Valley Solutions

Second lion still on the loose

Turlock Journal. Mountain lion tranquilized in Merced unlikely to be the same one spotted in Gustine.
Synopsis: The mountain lion that was tranquilized then removed from a tree on Cottonwood Creek is probably not the same lion that was spotted on doorbell cameras while roaming around a Gustine neighborhood. The two lions don’t match, said state biologist Chinnu Xiong. “I’m hoping the Gustine lion has left the area, but our staff and wardens are still keeping an eye out.”

Steyer’s rate-cut plan

GV Wire. Exclusive: Tom Steyer reveals 25% electricity rate-cut plan.
Synopsis: Billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer says he can cut CA electricity rates by 25%, bringing them back in line with rates paid by residents of other states. How? He showed GV Wire a 9-page outline in which private companies would provide more of the service now delivered by investor-owned monopolies. The first step is changing the CA Public Utilities Commission, which guarantees a return of 10% on PG&E and SoCal Con Ed bonds. He says making simple upgrades in technology would improve grid efficiency by 50%. By prioritizing wildfire safety, we can reduce overhead. As for data centers, they have to pay their own way -- or they can just stay away.

Costa’s got ideas, too

GV Wire. Want to cut soaring energy costs? Emulate China, says Rep. Jim Costa.
Synopsis: Publisher Darius Assemi talked to Rep. Jim Costa on Wednesday morning about the soaring costs of energy in America, the price of fuel, and how these costs are hurting America. To reduce such expenditures, we must stop relying on fossil fuel, says Costa as he points to China’s example. We started out ahead of the Chinese in building solar panels, but now we’re behind.

Reactions to ICE shooting

Sacramento Bee. State’s role in investigating Stanislaus ICE shooting isn’t clear, despite past rhetoric.
Synopsis: Dash-cam video shows the shooting of Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez early Tuesday. While video cannot capture intent, it does not appear Hernandez was “aiming” his car at anyone. When ICE agents gunned down two Minnesota residents, Gov. Newsom and CA attorney general Rob Bonta were among those decrying federal cover-ups. Sheriff Jeff Dirkse was highly complimentary of the FBI, which will be handling the investigation into the shooting.

Modesto Bee. Reaction to ICE shooting in Patterson: What Stanislaus leaders are saying.
Synopsis: Jose Rodriguez of El Concilio has called for a complete and transparent investigation into the shooting of a Patterson man by ICE agents Tuesday morning. He would prefer that such an investigation be done by local officials, not the same federal agents who attempted to whitewash previous acts of violence by ICE in Minneapolis, New York and Chicago. Supervisor Channce Condit said local officials have a responsibility to the community to “ensure that the facts are clearly established.” Michael Masuda, who is running against Tom McClintock in the adjacent fifth congressional district, wants the California Dept of Justice to investigate: “Our community is terrified, angry, hurt and we have lost trust in our federal government.”

Modesto Bee. Man shot by ICE in Patterson still in hospital, gets to speak to fiancée.
Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was allowed to speak to his fiancée, identified only as Cindy, sometime after 7 p.m. Wednesday via phone. His condition is listed as stable.

ICE prisons can be deadly

SF Chronicle. Inside ICE detention centers, medical misdiagnoses and delays prove deadly. 
Synopsis: At least 48 people have died while in ICE custody since Trump took over in 2025. After examining the records, a teaching doctor at Harvard Medical Schools said those running the facilities are guilty of “absolute medical malpractice.” The Chronicle sent the medical records of 32 deaths to experts and said at least 17 people died due to delayed care or failure to recognize a life-threatening problem. In another 15 cases, doctors found problems that “hastened death,” but they couldn’t reach a consensus on the cause of death. “People routinely died in custody without ever being seen by doctors, even as they begged for help while gasping for air.” The Chronicle reports the death rate per 10,000 detainees has increased from 2.9 in 2024 to 8.4 so far this year as commercial prison companies like CoreCivic and Geo Group operate the centers. There are likely more cases of deadly malfeasance. One person who was choked to death was originally reported by ICE to be a suicide. Others are just egregious.

Gallo Center CEO moves on

Modesto Bee. Modesto’s Gallo Center faces a loss come June. 
Synopsis: Chad Hilligus, CEO of The Gallo Center for the Arts, will step down in June to become the artistic director of the Performing Arts center at CSU Northridge. During his tenure, the Gallo Center has expanded arts education and community-access programs. Ginger Johnson said Hilligus is leaving “the organization in fantastic shape.” Al Poulus, the Center’s COO since 2007, will serve as interim CEO until the board names a replacement CEO.

Bothered by hip hop

Merced Sun Star. After-school program makes learning fun through hip-hop; why is it criticized? 
Synopsis: Merced City School District is working with Fresno-based School Yard Rap on a program that supplements regular classes with before- and after-school activities. SYR has programs in Richmond, where it originated, Stockton, Berkeley and Fresno. The program uses assemblies, concerts, a digital library, field trips, and a RAP (Realizing Artistic Potential) camp to inspire and motivate students. Some people, however, have criticized the program saying it excludes all but Black students – a charge the district and SYR emphatically deny. Language in the program’s original proposal, however, made it sound as if it was open only to African American students. 

Prices are ‘killing’ truckers

LA Times. ‘It’s killing everything’: CA’s truckers are buckling under country’s priciest diesel. 
Synopsis: CA diesel is averaging $7.75 a gallon, up 50% in a single month and 35% higher than the national average ($5.65). Small truck companies are being hit hard, and even surcharges cannot keep pace with rising prices. Among those quoted is Sukhdeep Singh, who owns Cali Brothers Truck Lines in Merced. “It’s killing everything,” he told the Times. Singh says he’s facing a double whammy as the state has delayed renewing the commercial licenses of many of his drivers. Companies outside CA are avoiding contracts that take them into the state. “Whether you’re a grocer, a meatpacking plant, a vegetable grower, that cost has to be factored in,” said the owner of an LA trucking company. One economic expert said as fuel prices rise, so will prices for all the goods found in stores or delivered to homes.

State OK with water plan

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus farmers avoid state groundwater intervention with board decision. 
Synopsis: Water districts in the Delta-Mendota Subbasin were relieved when the State Water Board decided no action was necessary to spur the Groundwater Sustainability Assn into greater action. There are 23 agencies – from cities to the Central CA Irrigation District – within the GSA, which has been under water board scrutiny since 2023. By showing “greater commitment to protecting drinking water users and improved groundwater management,” the state decided not to impose fees and sanctions that other basins are now under. The plan will reduce pumping by about 9,000-acre feet per year in western Stanislaus and Merced counties.

Ag leaders come to Valley

Turlock Journal. World Agritech Summit brings industry leaders to the Valley. 
Synopsis: World AgriTech Summit brought some 1,500 of the top growers, producers and ag innovators to San Francsico in March. A small group of them came to Merced for a two-day visit that featured an innovative dairy farm near Los Banos, programs at Merced College and UC Merced, and a bio-char maker in Delhi. “This is the powerhouse of the world in agriculture,” said Paolino Valdes, the CEO of a company based in Amsterdam but looking to expand to California. “This is the place you must be. … They just think bigger here.”

Capturing more flood water

Maven’s Notebook. Turning flood risk into water supply: Inside DWR’s San Joaquin Basin studies. 
Synopsis: Decades of groundwater overuse, increasing risk of flood and the accelerating impacts of climate change are threatening the region’s water supplies, communities, ecosystems and farming, says this report from the Dept of Water Resources. The state has commissioned several “interconnected” studies to develop strategies such as Integrated Forecast-Informed Resource Management (IFIRM) across several watersheds to maximize water capture when it is available. Key will be coordinated efforts by water agencies along the Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Merced and Calaveras rivers. The goal is greater water retention through Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge – or Flood-MAR. “When IFIRM is used and water is released more slowly from the reservoir, recharge jumps to about 410,000-acre feet per year, especially in the Tuolumne and Merced watersheds,” reads the report. Currently, recharge is at around 100,000 feet.

A dog’s best friend

KSEE / CBS47. Merced County deputies rescue puppy from canal.
Synopsis: A Merced Sheriff’s field-training officer and his deputy trainee jumped into action – and a canal – to save a puppy earlier this week. Training Officer Tajinder Dhami was out with trainee Valadez when they saw the puppy struggling to get out of the canal. They went into the water to save the pup. “Firefighters save cats from trees. We rescue soggy puppies from canals,” said the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. One commenter responded: “That’s your dog now.”