Valley Headlines

Times are tough on the farm

Fresno Bee. As land, almond prices fall, more SJ Valley farmers face bankruptcy. 
Synopsis: Reporter Robert Rodriguez explains the recent uptick in ag bankruptcies nationwide by adding local faces to the story. There have been 17 ag bankruptcies in CA this year, but farmer/adviser Jim Maxwell says, “I spend a significant portion of my workday talking to banks and farmers to try and help them get through these challenging times. And it’s not over yet.” With prices around $2 a pound, almond farmers are struggling as loan rates jump from 4% two years ago to 9% now. Said one attorney, “For every (bankruptcy) case you file, you end up talking to at least 6 or 7 other farmers who are struggling.” Among those to fall last year were the Assemi family’s operations, Oakdale-based Trinitas Management and now John Vidovich, a Bay Area businessman who owns massive acreage in the South Valley. Meanwhile, West Side almond orchards are going for $12,000 an acre. One observer noted we should bear in mind the 80/20 rule -- 80% of farmers are not heavily leveraged, but 20% are. Those are the ones we’re hearing about.

Rescue team working hard

Modesto Bee. One saved by chance encounter during Stanislaus water rescues. 
Synopsis: While on the way back from rescuing a kayaker near Knights Ferry, rescue teams saw someone floating in the Stanislaus River. They intercepted the person, quickly getting them to shore. Two hours later, the same team was called to Horseshoe Recreation Area where they rescued 8 people from the river.

Gray to grads: Keep trying

Merced Focus. Rep. Gray to Merced College grads: ‘The change the Valley needs starts here.’ 
Synopsis: Rep. Adam Gray spoke the young men and women sitting where he had been sitting 27 years earlier – the Merced College commencement. He reminded them of the challenges they have faced and the challenges faced by our Valley. Never, said Gray, can you let momentary failure deter you from striving to solve those problems. The college conferred 3,445 degrees and certificates.

Gray votes against more debt

Turlock Journal. Local lawmakers weigh in on tax-reform bill. 
Synopsis: Reporter Joe Cortez spoke to representatives Adam Gray and Tom McClintock, who were on opposite sides of Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful (budget) Bill. McClintock thinks the tax cuts will be like “rocket fuel” for the economy. Gray thinks gutting Medicaid and other safety-net programs will leave millions of Americans sick and desperate. Gray says Valley residents want lower costs, a better deal for farmers, more reliable water supplies and better education and healthcare. “This bill would do none of that. It cuts vital assistance to American families in favor of handouts for special interests and the ultrawealthy. I voted no.” So did every other Democrat and two Republicans. Policy analysts show 0.6% of Americans will get more in total tax cuts than the 50% of Americans. It also shows the bill will increase the national debt 10% to $40 trillion. Meanwhile, healthcare for poor residents will be cut by $800 billion and money to feed poor kids will be cut $276 billion.

‘Betrayed’ by budget vote

KVPR. ‘I feel betrayed’: Dozens protest after Rep. Valadao votes to cut Medicaid. 
Synopsis: Dozens of people protested in front of David Valadao’s Bakersfield offices Friday after he voted for the Big Beautiful (budget) Bill which cuts Medicaid by $800 billion over 5 years. Some 500,000 people in Valadao’s district depend on Medicaid – the highest of any congressional district in America. He has refused requests to explain his vote, insisting “this bill honors my commitment to protect Medicaid for our most vulnerable populations.” The Congressional Budget Office, the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at Fresno State and 214 Democrats in Congress disagreed. Said one Valadao voter from Pixley: “I feel very betrayed.” Said a small-business owner: “He knows the population; he knows we’re rural; he knows how much we need these services.”

Politico. CA Playbook: Nancy Pelosi’s midterms mission.
Synopsis: The former speaker is singling out David Valadao in reminding people that just 1 more Republican could have saved Medicaid funding for millions. Don’t blame her, she says the Hanford Republican did it himself: “These people have made themselves really vulnerable.” Pelosi has a “volunteer army” she will send to Valley districts closer to the election.

One swindler jailed, one pardoned

Turlock Journal. Hughson woman pleads no contest to theft, money laundering. 
Synopsis: Hughson resident Lana Casey, 63, pleaded no-contest to a series of felony charges involving the theft of $1.4 million from non-profits in Turlock, Oakdale and beyond. Her largest victim was Oak Valley District Hospital. She will serve 124 months in state prison. Deputy DA Travis Colby said this was the “largest criminal indictment of white-collar crime in Stanislaus County.”

GV Wire. Trump pardons tax cheat after mother attends $1 million dinner.
Synopsis: Nursing home executive Paul Walczak, who was found guilty of swindling millions from the government and employees just last year, was pardoned three weeks after his mother attended a $1-million-a-ticket dinner at Mar-a-Lago. The courts had ordered Walczak to pay $4.4 million in restitution, but the pardon said he could keep it, and his $2 million yacht.

Sounds boring, but it’s not

Turlock Journal. TID agrees to join EDAM to provide ‘most affordable power’ to customers. 
Synopsis: Turlock Irrigation District will join the Extended Day-Ahead Market operated by the CA Independent System Operator to help balance electricity flows on a real-time basis. Basically, it makes power generated in four western states available to any public utility that needs it. Other states are expected to join soon, creating a $9 billion electricity market.
MAD Take: TID’s rates are roughly a fifth of rival PG&E. Since EDAM is available to both, why are PG&E’s rate so much higher? We could ask the Public Utilities Commission, but it won’t answer.

That’s a lot of water

SF Chronicle. CA’s second-largest reservoir fills for third straight year.
Synopsis: Lake Oroville is effectively full at 3.4 MAF. Shasta, Don Pedro and Trinity are at 95%; McClure is at 92% and New Melones is at 80%. San Luis brings up the rear at 70%. DWR and the state’s “water managers” urge continued vigilance because you just never know when drought will start.

Making our streets safer

Modesto Bee. Modesto now has HAWKs watching out for pedestrian safety in crosswalks.
Synopsis: High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk beacons – aka, HAWKs – have been installed at the corners of 16^th Street at both H and I to protect those trying to get into the Modesto Certified Farmers Market. The goal is to make the city safer, a tall order considering Modesto has always had more than its share of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
MAD Take: Interesting note about HAWK devices: The first one in the Valley was installed in Hilmar after then-Assemblymember Adam Gray got the state to help pay for it to help protect school kids.

Valley’s big shows, fun stuff

Turlock Journal. Ash Ruder ready for homecoming concert at Stanislaus County Fair.
Synopsis: The Turlock native who was runner-up on American Idol in 2021 is coming home on July 12. Her current hit is “The Valley.” “It’s crazy to think that it’s been a year since I was in Turlock, so this will be my first time back since releasing the music,” she said. The Fair is July 11-20.

Modesto Bee. Big Turlock celebration is moving this year.
Synopsis: The Carnegie Arts Center Block Party is moving from the streets around the gallery to Central Park. That will create a huge party area on June 14 between the Certified Farmers Market on East Main and the Makers Market on West Main. … The Patterson Apricot Festival will be May 30-June 1. … Hilmar Dairy & Farm Festival June 7. … The Modesto Juneteenth on June 14 while Riverbank and Lathrop will conduct theirs on June 19.

Merced Focus. Merced Poet Laureate inauguration celebration set for Sunday.
Synopsis: Joyce Dale will be installed as Merced’s first poet laureate May 31 at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main. The ceremony includes a red-carpet stroll, performances by harpist Laura Porter, the St. Matthew Baptist Choir and poetry readings by Fresno poet laureate Aideed Medina, Modesto PL Angela Drew, Stanislaus County PL Faith Delgado and the Grand Slam Loudmouth champion Lady K.

Turlock Journal. Dust Bowl to host breadmaking tour.
Synopsis: Caitlin Jewell will conduct the Spent Grain Breadmaking Class June 3. The two-hour class is hands-on and includes drinking beer. A former brewery owner in Boston, Jewell has taken her breadmaking classes to 50 breweries nationwide, teaching 4,000 people. There is a fee.

Deportation would kill toddler

LA Times. 4-year-old Bakersfield girl facing deportation could die within days of losing medical care. 
Synopsis: Her parents brought her to the US legally to save her life. When they brought her to the border, agents saw her distress and “whisked” her to the children’s hospital in San Diego. Now, the Trump administration has revoked the humanitarian entry permission granted 2 years ago. “This is a textbook example of medical need,” writes a pro bono attorney. “This child will die and there’s no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice.” She received 6 surgeries in Mexico, but the more advanced treatment required was available only in the US. She spends 14 hours a day hooked to an intravenous system contained in a backpack she wears. Other such patients are not allowed to travel far from the hospitals where they are treated, which is why the family now lives in California.

Is that an airport or a highway?

Modesto Bee. Plane lands on Hwy 132 bypass in Modesto.
Synopsis: The right lane of Highway 132 was closed Friday afternoon when a 1970 Cessna piloted by a 75-year-old Sacramento man landed. An unknown mechanical failure forced him to pick the “safest spot” he could find. The biggest hassle was figuring out how to get the plane out of the way of traffic.