Valley Headlines

Budget bill’s harm to Valley

KVPR/Modesto Focus. Valley Medicaid recipients, providers face ‘worst-case scenario’ in budget bill.
Synopsis: Some 3.4 million California residents will eventually lose health insurance due to passage of the Big Beautiful Bill passed on party-lines two weeks ago. The eight-county Central Valley – from San Joaquin to Kern – will be especially hard hit with 51% of the population currently relying on Medicaid (aka, Medi-Cal) for health insurance. Story focused on several people who rely on Medicaid, including a 32-year-old Hughson resident with spina bifida who is dependent on in-home supportive services to survive. There are 8,000 healthcare workers in Stanislaus County alone facing loss of employment due to the cuts, which don’t fully kick in until after the 2026 election. Clinic operators Golden Valley Health Centers and Community Medical say they will have to curtail services, forcing many sick people into emergency rooms. About 40% of the Valley Mountain Regional Center’s budget for testing, diagnostics and case management comes from Medicaid and is also at risk. VMRC officials call the cuts “really heartbreaking” and “a blow to humanity.” Adam Gray, Josh Harder and Jim Costa voted against the bill while David Valadao, Vince Fong and Tom McClintock voted for it.

KMPH. Rep. Gray introduces bill to restore Medicaid funding.
Synopsis: On the 60^th anniversary of the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, Rep. Adam Gray introduced legislation to protect Medicaid funding and restore crucial funding cut from the programs by passage of the Big Beautiful (Budget) Bill. “The majority’s plan to kick Valley families off their healthcare will not stand.” Gray said some 420,000 people in his district – including nearly 200,000 children -- could lose their access to healthcare by 2026 if his bill is not passed. Gray called on Republicans who represent the Valley and vowed not to support a bill that would gut Medicaid to help reverse the cuts, saying this is their “chance to make this right.”

3 Valley med centers rated high

Turlock Journal. Three Valley hospitals earn rankings among best regional hospitals in US.
Synopsis: US News & World Report offers more than a dozen rankings every year, from colleges to medical centers. Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno and Saint Agnes in north Fresno were tied for 35^th on a list of the nation’s top 400 regional medical centers. Memorial in Modesto was No. 60. Each center was rated in 16 categories from cardio to urology. The Fresno hospitals were rated “high performing” in 13; Memorial in 9. A “high performing” designation means the hospital offered “significantly better than average” care with “better-than-average” patient outcomes. On the “Honor Roll” list of best hospitals were Stanford, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic and UC San Francisco, among others.

Call out the bomb squad

Ceres Courier. Homemade bomb removed from Ceres home, suspect arrested.
Synopsis: Probations officers found a homemade bomb while making a “compliance check” on a Janmichael Valdez, who is on probation for previous crimes. Ceres police evacuated the surrounding area until the Sheriff’s bomb squad could respond and remove the device via robot. Valdez was re-arrested and is being held on $350,000 bail.

Will trade deals help farmers?

Successful Farming. Trade pacts trickle in, but details scant on benefits for US ag exports. 
Synopsis: The administration is expected to announce “sweeping country-specific tariffs on most US imports” Friday despite ongoing negotiations with several nations. While agreements have been announced with five nations and the European Union, only one deal has actually been signed – with the UK. The rest are handshake deals with few details on the impact of ag exports or imports revealed. For instance, Trump said the EU deal contains zero-for-zero deals on ag products, but the EU president said the rate is “adjusted to tariff-rate quotas” without further explanation. This “details to follow” approach has dismayed the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which called Trump an “unreliable trade negotiator” who is bad for agriculture. Vincent Smith said Trump’s impact on wheat, corn, pork and other exports are “really quite distressing.” The head of the National Economic Council said, “what we are getting seems to be vague promises with large numbers attached that don’t have any mechanisms for follow-through.” He added the administration has yet to provide numbers for its Phase 1 deal with China or the deals with Vietnam, Japan or the Philippines. Meanwhile, import quotas in Japan have yet to budge.

Ag Net West. US and EU finalize major agricultural trade agreement.
Synopsis: The US and EU, two of the world’s largest agricultural trade partners, have reached a new trade agreement that reshapes the transatlantic flow of goods. The Trump administration says there will be a 15% tariff on EU goods coming to the US while US goods will have a 0% tariffs in the EU. The story, while positive in tone, points out the agreement “does not fully resolve ongoing disputes in sensitive sectors like meat and dairy.”
MAD Take: This story seems to be a contradiction of the better sourced and more comprehensive story produced by Agri-Pulse that appeared in Successful Farming. Considering the two sources, and the departure of Ag Net West’s Sabrina Halvorson this year, I’d bet on Successful Farming having the actual facts.

Invest in Him, too

Patterson Irrigator. Invest In Me expands program to local young men.
Synopsis: Several years ago, Erica Ayala created a non-profit to help inspire, motivate and celebrate young women at Patterson High while raising money for scholarships. Now, Ayala is inviting young men to participate in a companion program. To get help and promote the opportunity, Ayala invited volunteers and young men to the “Men’s Empowerment Luncheon” recently. They heard from former Mayor Luis Molina, business owner Harold Avila, fire captain Nicholas Jamieson and others. Now there are two programs – Invest In Me and Invest In Him. Ayala said it is “essential” to help young men succeed and the best way is to build competence and confidence while providing help.

162 homes OK’d in Patterson

Patterson Irrigator. New housing subdivision proposed for northeast side of Patterson.
Synopsis: The Planning Commission approved the Olive Avenue Tentative Map to let Skip Spearing build 162 homes on 36 acres northeast of town. There will be no park, which the city usually requires, but the development will have a “green corridor” instead. There will also be roundabouts instead of standard intersections.

Plane crashes; pilot OK

SF Chronicle. Navy pilot ejects moments before F-35 jet explodes in CA field.
Synopsis: A Navy pilot ejected from his $80 million F-35C just before it crashed and burned in a Fresno County cotton field near Lemoore. The CHP, Fresno SO and firefighters all responded. They found the pilot not far away, gathering his parachute. He was picked up by a Navy helicopter and taken to a hospital. The F35C Lightning is part of the Rough Raiders squadron. The cotton was dry and started to burn; it took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze.

Redrawing Valley districts?

Fresno Bee. SJ Valley may be battleground in redrawing congressional districts. 
Synopsis: Columnist Tad Weber says that three of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s targets for removal from Congress would be Valley Republicans David Valadao, Tom McClintock and Vince Fong. To do that, “they would need to … cut up Republican communities and distribute them into other districts,” in the words of a poli-sci professor. This had been political speculation until Wednesday when Texas unveiled its new district maps, drawn to remove 5 Democrats from the state’s 38-member congressional delegation even though 46% of Texas voters are registered Democrats.  

GV Wire. Costa has ‘concerns’ about Newsom’s plan to copy possible Texas gerrymander.
Synopsis: David Taub talks to Rep. Jim Costa, who says he does not support redrawing California’s congressional districts to ensure more Democrats are sent to Congress. He’d rather just win the seats. California is virtually unique in allowing a citizen’s board to draw state and congressional districts every 10 years. It would cost the state $200 million to override that law. Interestingly, California’s Republicans – who have said nothing about the Texas plan, are aghast that something similar might occur in CA. Basically, Costa said voters should choose their representatives – not the other way around.
Video -- https://youtu.be/DGM-pW9662E

Columnist rips Ceres mayor

Ceres Courier. Praise for Casey, Otero praise, not admonishment.
Synopsis: Columnist Jeff Benziger tees off on the Ceres Council, which considered a request to “admonish” councilmembers Cerina Otero and James Casey for “unauthorized use of the city name, seal, logo.” Benziger writes that this stems from Casey having “demonstrated real leadership – which the mayor lacks – when (he and Otero) spent their own money to print up a notice and paid for a front-page ad” in the Courier to spark community interest in budget discussions. That PO’d Mayor Javi Lopez, who demanded the council admonish the pair. The other two councilmembers said they weren’t consulted, a point the city manager refuted. Benziger blames the mayor and city manager, saying “there is a huge failure in communication, leadership – and an apparent lack of honesty.” Regardless, the effort failed and neither Casey or Otero were “admonished.” Benziger also wondered why Lopez hasn’t explained why he didn’t pay taxes on his fitness business in 2022. He writes: “The Republicans need to recruit a better candidate with qualifications and one who is transparent.”

‘New’ fire chief in Merced

Merced County Times. Wilson appointed as Merced’s new fire chief.
Synopsis: Casey Wilson will drop the word “interim” from his title to become the city’s fire chief. He’s been a Merced firefighter for 22 years and held every rank within the Merced FD. He made sure the department can provide 24/7 paramedic services recently and added two Type One engines during his first year.

Sewer rates rising in Keyes

Ceres Courier. Keyes facing whopping sewer rate increase of $37 a month. 
Synopsis: The current sewer fees in the unincorporated community are $64.23 a month, which hasn’t changed in 10 years. A proposal from the Keyes Community Services District would take that to $101.23. The city of Turlock treats Keyes’ wastewater, so that increase is essentially coming from Turlock.

All aboard new kiddie train

Merced County Times. New Kiddieland train arrives from Canada.
Synopsis: A beautiful mini locomotive made the dreams of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Merced come true, said Karen Adams. The locomotive is electric and will allow the club to expand the train’s footprint in Applegate Park as part of a $1.4 million renovation. A grand reopening will be in September.