Valley Headlines

California gets redder

SF Chronicle. Map shows which CA demographic shifted most toward Trump.
Synopsis: Kamala Harris won the state handily, but Donald Trump closed the gap from four years ago thanks to support from rural voters, says this story. Tulare, Colusa and Fresno counties all gave Trump a majority. Instead of losing by 73 points statewide, he cut the margin to 6 points. The story includes a map showing which counties turned redder.
MAD Note: It should be noted that Trump also gained voter share in San Diego, LA, Orange and Santa Clara counties. But Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Madera counties more or less had the same percentage of Trump voters they had four years ago. So, it isn’t just the Valley turning red.

Turlock Journal. Rent control, no; social justice for criminals, no; it was a 4.0 political quake.
Synopsis: Dennis Wyatt takes a look at an election he found surprising. Voters rejected some of the most liberal ideas on the ballot. Dennis figures it’s a backlash to the cost of living in CA.

Bird flu news is sickening

Farms.com. Canada’s National Lab confirms H5N1 in sick teen.
Synopsis: A previously healthy British Columbia teenager is in critical condition. He has a version of the virus – 2.3.4.4b – that is closely related to that found in commercial chicken flocks. As wild birds migrate into the US, there has been an uptick in this virus. A similar but different virus -- B3.13 genotype – has been sickening dairy cattle in 14 states. Meanwhile, the USDA reported two outbreaks in flocks in Fresno – 237,000 chickens and 37,000 turkeys. Montana has also reported a case at a poultry farm.

Western Farm Press. HPAI still spreading in Western livestock.
Synopsis: Todd Fitchette begins by writing: “Agriculture officials throughout the West are continuing to find new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild and domestic birds, dairy cattle and even swine.” As Utah, Oregon, Washington and CA all are reporting new cases, officials are growing more alarmed. The USDA is pushing for more testing and the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service is doing field trials on vaccines. Veterinarians and scientists say on-farm biosecurity is essential. The disease spreads farm to farm, which indicates humans are involved. Officials say farmers should ban non-essential visitors, including salesmen, set up barriers and lock all gates. Workers should wear protective gear including goggles and face shields. There’s more.

State sends protective gear

KVPR. As CA taps pandemic stockpile for bird flu, officials keep close eye on spending.
Synopsis: The state will provide 10,000 farmworkers with masks, gloves, goggles and other gear to try to reduce the spread of bird flu in animals and humans. So far, 21 cases have been confirmed but many, many more are suspected. The state now says cows have been sickened on 270 dairies across the state, and the virus has been found in LA’s wastewater. If it gets worse, the state is ready to deploy the mobile hospitals it acquired during the pandemic. The state has $300 million set aside for pandemic contingencies, so the money is not limitless.

PG&E hurting Valley schools

Fox26. Rising utility rates force tough choices on CA school districts.
Synopsis: The second story in two days about how tough it is to live in any area served by the most expensive public utilities company in the world – PG&E. The focus is on Cutler-Orosi USD, which says it is having trouble paying its bills after four rate hikes over the past year. The district has no cities, so its buildings serve as community centers and cafeterias for poor kids. In 2021-22, the district spent $778,416 on utilities; last year that hit $1.09 million. This year the bill will hit $1.4 million. Obviously, there is little to no choice since PG&E is a monopoly. The numbers are similar in other districts, but larger, richer districts are installing solar and other measures to cut their bills. Unfortunately, under net-metering rules enacted last year, any excess power must be sold at wholesale rates to PG&E, which then sells it back to districts at retail rates. One school superintendent wasn’t being funny when he said, “With PG&E we feel powerless.”
MAD Take: This is the second part of a series about PG&E, electricity rates and the hands-off approach of the CPUC. It’s important stuff.

‘Fixing’ voluntary agreements

Maven’s Notebook/ Berkeley Law. Five guiding principles for effective Voluntary Agreements.
Synopsis: Berkeley Law provided an exhaustive report about how voluntary agreements over river diversions can “achieve better outcomes faster and with less conflict than traditional regulatory methods.” That ideal, says the preface, is “only sometimes realized in practice.” So, it offers 5 guiding principles to make the voluntary agreements more acceptable to the environmental community: 1) Strong regulatory foundations -- more hammer, less voluntary. 2) Better environmental outcomes, not just more water. 3) Clear, specific biological goals and measures of success (which seems redundant). 4) Agreements supported by best-available science (but whose science?). 5) Robust water accounting mechanisms.
MAD Take. The environmental community is running out of excuses for why there are so few fish turning up in their trawler nets. Diverters have been saying for the past 25 years that higher flows cannot work without commensurate investment in floodplains, river restoration, predator control and recognition of the “new possible” dictated by climate change. But the environmental community remains unwilling to hear these arguments, insisting on a conceptual ideal bereft of actual data. The folks at the Tuolumne Trust, NRDC and Sierra Club now insist they need 65% unimpaired flows on the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced – not the 40% they said would work 25 years ago or the 50% they said would be fine in 2018. They’re also looking for “implementation pathways” – whatever those are. Instead of finding agreements, these groups would rather hold farmers hostage until they find more fish. The authors of this paper don’t know what works or even what they want. All they truly know is that they don’t want farmers controlling the water-storage systems those farmers built. That’s not a grain of salt required to embrace this approach, it’s a grain of cyanide.

Making water safe for profiteering

Legal Planet. Meeting information needs for water markets: Understanding diversion and use.
Synopsis: This paper starts from the premise that water markets can more efficiently allocate water to the most important uses through a bidding system. But before that can happen fairly, water buyers and sellers must understand how water is stored, diverted and moved. This booklet attempts to educate “investors” on those principles and procedures. It starts by asking an interesting question: Is this information even available, and when it is, how reliable is it?
MAD Note: Another word for “investors” is speculators. The profit margins for those who must have water to grow food are already finitely slim. So, we should ask: Is there room to add a layer of profits for those “investors”? The move toward commoditizing water is not inexorable and should be resisted.

Salmon showing up in Oakland

Oaklandside. Chinook salmon make a surprise appearance at Lake Merritt.
Synopsis: Salmon are resourceful, and they can show up in unexpected places – like downtown Oakland. It was only the second time in 30 years that salmon have appeared in the lake. The fish had spawned somewhere along the way, because what the thrilled folks at the Lake Merritt Institute found were carcasses.
MAD Note. Last month the environmental community was distraught over the number of salmon swimming up the Sacramento River. Early spawning suggested only around 180,000 fish would make the trip this year, well over last year’s 170,000 but still low. Now, forecasts are saying it will be closer to 215,000. That’s not great, but it’s improving. And last year there were 27,000 spawners on the Mokelumne, surpassing every record since recordkeeping began in 1940. The numbers on the Mokelumne are comparable this year.

The next election begins

Cal Matters. Let the games begin: 2026 campaign for governor now looms.
Synopsis: Dan Walters writes about an already crowded field for governor currently led by Katie Porter. He says that if Kamala Harris gets in the race, she’ll be the automatic favorite. A Berkeley poll shows she would be the frontrunner with some 70+ percent of the vote as a starting point. The top Republican is Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco at 12%. Valley girl Eleni Kounalakis is getting only around 11%, which is in there with Xavier Becerra and Antonio Villaraigosa. And don’t discount Rob Bonta.  

She’s 17, and already a lawyer

Fox26. Household filled with attorneys: Meet the family of youngest to pass CA bar exam.
Synopsis: Sophia Park, 17, of Tulare County passed the bar, breaking the record set by her brother a year when he was 17 years, 11 months. Two even younger siblings are also studying for the bar. The 17-year-old is working as a clerk in the Tulare DA’s office alongside her brother. Their father is a patent agent, their mother ran a Korean bakery in Orange County. Sister Sarah Park is in her second year of law school. She’s 14.