Valley Solutions

Naming streets for firefighters

Modesto Bee. New Modesto neighborhood honors 150 years of fire service.
Synopsis: The Crossing, a development of about 525 homes at Merle and Claus, will name its streets after some of Modesto’s most notable firefighters. Among them will be George Wallace Sr., the department’s first paid chief and longest-serving chief in the US. Also honored will be John George, Steve Whitehead, Greg and Gary Ewert, Jesse Nicasio, Cecil Ridge, Doug McCullough, Ken Bryant and “fire horses” Prince and Charlie. “These weren’t just names,” said Battalion Chief Jim Black. “They were captains. Chiefs. Mentors.”
MAD Note: What a great idea for building community. Even the idea of honoring a couple of old “fire horses” works. But judging from the picture, at least one of these two looks more like a mule. Nothing wrong with honoring mules, too.

Another plan to wreck a dam

Turlock Journal. SF doesn’t need Hetch Hetchy for today’s use and storage for tomorrow’s climate. 
Synopsis: Dennis Wyatt writes that “it’s time to free Hetch Hetchy.” He says Don Pedro, Cherry and Eleanor reservoirs provide ample storage for the Bay Area – enough to hold 5x the annual water needs of the cities that rely on the Tuolumne River for water. Those reservoirs can also meet “the needs of the Modesto Irrigation and Turlock Irrigation districts that they serve as well.”
MAD Note: This column is based entirely on Restore Hetch Hetchy’s latest justification for tearing down O’Shaughnessy Dam – “The Cherry Solution”. Like their previous solutions, the authors are guilty of, ahem, cherry-picking their facts. Wyatt and Restore Hetch Hetchy are correct in saying the average annual reliance on the Tuolumne River by 24 Bay Area cities has diminished. That’s fine if California ever has an “average” water year. It won’t. It’s either wet or dry. What happens as the climate continues to warm, as data centers require ever-more water-cooling, as more people move back to California? Can we meet their water needs with less storage? More important, how will OUR needs in the Valley be met? Don Pedro already struggles to store enough water to meet dry-year irrigation demand. Meanwhile, the same folks insisting Hetch Hetchy be restored also insist that 60% of the Tuolumne River should flow to the ocean. How’s that going to work? Will Restore Hetch Hetchy support building new off-stream reservoirs below Don Pedro? Where? The Sierra Club won’t even support a new off-stream reservoir in Del Puerto Canyon, so how would a new dam in the foothills go over? None of these questions have easy answers. Besides, easy answers are always wrong. As time goes on, Restore Hetch Hetchy’s solutions have improved. Just not enough.

Feeding AI’s hungry data centers

ABC30. Data Land USA: PG&E says it won’t let AI data centers raise Central Valley power bills. 
Synopsis: There are 275 data centers operating in CA, with 3 in Fresno. Many are inconspicuous, but all have big power and cooling needs. Some centers use as “much power as a large city.” Some centers draw that power from the grid; others install diesel generators to produce their own, spewing carbon pollution in the process. This new reality has created the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School, whose director, Ari Peskoe, says utility providers must commit to not imposing higher costs on communities.

Paying educators better

Fresnoland. ‘The wrong message’: Five Fresno Unified trustees dodge pay-raise questions. 
Synopsis: Fresno Unified School District is facing a $77 million deficit, yet trustees have voted to double their own pay. It’s a bad look as they signal unions that layoffs are coming. The board didn’t have the guts to actually approve a raise but OK’d new bylaws instead. Buried in there was a section titled “Renumeration.” It authorized the increases to match what state law allows. It appears trustee pay will go from $24,727 per year to $54,000.

Turlock Journal. Denair Unified employees to receive pay increase. 
Synopsis: The Denair Unified trustees approved a 4.3% pay raise for all employees and an additional $1,000 toward health insurance costs. Teachers, classified employees and administrative workers all got the same deal, retroactive to July 1. Superintendent Terry Metzger said conservative spending has allowed the district to improve salaries of all employees by 15% over the past five years.

Firefighter goes back to work

ABC30. Merced firefighter back on the job after losing lower leg in motorcycle crash. 
Synopsis: Firefighter Rhett Avant has returned to the firehouse after having lost part of his left leg in a motorcycle accident a year ago. “No matter what you go through … if you want it bad enough, you can get back to whatever it is that you want to do,” he said. The crash crushed his foot, but Avant asked that part of his leg be amputated with the foot because better prosthetics would enable him to return to work. Figuring out new routines has been tough, but he has been able to adjust through therapy at a special gym for amputees.

Sutter clinic opens in Los Banos

Merced Sun Star. New Sutter Health clinic opening in Los Banos. 
Synopsis: There will be a ribbon-cutting Friday at the new Sutter Los Banos Rural Health Clinic East, which offers primary and specialty care at 801 West L Street. It will have four exam rooms and one treatment room for 10 new clinicians. It can serve 1,000 patients a month, said CEO Kristie Marion, the chief nurse executive for Memorial Hospital Los Banos.

Fear of China getting silly

Ag Daily. FFA says it will cooperate with congressional inquiry. 
Synopsis: The national FFA said it will cooperate with Congress as a committee reviews contributions from one of the FFA’s corporate sponsors. The FFA also declared its commitment to remaining non-partisan and free of donor influence. Three lawmakers – all Republicans -- called out the FFA for its 40-year affiliation with Syngenta Group, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. They have criticized the FFA for “working with our nation’s foreign adversaries and prioritizing woke policies,” insisting the FFA should be working more closely with the Trump administration.  
MAD Take: Lots of organizations have ties to Chinese companies, and virtually every multinational Chinese company has ties to the Chinese government. Consider our own National Pork Producers Council and its largest corporate contributor -- Smithfield Farms. The company is wholly owned by the Chinese company WH Group – the largest supplier of pork to the Chinese military. Rep. Jason Smith, who is leading the probe into the FFA, has taken $60,000 from the Pork Producers Council over the years. Someone should hand Rep. Smith a mirror.  

Maven. Senator Choi introduces SB 1176 to prohibit adversarial foreign control of CA farmland.
Synopsis: State Sen. Steve Choi, who lives in Irvine, wants to prohibit “adversarial foreign actors” (i.e., China) from purchasing, acquiring, leasing or holding a controlling interest in CA agricultural land. He wants to have all nations that are “not market-economy based” identified as a threat and thus made ineligible to buy farmland.
MAD Take: OK. Who gets to decide which countries go on Sen. Choi’s list? And since the land can’t be moved, I’m having a hard time understanding how Chinese ownership of a farm is any different than Mexican ownership or British or Saudi ownership. The Trump organization has sold over 60 office towers and condos to Russians; how is that any different? The real problem is money laundering, not ownership of assets that can’t be moved.

Wine jobs are lost as …

SF Chronicle. CA wine giant Gallo closing facility, laying off workers at 4 other locations. 
Synopsis: E.&J. Gallo is closing its Napa Valley production facility and laying off workers at four other wineries and tasting rooms, trimming its workforce by 93. The Ranch Winery in St. Helena will close laying off 56. Other layoffs will occur at the Louis M. Martini Winery and Orin Swift tasting room in St. Helena, and at J Vineyards and Frei Ranch in Healdsburg. Layoffs were “driven by market dynamics, evolving consumer demand and available capacity,” said the company.
MAD Note: On Wednesday, Gallo announced it had acquired Four Roses Bourbon, a Kentucky distillery.

Milk jobs are gained

Modesto Bee. What’s churning at Crystal Creamery: New CEO/president and job openings.
Synopsis: Tom Hughes will take over as CEO at Crystal Creamery, the facility where butter, milk, sour cream and ice cream are all processed. He has been the company’s Chief Operating Officer for several years and succeeds Dennis Roberts, who retired after 17 years at Crystal. The company said it has 10 openings, ranging from entry-level to line supervisors and salespersons.

Four Valentine deliveries

Merced Golden Wire (Facebook). Love was in the air – and delivery room – on Valentine’s Day.
Synopsis: Four babies were born on Valentine’s Day at Mercy Medical Center. It made the maternity ward a “truly joyful” though thoroughly busy place on Saturday. “Hospital leaders shared their gratitude for the dedicated birthing teams” who made sure each birthday was happy and safe.

Celebrations: From beer to soup

Merced Sun Star. St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl and blues music highlight Merced entertainment in March. 
Synopsis: This is a list of fun stuff in March, starting with the “Frozen Junior” musical March 6-7 at Merced Theater followed by Montez de Durango on March 8, the Shamrock Stumble March 14 (designate a driver), and a Song for Cesar on March 17. There’s more.

Stockton Record. ‘Community celebration of love, friendship’: Sopas de Amor soup event returns. 
Synopsis: The annual Sopas de Amor event will be at the Mexican Heritage Center & Gallery on South Sutter Street on Feb. 28 from 5-9 pm. Various restaurants will provide soups for the event with proceeds going to the Center.

Patterson OKs 90-foot sign in I-5

Patterson Irrigator (Facebook). Digital sign along Interstate 5 approved. 
Synopsis: The Patterson Planning Commission approved a 90-foot-tall digital sign visible from Interstate 5 and the oldest parts of town near the Sperry Commercial Park. It will be topped with McDonald’s golden arches and have messages on both sides. Its height is necessary to “draw travelers off the highway,” said those requesting a variance. The commission said the sign will serve as a gateway to the city and often run community announcements.

Rights activist remembered

Modesto Bee. Celebration of life to be held Friday for former Modesto NAACP president.
Synopsis: Gladys Williams, who died on Thanksgiving Day, was a gold-lifetime member of the Modesto-Stanislaus Chapter of the NAACP. The Youth Membership Fund was created in her honor and will cover dues for any young person who joins. Williams joined the NAACP as a teen in Texas, then came to Fresno to attend Fresno State. As a teacher, she worked for Modesto City Schools for 35 years then spent 15 more as a substitute teacher. She became president of the local NAACP chapter in 1988, eventually serving 10 years. Her passion was looking at school policies to ensure students of color were not expelled or disciplined unfairly. She advocated “books instead of bars.” The service will be Friday at the Revival Church, 825 Seventh St. at 11 am.