Valley Headlines

It was close, now it’s closer

SF Chronicle. Christine Pelosi part of small army of ballot ‘curers’ in wildly close CA House race.
Synopsis: Reporters Molly Burke and Joe Garofoli found their way to Merced and Modesto where volunteers from both parties are tracking down those who cast “rejected” ballots to make them acceptable. Only a dozen states allow “curing,” most just reject the ballots with problems. Among the curing teams is Elizabeth Chur, who wrote a book on how to talk to people while canvassing. Adam Gray told Molly that curing is “part of making sure that every vote is counted.” John Duarte’s team did not respond to the Chronicle but said something similar to the Turlock Journal. The CA Voter Foundation says only about half of defective ballots are ever cured.
MAD Note: Story says Duarte is ahead by 348 votes, which was true Thursday morning but not Thursday evening when Merced County announced it had counted another 300 ballots. Of those, two-thirds went for Gray, cutting the deficit to 194 – meaning Gray got more than two-thirds of the votes. More than 2,800 ballots remain uncounted in Merced County alone.

Merced Focus. Duarte, Gray locked in tight race for 13^th Congressional District.
Synopsis: John Duarte’s lead over Adam Gray fell to fewer than 200 votes after Merced County ballots were tabulated and posted late Thursday. Gray leads in Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties while Duarte has won Fresno and Madera. Gray’s campaign was optimistic: “We always knew that this race would be as close as they come, and we’re expecting a photo finish this year,” said campaign manager Ben Rodriguez.  

CA Globe. 13^th House District race between Duarte, Gray within 351 votes with 98% counted.
Synopsis: So-called reporter Evan Symon writes that all eyes are on the San Joaquin Valley where Adam Gray and John Duarte are in another close race. His story notes that two years ago it took until Dec. 2 to call the race, and this year it’s even closer.
MAD Take: For the first few paragraphs, Symon played it straight. But soon he referenced a debunked GOP talking point about Adam’s finances. But not a word about the 650,000 defective pistachio trees John Duarte knowingly sold to farmers, a case in which guilt has been determined but damages are still pending. Nor did Symon mention the $1.2 million fine Duarte paid to the EPA. Or Duarte’s connections to those wishing to sell MID water to out-of-district farmers at less than a tenth of its market value. In writing that Duarte “managed to win” both debates, Symon ventured into fantasy land. Finally, Symon goes full-Trump, writing Duarte was ahead on Election Day, but “votes for Gray seemed to pour in” altering subsequent counts. No votes “poured in” after Election Day, they were always there sitting in bins waiting to be counted. This kind of writing is, simply put, dishonest.

GOP crazies aren’t helpful

SF Chronicle. CA Republicans aren’t thrilled by claims of fraud in close House races.
Synopsis: Shira Stein reports that the CA Republican party is irritated by baseless allegations from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elon Musk that somehow there is fraud taking place in CA’s vote counting – where most of the county registrars are Republican. They point to districts 13 and 45, where the races are too close to call. John Duarte said there was “no foundation for that whatsoever. The counts look honest to us.”

Mayor, TMS vendor are close

Modesto Bee. Turlock mayor votes for contract with big campaign donor promoting brain therapy.
Synopsis: Ken Carlson reports that Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak voted in favor of spending roughly $640,000 of ARPA money on transcranial magnetic stimulation for first responders. The treatment is administered by the Genesis Behavior Center, whose owners donated $14,000 to Bublak’s campaign. The story points out that Mayor Amy did “not appear to violate CA’s political reform laws that discourage campaign donors from expecting favors.” But retired professor Larry Giventer said it created “the appearance, at the very least, of conflict of interest.”
MAD Take: While the Bee didn’t get around to this story until two weeks after the Turlock Journal first reported it, Ken Carlson does his typical thorough, well-reported job. That included a note that Mayor Amy participated in a presentation to her fellow mayors in Kansas City last year.

Flood fallout, 2 years later

Cal Matters. Floods wrecked these farm towns;  2 years later, most CA aid hasn’t reached people.
Synopsis: Reporter Felicia Mello writes that 80% of the $20 million in aid promised to residents of Planada and Pajaro has yet to arrive. Government agencies and non-profits talk about the need to verify both the damages and the residence of the applicants before giving away public money. So far, only $4 million of the $20 million allocated for Planada has been spent, mostly in direct aid to families. It’s worse in Pajaro, where only $1.3 million has been given to people in need. Merced County has replaced most of the lost vehicles, but payments for home repairs are lagging.
MAD Note: Not mentioned is how the money will be apportioned. Of the $20 million, only $8 million was designated for direct relief in Merced.

Luxury liner sinking in Delta

LA Times. The ‘Love Boat’ faces a tragic ending in a lonely CA slough.
Synopsis: Reporter Jessica Garrison travels to Little Potato Slough north of Stockton where the MS Aurora is slowly sinking and leaking oil. She was created over 70 years ago as a 150-foot German cruise liner, later appearing in “From Russia with Love” and believed to be the inspiration for “The Love Boat” – though she never had capacity for more than 40 passengers. The decaying hulk is now said to be a threat to Stockton’s drinking water. Now, no one seems to know who owns the ship, how she got into this mess or who is responsible for cleaning it up. The city of Stockton has taken on the burden, reluctantly. Josh Harder has asked the Coast Guard to get involved. Story is long, but interesting.

Newsom jobs talk gets hijacked

Fresno Bee. Newsom defends air board’s decision to tighten fuel standards during Fresno visit.
Synopsis: The tradeoff between filling pocketbooks or ruining lungs continued to dog the governor in his visit to Fresno, during which he had hoped to highlight a $200 million jobs program. Instead, he was forced to defend the air board’s decision to force a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. That rule will lead oil companies to increase gas prices by at least 47 cents next year. The governor insists the oil companies take advantage of “market conditions” to gouge customers. He didn’t mention the “mystery surcharge” that amounts to roughly 50 cents per gallon of inexplicable oil-company profit, but that’s why he called a special session of the legislature this year.

GV Wire. Newsom gaslights on potential gas price hikes in Fresno visit.
Synopsis: David Taub asked the Governor about gas-price hikes, to which Newsom said, “You have been fleeced by the oil companies. You have been screwed for decades and decades by the oil companies” which manipulate the refinery market. Taub wrote that “Newsom doubled down, blaming the oil industry.” Eventually, Taub gets around to reporting on why Newsom came to Fresno, to applaud Ashley Swearingen and his $287 million regional economic plan. It’s all laid out in a 502-page book, which calls for creation of 138,000 new jobs over the next 20 years.

62 more herds hit with flu

Farms.com. Avian flu confirmed at 62 more CA dairy farms as virus strikes more poultry.
Synopsis: The USDA confirmed H5N1 cases on 62 more California dairy farms, bringing the state total to 398 herds and 612 nationwide. That means at least 25% of California’s estimated 1,300 dairy farms have been infected. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that four more poultry flocks have been destroyed. The largest was 1 million egg-laying hens in Kern County. There have also been outbreaks in birds in Illinois and South Dakota.

After R’s failure, what next?

Merced Focus. How will Merced County fund public safety after failure of Measure R? 
Synopsis: Sheriff Vern Warnke says he will not give up trying to find enough money to pay deputies a competitive salary. The measure got 55.7% of the vote, about 10% less than the two-thirds needed. Josh Pedrozo says he is already moving forward on a new plan to bring the measure back to the ballot. Meanwhile, Livingston’s public-safety measure passed with 70%.

Celebrating Merced women

Merced County Times. Women leaders share stories during third annual luncheon.
Synopsis: The League of Women Voters hosted 90 people at the Face of Female Leadership luncheon. Among those honored were DA Nicole Silveira, educator Jessica Moran and Community Foundation leader Stephanie Dietz.

Sadly, some last words …

Merced County Times. Michael Bik, El Capitan’s ‘Old Gaucho’ dies at 80.
Synopsis: He was an alumnus of the original El Cap, which lasted 3 years on the Merced High campus, closing in 1962. He became a driving force in the construction of a new El Capitan on the north side of town.  

Merced County Times. Betty L. Dawson – associate justice, superior court judge, loving wife.
The celebrated jurist passed due to complications of Parkinson’s Disease. She and husband Robert Haden moved to Merced in 1980 and worked with Bob’s father.  She and Bob were married 51 years.

Modesto Bee. Carmelita V. Kosko (Modesto), wife of former Modesto Bee photo staffer, Steve.