Valley Solutions

Iran attacks Valley water systems

SJV Water. Iranian hacker group alleges it breached Bakersfield, Visalia, Chico water systems. 
Synopsis: An Iranian group called Handala said Thursday that it gained access to several control systems for water systems in three California cities – Bakersfield, Visalia and Chico. It released screen shots of specific bills to prove it could access the personal data for customers in those cities. The hacker group said it could have disrupted operations in the US, but chose not to. It said it was going public with the screenshots as a warning to the US not to attack Iranian water systems, which Trump has repeatedly threatened to do. Attacking civilian water infrastructure would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions by either the US or Iran.  

Mollusks are attacking, too

SF Chronicle. CA’s waterways could get clogged by a problem that didn’t exist two years ago.
Synopsis: Two years after their first discovery in the Stockton Deepwater Channel, invasive golden mussels have taken a foothold in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and waterways across the state. They have been found from Kern to Yuba counties and both the Bay Area and Southern California. The small bivalve mollusks have blanketed boat bottoms, thoroughly clogged pipelines, ruined pumps and encrusted everything that extends into the water. They accumulate in colonies that grow several feet thick and are extremely hard to remove. To get rid of a colony often requires shutting down entire water systems. “We’re only seeing the beginning of what the impacts are,” said one official.

CA Water Blog. The scourge of the Delta: Dredge it up!
Synopsis: Overbite clams, a mussel that arrived in the 1980s, has spread through major waterways of the San Francisco Bay estuary and now is threatening other species. It feeds on phytoplankton, the same miniscule copepod that several native species of fish rely on. The presence of overbite clams reduce the populations of Delta and long fin smelt and even striped bass in the Suisun Bay areas. The only good news is that infestations seem to have limits. But UC Davis researchers have found the overbite clam does not survive in smaller channels.

Fire site’s history of violations

CBS13. Tracy medical facility received a safety complaint 3 days before destructive fire. 
Synopsis: CA OSHA is investigating a complaint filed just a few days before the fire that roared through the Medline Medical Supply warehouse in Tracy. The facility has faced seven OSHA complaints since 2022, costing the company thousands in penalties. The complaints have included unsafe vehicle travel, hazardous aisles inside the warehouse, and lack of protection for employees from foot injuries. All of the employees at the facility were evacuated safely before fire destroyed it. 

KCRA. Excavation and fire crews remain at scene of Tracy Medline warehouse fire on Monday.
Synopsis: Demolition and excavation work has begun at the Medline medical products warehouse site. The million-square-foot facility burned last week but fire crews remained on site Monday hosing down hot spots. There were 120 firefighters and 30 apparatus that responded to the fire.

We don’t need a lieutenant gov

McClatchy Media. Why CA should abolish the lieutenant governor and other useless offices. 
Synopsis: Political observer Matt Rexroad says we need to stop creating taxpayer-funded “resting spots for termed-out politicians.” At the top of the chopping block should be insurance commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, the entire board of equalization and the most glaringly redundant position of them all -- lieutenant governor.” It’s of so little value that it actually serves as an obstacle to ambition – just ask Eleni Kounalakis. In 2009, John Garamendi chose to be one of 435 members of Congress rather than remain in the job.

Keeping kids off social media

Cal Matters. Why CA must keep children 16 and under off addictive social media platforms. 
Synopsis: Samuel Chapman, CEO of the Parent Collective, writes about the dangers of the internet – drugs, scams, predators, etc. Parents cannot supervise systems that are engineered to limit supervision or even observation. Optimized for engagement because user-time is monetized, kids spend hours each day looking down. Studies show that more than an hour a day leads to depression, anxiety, loneliness and lower self-esteem. We cannot trust the people who designed this evil to fix. AB 1709 not only draws a line, it gives us the ability to punish violators.

Wall Street Journal. UK to ban under-16s from major social-media platforms.
Synopsis: The UK will restrict access to social-media sites for anyone under 16, joining a growing list of nations taking aim at YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. Australia instituted a ban on live-streaming starting last December and millions of accounts have been deactivated. “This is the line in the sand,” said PM Keir Starmer. “Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.” In the US, only Florida has instituted age limits on social media use, setting the bottom at 14. Other states have enacted some safeguards, including CA, Virginia, Utah and Nebraska.

Promise, failure of AI tractors

LA Times. This startup was supposed to revolutionize CA’s wine industry: ‘It totally failed.’ 
Synopsis: Monarch Tractors were designed to remove humans from the drudgery of driving. With backing from Caterpillar, it promised to save $500 million in labor costs. But it didn’t work. Winemakers in Idaho said the tractor was never able to drive itself and broke down frequently. Now all of its employees have been laid off. “Monarch’s failure to disrupt has become another cautionary tale about massive bets on the latest tech,” says the story. Not only did it fail, said Moonvine Wines owner Patrick O’Connor, “It was actually quite dangerous.”

McClatchy Media. If driverless cars are safe in cities, why are they banned on farms?
Synopsis: CA Farm Bureau president Shannon Douglass writes about rules created in 1977 that require a human to be at the controls of large farm equipment. “While our tools have evolved, the regulatory framework governing agriculture has not,” she writes. Douglass points to the John Deere autonomous tractor that uses AI, cameras and GPS to do low-speed tillage; it has been functioning in other states since 2023.
MAD Take: A couple of weeks ago we read about the burglar in San Francisco who used a Waymo driverless taxi to make his escape. Last year we read about the Waymo taxi that delivered a pregnant woman to the hospital in the nick of time. If bad guys and babies can navigate the driverless world, it seems farmers should be able to take a stab.

Can sewage ditch be rehabbed?

SJV Water. Troubled, forgotten slough in the heart of Stockton getting some positive attention. 
Synopsis: Publisher Lois Henry looks at Mormon Slough, which is bisects much of Stockton south of the deepwater channel east of Hwy 99. It served as a natural overflow for the river but was disconnected in the early 1900s to prevent silt buildup in the channel. But that diversion ended up causing flooding on the east side of the river. Later, the city began dumping sewage into Mormon Slough, counting on the Calaveras River to wash it out. The resulting smell forced the city to build its first treatment plant in 1916. Since then, the slough has been mostly ignored, except by the homeless who camp there. Now a combination of groups, including River Partners, Restore the Delta and the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency, have roughly $1.2 million to turn the slough into something else. The groups are trying to build consensus on what that should be.

CA is the dog-bite leader

Merced Sun-Star. CA tops US for dog attacks on postal carriers in 2025.
Synopsis: There were 673 dog attacks on postal carriers in CA last year, by far the highest number in the nation. Texas came in a distant second with 358 carriers being bitten by dogs. In all, postal workers suffered 5,200 dog bites last year, which was actually down from over 6,000 in 2024. The most dangerous CA cities for dog bites were Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, Long Beach, Sacramento and San Francisco.

More rescues on the river

KCRA. Five rescued from Stanislaus River near Caswell Memorial State Park.
Synopsis: Two adults, two teens and a child were stranded on the Stanislaus River on Saturday and had to be rescued by emergency crews. None of the five were wearing life jackets.
Youtube:

Fox40. Ripon responders rescue two separate groups along Stanislaus River on Saturday. 
Synopsis: Ripon Consolidated Fire District rescue teams were called out twice over the course of a few hours to rescue families on the Stanislaus River. Both groups had entered the river at Caswell State Park. Most of the people at the park had not heard that a rescue had been necessary just the day before. One swimmer recounted how the river swept her downstream from where she entered; she ended up grabbing low-hanging branches, which worked to push her head under water. The No. 1 key to staying safe is to wear a life jacket in the water.

Raisin heir in trouble again

GV Wire. Fresno raisin heir Bruce Lion arrested for allegedly threatening rabbi. 
Synopsis: Lions Raisin magnate Bruce Alfred Lion “is in trouble with the law again,” writes editor Bill McEwen. Lion was arrested in Pacific Palisades on Saturday for allegedly threatening a rabbi, who moved in next door. KTLA posted video showing him shouting antisemitic slurs at the rabbi while interrupting a religious gathering. Lion was released on $50,000 bond. The rabbi bought a home next to the Lions home earlier this year. In 2019 Lion was sentenced to probation for making criminal threats and illegal possession of a gun. In 2023 he was arrested in Monterey County for throwing rocks at cars.

Bookstore make big debut

Turlock Journal. Book lovers rejoice at opening of Turlock Barnes & Noble.
Synopsis: The grand opening of the Barnes & Noble store at Monte Vista Crossings was a huge deal, with some 400 people coming out to celebrate, meet authors and buy books. The line to get into the store was 100 yards long at one point. It took an hour to reach the register for part of the day. “We expected a huge turnout today,” said staffer Jeremiah Ward, “but this exceeds our expectations.” Mayor Amy Bublak was on hand with a proclamation, as were representatives of Rep. Adam Gray, state Senator Marie Alavardo-Gil, Assemblymember Juan Alanis and the Turlock Chamber.

Robot does delicate surgery

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus siblings are patients in Sutter Health’s first robotic kidney transplant.
Synopsis: Juan Chavez and his sister Alyson were the first two people involved in a robotic-assisted kidney transplant last week. The surgery was performed in San Francisco at Sutter’s CA Pacific Medical Center. The robotic surgery is considered less invasive, requiring less recovery time. Alyson, 28, lives in Turlock and donated a kidney to Juan, 43 and living in Patterson. They have always been close and talk every day. Dr. Eric Miller steered the da Vinci 5 robot through the surgery.