsis: The state and feds have agreed on how they will jointly operate the State Water and Central Valley projects. The goal is drought resilience and “ecosystem improvements and infrastructure projects,” according to the statement. It also includes a new biological opinion, supplanting the one developed during the Trump administration. While environmental groups such as the Sierra Club say the plan isn’t good enough, they like it better than the Trump plan. There is nothing preventing President Trump from altering this plan, and returning to his original, when he takes office in 13 days.

Case study looks at our rivers

Environmental Science & Technology. Assessing regional strategies to cope with drought.
Synopsis: This “case study” on the Bay Area insists that 40% of flows must remain in the San Joaquin River’s tributaries – the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced – from February 1 through June 30 to facilitate fish reproduction. The authors recognize that fish need cold water, and that the only cold water found in the watershed summer months is behind dams, so that could require even more water to keep fish safe. The authors say any Voluntary Agreements should require protections for fish but admits that significant improvements will occur under existing agreements.
MAD Take: Interestingly, the paper talks about the importance of the Delta to 30 million Californians, but never mentions the fact that 80% of the water in the Delta is from the Sacramento River watershed – not the San Joaquin. So, the impact of higher flows on the tributaries would be minimal. An interesting footnote in this paper is its citation of “Marcus et al” in making the arguments against voluntary agreements and in favor of 60% instream flows. The “Marcus” is former State Water Board chair Felicia Marcus. Nonetheless, this is an important paper if only to help readers understand the myriad considerations that hundreds of scientists and policymakers must make to help provide water to millions of Californians.

More sewage on SF streets

Channel 10 (San Francisco). San Ysidro pump station spills 30,000 gallons of sewage water.
Synopsis: The South Bay pump station dumped raw sewage onto Hollister Street after a valve malfunctioned.
MAD Take: The SFPUC and affiliated agencies around SF Bay estimate they need to spend $10 billion to bring 45-plus wastewater treatment facilities into regulatory compliance. They don’t want to do it, so they’ve sued to continue the waiver they’ve been granted. The problem is that most of their pollution ends up in SF Bay, where those same agencies demand that more fresh water from the tributaries is needed to flush out the filth. They should clean up their own mess before asking us for help.

Turning containers into housing

ABC30. Unique housing development for unhoused veterans in Merced.
Synopsis: Twenty “apartments” will be fashioned from old shipping containers. That matches up nicely with the number of homeless veterans found in the last PIT count. They will share a kitchen and sanitary facilities but have separate bedrooms. The project was funded by the state’s Homekey program. Leah Brown notes that when the program starts this spring, the veterans will also have supportive services.

Fresno crime is dropping

GV Wire. Fresno police report 2024 violent crime drop; homicides fall to 30.
Synopsis: There were fewer shootings, fewer killings and fewer victims in 2024, continuing a downward trend that started in 2022 under Chief Paco Balderrama. Though Balderrama has left, Mindy Casto has continued the trend. In 2020, there were 74 homicides, in 2024 only 30. Shootings dropped from 359 in 2023 to 221 in 2024. They peaked at 774 in 2022. Mayor Dyer says it’s due to more police on the streets (926 last year compared to 861 in 2021) and better technology (Shot spotter).

Intra-party squabbling

GV Wire. Is a Fresno County GOP leadership rebellion underway?
Synopsis: David Taub writes about an email sent by newly elected Republican city council members Nathan Vosburg (Coalinga) and Michael Montelongo (Sanger) decrying the leadership of GOP party chair Liz Kolstad. They are not on the central committee, notes Kolstad, who says she has support from Tom McClintock and Vince Fong. She noted the $200K she helped raise in the election cycle.

It's all about business

Modesto Bee. Picking a college major is no minor thing; here’s the most popular at Stan State.
Synopsis: Business administration is the top major for those attending Stan State, followed by psychology, liberal studies, criminal justice and biological sciences. These match trends at most colleges across the nation. Details: 1,616 business majors, who can expect to earn $79K a year upon graduation; 1,277 psych students, who are more likely to bring in around $52K.
MAD Take: There were also 716 liberal studies students, who can expect a lot of good advice from their customers at Starbucks. Actually, if they go into teaching, they’ll do fine. If they go into journalism, the Starbucks tips will look attractive.