Valley Headlines

Tunnel off budget fast track

Maven’s Notebook. Delta leaders applaud exclusion of tunnel from budget. 
Synopsis: Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers have reached a “grand bargain” on the 2025-26 budget. It appears the Governor will drop plans to “fast-track” the tunnel past environmental review in exchange revamping environmental review laws. Happy with this approach are Jerry McNerney and Lori Wilson, who say the tunnel is “unaffordable and unnecessary.” Californians for Water Security disagreed, saying its 120 members will “continue working to secure” funding for the tunnel. The State Water Contractors’ Jennifer Pierre says the tunnel “is still active and currently moving through the legislative process,” and remains “absolutely necessary to support the state’s housing, clean-energy and climate-resiliency goals.”

Chief draws line on cussing

Modesto Bee. Modesto chief accepts most oversight recommendations; rejects three.
Synopsis: Modesto Police Chief Brandon Gillespie was OK with most of the 15 suggestions he got from OIR Group, which evaluates departments across the state. But he balked at: 1) Having officers immediately debriefed after being involved in a shooting; the International Assn of Chiefs of Police recommends 72 hours before such interviews. 2) Cutting back traffic stops initiated by police, which Gillespie says lead to a lot of drugs and weapons being taken off the streets. 3) Stop cussing. The chief says such language is unprofessional in all situations and undermines the “professional culture that we’ve worked hard to establish.” Most of the 12 accepted recommendations were procedural and dealt with such things as body-cam compliance and communications.

What happened to flood water?

PPIC. How much water is available for groundwater recharge in Central Valley?
Synopsis: Using DWR data, the PPIC Water Policy Center provides a detailed breakdown of the enormous volume of water that hit CA in 2023. It resulted in 17% more recharge than we got in 2017 (another very wet year). But we could have stored another 3.4 MAF if the state had been better prepared. Basically, we had nowhere to put more water. Meanwhile, many of the state’s 98 groundwater basins are far from reaching SGMA sustainability goals. Problems include lack of capture capacity and inability to move water from where it is to where it can be stored. “CA’s efforts to bolster recharge have been hampered by infrastructure constraints, cumbersome permitting processes and a complex set of regulations governing when additional surface water can be diverted and stored.”
MAD Take: The PPIC’s report is fascinating for wonks. But if you’re not a fan of the tunnel, or you don’t like the concept of storing water behind dams, don’t read this report. One interesting tidbit: In 2023, 7.7 MAF flowed from the San Joaquin River into the Delta, or about 3.4 MAF more than “normal.” Of that, only 0.6 MAF (600,000-acre feet) “could have been diverted if upstream diverters and exporters had worked together to get that water into the ground.”

A ‘grand bargain’ for water?

CA Policy Center / Maven. The grand water bargain.
Synopsis: Edward Ring takes aim at “abundance” theory, as laid out by writer Ezra Klein. He considers it a sideshow on the road to water rationing. But Ring likes what he’s hearing from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is “saying some of the things we need to hear as a first step toward change.” Newsom and Ring prefer an “all-of-the-above” approach to finding, storing and using water. Also, “urban and rural water interests must unite behind a common policy and project agenda.” This will require emphasizing desalination, a restructuring of rules governing Delta diversions, dredging of channels, forest thinning, expanded storage and “additional harvest” of Sierra runoff. What’s in it for environmentalists? They could restore Hetch Hetchy, refill Mono Lake, save the Salton Sea and restore Delta wetlands.
MAD Take: Ring is always interesting, sometimes profound and occasionally irritating. But seldom has he ventured so far into fantasyland for a column.

Talking to Josh Allen’s dad

Ag Net West. Joel Allen on Westside farming, family legacy and football fame.
Synopsis: Interviewer Nick Pagani talks to the father of Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, who farms 3,000 acres in Firebaugh. Joel Allen grows cantaloupes, pistachios, corn and wheat. Farming is his occupation, watching his son play is his passion; he and Lavonne rarely miss a game. Joel’s advice: “Bloom where you’re planted. We chose to stay in Firebaugh to honor the legacy of my father and the community.”

From the emergency logs

ABC30. 2 people injured after soon-to-be opened business catches fire in Merced.
Synopsis: The fire broke out at R and Loughborough in a strip of buildings that included a laundromat, 7-Eleven and other businesses. It grew to two alarms and is under investigation. Two people inside the business when the fire started were injured and taken to the hospital.

Modesto Bee. 200 tons of hay burn near Oakdale; crews keep flames from spreading.
Synopsis: Firefighters from Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties converged on a huge burning haystack on Eleanor Avenue between Oakdale and Riverbank on Wednesday morning. The hay burned, but the fire didn’t spread. Firefighters from Modesto, Denair, Hughson, Farmington and Ripon all responded.

Modesto Bee. Merced County teen arrested for fatal stabbing during fight at house party.
Synopsis: A 16-year-old girl was arrested in the fatal stabbing of 20-year-old Emily Lopez during a house party in Keyes last week. Phone video of the fight helped led to the arrest.

Drug store, eatery, corn maze closing

KSEE / CBS47. Chowchilla’s only pharmacy is set to close; city looking for solutions.
Synopsis: Like all the other Rite Aids, Chowchilla’s is closing. But the city has no other pharmacy. The city says it “understands the challenges this change may present for residents who depend on convenient access to pharmacy services” and is “in communication with private sector partners to explore new opportunities for bringing similar services to our community.”

Patterson Irrigator. What about the Fantozzi Farms corn maze?
Synopsis: With the approval of a 1.2 million square foot warehouse project on Sperry Avenue, the corn maze that has been on the site for the past 22 years will be displaced. That has angered many residents, who have enjoyed the Fantozzi family’s annual Halloween event every year. The Fantozzis did not own the land, only leased it. They are hopeful they can find another location, but there are no guarantees.

Merced Sun Star. Long-time Japanese restaurant in Merced closing: ‘Been coming here forever.’
Synopsis: Nagame will close July 31 said co-owner Mary Mochihashi. She and her husband will retire, having been in business since 1984 working “12 hours a day, 7 days a week for many, many years.”

Pellet plan scaled back

Courthouse News. CA nonprofit revises plan for controversial wood-pellet project. 
Synopsis: Golden State Natural Resources – a nonprofit dedicated to forest resiliency, creating jobs in rural communities and reducing wildfires -- will dial back its plans to turn combustible logging scrap into pellet-stove fuel. It still plans to build processing plants in Tuolumne and Lassen counties but will reduce the scope. Originally, GSNR wanted to produce pellets for stoves worldwide; now it will make them only for US markets. Pellets would be made from “ladder fuels” that contributed understory fire that destroys forests. Environmental groups said removing the understory scrap will damage the forests.

Loss of levee projects decried

The Pajoran. CA Congressional delegation protests Army Corps of Engineers cuts.
Synopsis: A dozen CA representatives have written a letter to the House Appropriations Committee decrying cuts of $1.56 billion in construction funding for levees and flood prevention in CA. That means the Corps’ flood-prevention budget in CA is 53% less than last year. Derailed projects include the San Joaquin Basin Project, which is being built to protect the homes of 300,000 people living in Stockton. “We face flood threats every year because of aging infrastructure, and we worked across the aisle to finally get the flood protection we need,” said Rep. Josh Harder. Another project is on Tenmile Slough near Brookside. Other projects to be discontinued are on the American, Sacramento and Pajaro rivers.

‘Flame of Hope’ lights up Merced

Merced Sun Star. Merced County law enforcement supports Special Olympics with torch run. 
Synopsis: Carrying the “Flame of Hope” through city streets, more than 100 first responders participated in the opening event of Special Olympics in Northern California. In Merced, athlete Mark Heffner helped carry the torch. The Special Olympics are this weekend in Santa Clara. The local fundraisers help defray costs for those who participate.

Atwater’s grand marshal

Merced County Times. Beloved Atwater educator named Grand Marshal of July 4^th Parade.
Synopsis: Bill Pickle will ride the vintage fire engine as Grand Marshal of the Atwater Fourth of July Parade. He coached and taught for 43 years at Mitchell Elementary. He also farmed and has been married to Sue for 67 years. The Pickles have three grown kids, all educators.

Why appoint retreads to LAFCO?

Ceres Courier. LAFCO needs a true public member appointed.
Synopsis: Jeannie Ferrari, Matt Beekman and Garrad Marsh write to explain what LAFCo does and why the “public member” is so important to the process. In Stanislaus County, 12 people applied for the position but it was given to Bill O’Brien, a former supervisor who sat on the LAFCo board as an elected official. Choosing a former member to fill that role “completely ignores the purpose of seating a public member,” write the three.