Valley Headlines

‘The choice for freedom’: Adam Gray

Valley Citizen. San Joaquin Valley Election: Your vote and mine.
Source: Eric Caine provides a history lesson in preparation to make this emphatic statement: “In California Congressional District 13, the choice for freedom is Adam Gray.” In (CD9), the “choice for freedom” is Josh Harder and in CD22 Rudy Salas. He concludes: “Injustice is always wrong and should always be vehemently opposed.”
MAD Take: Amen.

Results? Not until Dec. 3

Modesto Bee. New state law will delay certification of Nov. 5 election results in Stanislaus County.
Source: All CA counties will have until Dec. 3 to announce election results. That’s because a new state law provides additional time to “cure” ballots that have unclear signatures or unclearly marked votes. Politicians decided that it is more important to count every vote – no matter how poorly cast -- than to provide timely results. “I’d like (voters) to know that it’s because it’s the law, not because we’re not doing our jobs,” said Stanislaus registrar Donna Linder.

Bees make endorsements, too

Modesto / Sacramento Bee. To win CA’s 9^th congressional seat, it’ll take more than politics.
Source: Lebron Hill, writing for the editorial board, prefers Josh Harder to Kevin Lincoln. The winner will represent most of San Joaquin County – minus Lathrop and west Manteca, which is in District 13 – and parts of Contra Costa and Sacramento counties. The editorial notes that this is not a “liberal hotbed,” but Harder’s “body of work” in Congress merits a return.
MAD Take: Other than the fact that Josh Harder once represented the area, it’s not clear why this editorial appeared on the Modesto Bee website since he no longer represents anyone in Stanislaus County.

Modesto / Sacramento / Fresno Bees. Who should Californians send to the US senate?
Source: Duh. The McClatchy California Editorial Board – including Juan Esparza Loera and Tad Weber of Fresno, Lebron Hill, Marcos Breton, Tom Philp and a few others of Sac – say it would take an act of God to elect Steve Garvey. “And it’s not just because Adam Schiff belongs to the ruling party. California needs a seasoned lawmaker who will fight for our state, not a 75-year-old rookie who has zero political experience.” The Bees calls Garvey “remarkably ill prepared to be a US Senator.” But can Adam Schiff hit the curve?

Some more endorsements

Modesto Bee. Three incumbents seek re-election to Modesto City Council.
Source: The Modesto Bee Editorial Board – made up entirely of people who do not live within 60 miles of Modesto – applauds Chris Ricci (unopposed) and fellow-incumbents David Wright and Rosa Escutia-Braaton. Austin Grant, Joel Campos and John Gunderson didn’t make the cut.
MAD note: It wasn’t mentioned in the editorial, but this has been the most functional Modesto city council in decades. So the endorsements make sense.

Modesto Bee. Three Modesto school board incumbents seek reelection.
Source: The Modesto Bee Editorial Board also met with Modesto City Schools candidates. Incumbents Abel Maestas, Homero Mejia and John Ervin received enthusiastic endorsements. Again, endorsements that makes sense even if those making them don’t live within 60 miles of Modesto.

Westside incinerator closing

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus garbage incinerator – last in CA – to close in December.
Source: County Exec Jody Hayes says Stan County is negotiating with Covanta to shutter the waste-to-energy plant – once considered an environmentally friendly alternative to burying garbage. Now, household waste will have to be buried, which either creates methane gas during the rotting process or becomes mummified and harms the soil. John Mataka, a former county employee and activist living in Grayson is happy the incinerator will no longer pollute the air about 15 miles to the southwest.

Crime that doesn’t pay

Merced Golden Wire. Police arrest 3 for robbery of jewelry store.
Source: Three masked men came into a Los Banos jewelry store, grabbed up $100,000 worth of merchandise, then dashed outside to a waiting (stolen) Mercedes SUV. They didn’t get far and have all been arrested. Among those being thanked by Los Banos PD are the federal probation office, Fresno PD and the Merced County DA.

Merced Golden Wire. Carne-a-fentanyl.
Source: The CHP pulled over Andres Murillo of Washington on I-5 on Saturday. Hidden away in plastic-wrapped packages of carne asada were bottles of fentanyl powder. That didn’t fool the K-9 deputy assigned to sniff them out. The highway is considered a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Bird flu spread is slowing

Farms.com. Bird flu in cattle shows signs of containment, says USDA.
Source: There were 12 new outbreaks in CA dairy herds last week, but other states have had zero recent cases – meaning the spread is slowing. In Colorado, 64 herds have been infected but none since mid-August. Michigan, which trails only CA with infections, has not had a new case since Sept. 9. Meanwhile, the US Dept of Health & Human Services has spent $72 million stockpiling H5N1 vaccines for humans. Just in case this becomes BCH (bird, cow, human) flu.  

Visitors love the El Capitan

Merced Sun-Star. Merced hotel ranked among top 20 in Northern CA; what makes it ‘amazing.’
Source: El Capitan Hotel in downtown – completely renovated five years ago -- has gained a Readers Choice Award from Conde Nast. Sunset Magazine agrees, calling it a “top place” this year, and giving its Rainbird restaurant an Award of Excellence.

More protests against reservoir

SF Chronicle. CA tribes seek to stop plans for state’s largest reservoir in decades.
Source: Reporter Kurtis Alexander continues reporting on those opposed to Sites Reservoir, talking to members of two of the tribes who “have stepped up efforts” to block construction. He quotes the president of Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation describing signs – admittedly visible only to members of the tribe – that there was a food-processing site in the path of the reservoir. They claim to have identified 3 burial sites, too. The Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun are part of the protest and worry too much water will be removed from the Sacramento River.
MAD Note. Kurtis neglects to mention that the Kletsel Dehe Nation sits on 640 acres about 40 miles from Sites; 19 of the nation’s 270 enrolled members live there. The DeHe rancheria is 573 acres and 60 miles from Sites and has a population of 77; they license the Colusa Casino Resort.

Updating book about Stanislaus

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus County’s history preserved in new book, ‘StaniStory.’
Source: Keith Highiet and David Seymour uploaded their book back in December, but it was celebrated last Friday. The story says the pair updated a book first written in 1941 by J. Burton Vasche. To celebrate, there were sugar cookies in the shape of Stanislaus County.
MAD Note: The story did not mention that the original author went on to become the first president of Stanislaus State, that the library there is named for him and that he wrote the book when he was only 31 years old. Burton was also the father of Mark Vasche, longtime editor of The Bee.