Valley Solutions

Congress grows a spine

Successful Farming. US House in bipartisan vote defies Trump, agrees to end his tariffs on Canada. 
Synopsis: Several House Republicans joined Democrats in an effort to end Trump’s trade attacks on our closest neighbors. The House voted 219-211 to revoke Trump’s emergency executive order and take back the constitutional role of Congress to set tariffs. Among Republicans rejecting Trump’s pleas were Don Bacon of Nebraska, Kevin Kiley of CA and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Maine’s Jared Golden – who is retiring in November -- was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans. The vote will be closer in the Senate, but could pass as Trump doubters Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell all have expressed concerns over the tariffs. The vote took place as Trump threatened to close a new bridge scheduled to open between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Mich. Today.
MAD Take: The tariffs have decimated sales of CA wines in Canada, costing the state roughly 22% of its export market even as wine consumption worldwide is falling. And that bridge that Trump suddenly hates? He loved it in 2017 but had a suspicious change of heart. The only other bridge between Windsor and Detroit is the privately owned Ambassador toll bridge, owned by the Moroun family. After a visit from contributor Matthew Moroun, Trump announced he hated the same bridge he loved 9 years ago. In making his announcement, Trump echoed debunked claims about the new bridge made by the Moroun family.

Bringing ‘wellness’ to Gustine

Westside Connect. Gustine wellness center among $16 million in projects secured by Rep. Gray. 
Synopsis: A proposed wellness center at Gustine High School was among 15 projects carried by Rep. Adam Gray and approved through the federal budget process last week. The project will provide a building and counseling for students and families. The other 14 projects ranged from flood-protection in Merced County to fire station renovation and new first-responder radios in Stanislaus County to a water treatment plant in Fresno County. Combined, the projects will bring $16 million to the five-county region.

New hat in ring

Merced County Times. Merced councilman Darin DuPont announces campaign for Senate District 14.
Synopsis: After 15 months on the Merced City Council, Darin DuPont has declared he is ready to fill the state senate seat being vacated by termed-out Sen. Anna Caballero. DuPont, a Republican, will face Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria and Sanger city councilmember Esmeralda Hurtado, both Democrats.

Yes, the ground is sinking

SF Chronicle. These maps show where CA sank the most over the past decade. 
Synopsis: The Tulare Basin is sinking fast, some 7 feet from 2015 through 2025. Subsidence speeds up during drought years but doesn’t stop even when it’s wet. Those living in Merced and Madera counties are seeing the difference, too. Vertical displacement in southern Merced is 3.7 feet – some 43 inches. In Firebaugh, it’s 18 inches, according to mapping from the European Space Agency Sentinel-1 Satellite. The subsidence is due entirely to ag pumping from the underlying aquifers.

Where should cities grow?

Modesto Bee. Modesto plans to grow, but where to place housing and industry are tougher decisions.
Synopsis: Ken Carlson looks at Modesto’s updated 2050 General Plan, noting city staff has assembled three alternatives, ranging from “competitive” to “minimal.” Councilmember Nick Bavaro wants more input before committing to any specific vision, but he points out that if Modesto doesn’t grow, Riverbank, Patterson and other nearby communities certainly will fill that vacuum. Chris Ricci says the city needs more businesses but figuring out where to put them is the problem. One area that many want to declare “off limits” is Wood Colony. “That whole area is such a lightning rod for controversy,” said Ricci. Carlson points out that voters put the brakes on development back in 2008 by limiting sewer-trunk extensions. The city will present its plans at the Salida Library on Feb. 18 at 6:30 pm.
MAD Note: A word of caution: Fresno.

Westside Connect. County denies proposed 130-foot cell tower near Newman after city objects.
Synopsis: County supervisors heeded the pleas of the Newman City Council and denied an application to build a 130-foot wireless communications tower on West Mariposa Street. The city said the tower would be in the path of future development.

Activists: We need more water

Maven’s Notebook: State water officials faced with once-in-a-generation chance to save CA salmon. 
Synopsis: Activist Alastair Bland, who once wrote as a journalist for Cal Matters, discards the pretense of objectivity to write about last month’s State Water Board hearings on the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. He begins and ends his story with alarmist quotes from a host of other activists pushing their preferred position – that most of the water that falls on California must be allowed to flow to the ocean unimpaired. Special attention was paid to the Voluntary Agreements, which Bland insists will result in only “small volumes of water allocated to the ecosystem.” Then, a few paragraphs deeper into the story, he notes that more than half of all water arriving in California each year stays in the rivers. He details other targets, including Sites Reservoir, the proposed Delta Tunnel, and any recent studies refuting environmental orthodoxy.
MAD Take: Nowhere in this exhaustively long story does Bland mention the enormous number of salmon returning to spawn throughout Northern California this year. Or the fact that salmon spawn on a 3- to 4-year cycle, meaning these enormous numbers are returning after being hatched during a variety of water years. That means this bounty of salmon is the result of one thing – the ban on commercial fishing in place for the past three years. There are no simple, singular solutions for increasing the number of salmon in California despite what activists insist. It will take floodplain restoration, habitat enhancements and, yes, more water. But the single most important factor remains this: If you want to save salmon, stop killing them.

Researcher: We’ve got water

Maven’s Notebook. Edward Ring: Gov. Newsom, turn up the Delta pumps!
Synopsis: The director of research at the California Policy Center points out that so far this year, 7.5-million-acre feet of fresh water has flowed down California’s rivers, through the Delta and into the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, 1.5-million-acre feet – about 16% of the total -- has been diverted for use by humans to grow food or flush toilets. That means 84% of all CA’s water is being used for the environment. Meanwhile, the pumps that send water south for storage are operating at about 30% of capacity. If they were allowed to double that pumping, it would mean a total of 2.5-million-acre feet could be stored – still leaving 6.5 MAF for fish. That’s why Adam Gray, Jim Costa, David Valadao and Vince Fong have written a letter to Gov. Newsom, urging him to suspend outdated water board rules based on obsolete studies of conditions that no longer exist and allow the pumps to double their volume. Not allowing the pumps to operate “is a perfect storm of malmanagement, engineered by bureaucrats who can’t agree on a new delta management plan.”

Collar for rare red fox

LA Times. For first time in Sierra, scientists snap a GPS collar on one of rarest mammals. 
Synopsis: Only 50 Sierra red foxes are thought to exist in the wild. Researchers have fitted one with a GPS collar that will allow them to learn more about the elusive creatures and where they live. The foxes were thought to be extinct until 2010, when one was seen on a trail camera in Yosemite National Park. They are beautiful creatures with a distinctive white-tipped tail, once prized by furriers. That led to their near extinction in the 1920s. The Sierra fox lives in high elevations even in winter and is extremely wary of humans. The fox tops out at around 10 pounds and is about the size of a large house cat. The newly collared fox lives in the Mammoth peak area west of Bishop.

Fear of yoga, meditation

Modesto Bee.  Modesto schools mental health policy sees more revisions; yoga still concerns some.
Synopsis: On a 4-1 vote, the Modesto City Schools board approved the district’s mental health policies, but with caveats. For instance, trustee Jolene Daly believes yoga and meditation are religious practices and shouldn’t be promoted as healthy coping strategies in district material. Superintendent Vanessa Buitrago agreed that terminology around yoga and meditation should be clarified as “non-spiritual.”

Clovis cops: Arrest parents

Fresno Bee. Clovis police pursue charges against parents who attended ICE student walkout. 
Synopsis: Clovis police announced Wednesday they will file misdemeanor charges against parents who attended the ICE Out protest in the city last week. More than 200 students marched out of Clovis High and Clovis East, joining several thousand from Fresno and other nearby districts. That angered the police chief, whose department said: “Adults who contribute to or promote truancy place minors at risk and interfere with their education.” The school board said it is trying to identify students who left campus without authorization and will “take appropriate action to enforce truancy.”
MAD Take: Don’t parents have the authority to remove kids from class if they want? For whatever reason they want?

The buzz on stolen hives

Merced Sun-Star. Beehives returning to Merced County after ‘sting’ operation results in arrest. 
Synopsis: Jim Silva writes about the “sting” operation that tracked down 170 beehives stolen from orchards in western Merced County. They were near Sacramento, where the Merced and Yolo Sheriff’s offices worked together to stake out the boxes. The suspected hive thief arrived soon enough and was arrested while wearing his protective suit. Hives are valued at around $500 each, meaning the theft was valued at around $85,000.

Valley Olympians

KSEE / CBS47. Clovis-born Olympian breaks gold medal during celebration.
Synopsis: Figure skater Alysa Liu, whose exuberant celebratory dance resulted in her medal breaking, is a native of Clovis. At 20, she is the youngest skater to ever land a triple axel in international competition and the youngest to win back-to-back US titles. She was apparently jumping for joy when the ribbon holding the medal broke and the medal fell to the floor, cracking. The UCLA student can be heard saying, “I just got this Olympic gold medal; already broke it.” Her father immigrated to the US from China and later became a lawyer.

ABC10. Ceres teen boxer Damon Flores sets sights on Olympics at 15.
Synopsis: Damon Flores, a 15-year-old who boxes out of a Ceres gym, has already won 18 national titles and now has his sights set on the Olympics. His father, Damien, is his coach. He is homeschooled through Endeavor Charter and is competing in Provo, Utah, this week.