Valley Headlines

Mountain lion visits Riverbank

Modesto Bee. Rare mountain lion sighting in home’s patio near Stanislaus River in Riverbank.
Synopsis: A Ring camera picked up a mountain lion as it wandered across Rene Lindgren’s patio in Riverbank on Jan. 8. A neighbor’s camera also got a glimpse. “It was a beautiful cat,” said Rene, “but also pretty scary.” The Mountain Lion Foundation says 4,500 lions roam the state and are rarely seen in populated areas. But they follow rivers out of the Sierra like “super highways” looking for fast food. The big cats have a range of 100-mile every day, so it could be anywhere.

Gray to Gray: Adam’s priorities

ABC10 (Sacramento). Adam Gray talks about his first few days in office.
Synopsis: Adam Gray, the new Congressman from CA 13, talked to Walt Gray -- no relation -- about getting acclimated, establishing teams in DC and the district, and continuing the work he knows the Valley is counting on him to do. That includes a medical school for the Valley, storing more water for drought and making Washington actually work.

Los Banos city manager exits

Westside Express. Controversial Los Banos city manager quits following council changes.
Synopsis: One of the most controversial, tumultuous and costly eras in the history of Los Banos came to an early Saturday evening when city manager Josh Pinheiro resigned. His decision came 72 hours after meeting with the two people appointed to fill the two council seats vacated via recall. Under a contract negotiated by the previous council two years ago, Pinheiro gets a year’s pay and up to a year of medical coverage. That’s on top of the $1.8 million the previous council gave him to drop his allegations of being unfairly fired after his first stint as city manager. During Pinheiro’s entire tenure, roughly half the city’s staff (including 5 department heads) quit or retired, the city’s budgets were created without community input, millions were spent through the consent agenda and the grand jury found irregularities in disbursal of federal small-business grants.
MAD Note: This story was written for the Westside Express by Valley Solutions editor Mike Dunbar.

Facing fire is essential

LA Times. ‘This is your Hurricane Katrina’: Assessing the long road ahead for LA.
Synopsis: FEMA official Craig Fugate called the Palisades Fire LA’s Katrina, an example of “utter destruction.” Among the myriad questions raised by the fire: Should reconstruction be permitted in areas vulnerable to wildfire? And where do we put 100,000 displaced people? And whose fault is it that the fire hydrants went dry?

Modesto Bee. Local firefighters from Stanislaus County sent south to battle Eaton Fire in LA.
Synopsis: The fire near Pasadena has consumed 14,200 acres and destroyed 972 structures, killing 5 since Tuesday. A Modesto crew is on the ground there and spent two days straight on the line. All of the Stanislaus County crews are based at the Rose Bowl. Jeff Serpa says sending help south is important for a lot of reasons, including gaining experience in fighting urban fires.

Whittier Daily News. Municipal water systems not designed to fight wildfires; maybe they should be.
Synopsis: The Pacific Palisades hydrants were dry; in Altadena, flows were a trickle. City water systems are never set up to confront catastrophic fires, but climate change has made the unthinkable predictable. Currently, cities overbuild normal water systems to provide 40% more water than daily demand so firefighters can confront emergencies. Engineers and leaders now are pondering more robust systems. But it’s not just water; you need power for the pumps. “Experts agree that any upgrades to the water systems … won’t come cheap or easy.”

Border Patrol raids end

Merced Sun Star / Modesto Bee. Border Patrol says Valley raids over, Fresno Congressman reports.
Synopsis: Rep. Jim Costa said the Border Patrol told him the raids are finished, and that they were confined to Kern County. But Costa was skeptical, saying his office was inundated with calls from across the Valley. Meanwhile, school officials worry that children of undocumented workers will not attend classes, citrus farmers are losing ripe fruit, youth soccer games were canceled, etc. One woman reported that Border Patrol vehicles surrounded her car, parking so close she couldn’t get out; they didn’t move until a Univision video crew showed up. Fresno County supervisor Luis Chavez is angry, saying the fear now gripping immigrant families is justified.

Sacramento / Fresno Bee. CA leaders inexcusably silent as Border Patrol sweeps Central Valley.
Synopsis: Columnist John Esparza Loera writes that last week’s raids are “a preview of enforcement tactics that could seriously damage” the entire Central Valley and all its residents. He notes that if the BP had simply targeted rapists and drug dealers, everyone would be fine with the raids. Instead, agents rounded up farm workers and detained people packing their lunch bags with burritos or buying coffee. Loera wants to know why Rob Bonta, Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden haven’t weighed in. He ends with: “Sorry to break it to you, but the costs of rebuilding those homes destroyed in the LA fires, buying fruits and vegetables that grace your dining table and expecting clean sheets when visiting a favorite resort will skyrocket … when that immigrant labor disappears.”

GV Wire. Fresno protestors flood streets, demand end to deportations.
Synopsis: Hundreds lined both sides of Blackstone and Nees on Sunday, waving flags, chanting and demanding an end to deportation raids. The protest formed as word spread via TikTok. One organizer says they will be back on Jan. 20. The turnout caused congestion and there was a report of a hit-and-run accident on Blackstone where a protestor was hurt.

More ‘bird flu’ restrictions

Ag Daily. CA issues new ban on dairy cattle, poultry shows due to H5N1.
Synopsis: State veterinarian Annette Jones has imposed a statewide ban on any displays of live cattle or poultry. It means cows and chickens cannot be shown at county fairs. So far, bird flu has hit 700 CA dairies and 60 poultry farms, resulting in the deaths of 15 million birds and spikes in the prices of chicken and eggs.

Fresno Bee. Raw milk dairy in Fresno County resumes bottling after quarantine.
Synopsis: After a six-week shutdown of the state’s top raw-milk bottler, Raw Farm owner Mark McAfee says he has resumed production at his 900-cow dairy near Hanford. The shut-down cost him $2.7 million he says. Retailers report customers have been driving up to 150 miles to find his milk, which sells for up to $18 a gallon. McAfee says Robert Kennedy Jr. has asked him to advise on raw policies.

ABC10. CA man says two of his cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu.
Synopsis: Joe Journelli of San Bernardino fed his three cats raw milk from Raw Farm, and two ended up dead. Bird flu was confirmed by the state as the cause of death for the indoor cats.

UC Merced lays off lecturers

Merced Focus. UC Merced will begin new semester with fewer lecturers.
Synopsis: Several lecturers have been laid off, but the university won’t say how many. The university did say a specialized writing program for incoming freshman has been discontinued; it had 9 teachers. A subsequent email explained that layoffs were based on declining enrollment. Some of those classes already had students enrolled, with one lecturer figuring 450 students will be impacted. Last January, the campus laid off 19 lecturers.

Kurt’s kid now a Bulldog

Valley Sun. Fresno State picks up son of NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner as QB.
Synopsis: EJ Warner, son of Kurt, is transferring to Fresno State from Rice after having transferred to Rice from Temple. At Rice, EJ played one season and passed for 17 touchdowns (and 13 interceptions). His dad is “so pumped.” Fresno State already has two proven QBs on the roster.

Rethinking Tulare Lake

SJV Water. Speaker series asks audiences to consider Tulare Lake’s past, present and future.
Synopsis: There will be 5 public talks about the ephemeral Tulare Lake, which re-emerged from the 2023 flood runoff. The first talk will be Jan. 16, a presentation from retired College of the Sequoias professor Rob Hansen. Robert Jeff of the Tachi Yokuts speaks Feb. 13, author Mark Arax on Feb. 27, Vivian Underhill from UC Santa Cruz on March 20, and River Partners CEO Julie Rentner on April 10. All talks will be at COS in Visalia.

Coming round on roundabout

Westside Connect. Gustine’s first round-about completed: A new chapter for the community.
Synopsis: Councilwoman Sherri Marsigli was the first person to circle Gustine’s very first round-about, located at the intersection of 4^th Street and 6^th Avenue. It’s large enough for a big rig to navigate and safer for cyclists and pedestrians. Former skeptic Emily Santos has become a big fan. John Perez didn’t like the idea, but “seeing how well it works now, I can’t imagine going back to the old intersection.”

You can’t ‘Call Kurtis’ now

Sacramento Bee. Kurtis Ming, face of ‘Call Kurtis’ segment, departs CBS 13 after 2 decades.
Synopsis: You can no longer “call Kurtis.” After 22 years as a champion of Sacramento consumers, Kurtis Ming has left the station. He did not provide a reason, saying only he will “take another road.” Anchor Tony Lopez seemed upset: “No one saw this coming. Sometimes change is unexpected.” Ming won 11 regional Emmy awards, starting in 1996 and was nominated for 40. His “Call Kurtis” segment relied on community volunteers to document issues, uncover corruption or misdeeds and develop solutions.