Valley Solutions

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Mike Dunbar
December 31, 2025

Valley Solutions offers a daily look at the top headlines appearing on media websites affecting the San Joaquin Valley. It is compiled by Mike Dunbar, who worked in Stockton, Modesto, Merced and Los Banos media for 40 years. Valley Solutions is brought to readers by Adam Gray.

Reach Mike Dunbar at [email protected].

What a year …

If you couldn’t find something to love and hate about 2025, you weren’t trying. We at Valley Solutions thought it might be fun to offer our Top 10 events of the past 12 months.

No. 1: Adam Gray’s first year

After winning the closest Congressional race in America in late 2024, Washington’s freshest congressman arrived in DC with more determination than agenda. He wasn’t there to make points among Democrats, he was there to “work,” which is what he promised his constituents. The work paid off. One of Gray’s proudest accomplishments was seeing the elements of his STRIVE Act put into law without even having to get the bill passed. Restoring $272 million in medical overcharges to veterans was so common-sense that the VA just adopted Gray’s solutions. Then there was the $93 million Gray secured for the Sack Dam/Arroyo Canal project, $255 million to make Sisk Dam safer, the $1 million he got to help Chowchilla deliver water to those in need, the $366K for Gustine schools to improve mental health programs for students and $7.4 million to improve airports projects in Chowchilla, Madera, Atwater and Gustine. His first year wasn’t all bouquets. Gray took a lot of heat from Democrats when he voted to end the government shutdown, meaning the thousands of children in his district who relied on SNAP funding for food would go to the grocery store instead of the food bank. His move was justified in December when four moderate Republicans joined Gray and other Democrats in forcing a House vote on Affordable Care Act subsidies next month – to Speaker Mike Johnson’s dismay.

No. 2: Salmon are everywhere

After years of insisting that farmers were killing salmon by depriving them of water, we’re getting a clearer picture of the real problem. It’s always been overfishing that has been the biggest problem, not sharing our rivers. How do we know? Because after three years of banning commercial salmon fishing, we are seeing tens of thousands of salmon coming back to Northern California’s rivers to spawn and create more salmon. They’re in creeks and even ditches on the coast, on the Mokelumne, on the Tuolumne, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento and even on the newly freed Klamath where four dams came down last summer. Yes, we’ve had some good water years, and that helps. So does all the river restoration work that has been done by water districts and conservation groups like River Partners on the Tuolumne, Feather and Merced rivers. But the largest single difference for salmon was the decision not to kill them. It proved the point: If you want more wild salmon, stop killing them.

The crowd at Graceada Park in Modesto, an estimated 5,000.

No. 3: Thousands say ‘No Kings’

Thousands of people came to the Valley’s cities to be heard in their shouts of “No Kings!” The first day, June 14, drew an astounding 5,000 to Modesto’s Graceada Park, according to organizers (Modesto police offered a lower number). There were another 4,500 in two Fresno rallies, 1,200 Merced, 700 in Turlock and smaller groups in Escalon, Manteca, Newman, Patterson. In October, even more came out – 7,000 in Fresno, 1,200 in Modesto, 1,400 in Turlock to continue the protest. It was part of a nationwide movement that saw at least 5 million people take to the streets in June and 7 million in October. Protesters were distinctly American, expressing their outrage over King Donald through outrageously funny signs. Modesto police arrested some pre-rally protesters for wearing masks, those charges were eventually dropped. Later, the city (wisely) kept its no-masks ordinance in place.

Grapes were left on the vine again this year.

No. 4: The wine crash

Thousands of acres of Valley vineyards disappeared, and many more thousands of acres weren’t even harvested this year. The reason is that there is plenty of wine already sitting in warehouses; part of it is that consumers are drinking less alcohol. But a larger problem are the outrageous tariffs America imposed on its top trading partners – Canada and Mexico. Those governments responded with tariffs on California’s wine exports. But the tariffs weren’t necessary – Canadian consumers are choosing French and Italian wines, not Californian. Winemakers who have visited Canada have found profound anger. Canadians see Trump’s moves as a betrayal, and they’re in no mood to forgive. As Adam Gray put it, “Valley farmers are taking the bullets in Donald Trump’s trade war.”

No. 5: Prop 50 reshapes CA

When Donald Trump got Texas to reshape its congressional districts to gain five more seats, California voters decided to respond in kind. And it wasn’t even close with 65% of Californians voting to redraw the lines. The Central Valley was ground zero for the change. CA-13 lost a portion of Fresno County but gained a larger share of San Joaquin, now stretching into Stockton. Rep. Adam Gray took no position on the redistricting.

No. 6: An amazing statistic

Modesto City Councilmember Chris Ricci often asks a simple question: How many people do you think have been murdered in Modesto this year? He loves the answer: Zero. That is utterly amazing. The number has been falling since 2015, when there were 25 homicides in the city. But zero? Wow. Credit can be shared with so many -- starting with police chief Brandon Gillespie’s pro-active outreach and extending to all those people and organizations who have been willing to listen such as churches, schools, mental health, emergency responders, etc. Homicide is most often a crime of anger. It can’t be that those living in a city of 220,000 are less angry than others, but it could be that more recognize there are other options. And while the city has gangs, perhaps those gang members know their community frowns on violence. Apparently, we also frown on hate crimes. DA Jeff Laugero reported that hate crimes were at a 10-year-low in 2025 in Stanislaus County, despite rising across the state. This has occurred while other communities – from Stockton to Keyes to Hughson to Fresno – have seen awful violence, often associated with gangs.

MacKenzie Scott, left, making another significant gift.

No. 7: A significant gift

It’s entirely understandable that billionaires are so disliked. They rig the system to create ever larger piles of money, with the help of the billionaire-in-chief. But there’s one billionaire we can’t dislike: MacKenzie Scott. She has given away $26 billion since divorcing Jeff Bezos, creator of Amazon. This year, Scott gave $38 million to UC Merced. She didn’t ask that a building be named in her honor or that someone gets special treatment. She didn’t even ask for a receipt. Across the nation, she gave money to 200 institutions and organizations this year, totaling $7.2 billion. She is especially generous to universities that are dedicated to helping those who have been marginalized. BTW, it was her second gift to UC Merced, following $20 million she gave several years ago. Obviously, she believes in the work being done at the university.

Part of the high-speed rail infrastructure … not coming to Merced.

No. 8: High-speed rail’s betrayal

High-speed rail, which once promised to help transform Merced into a destination for tech workers moving back and forth from the UC to Silicon Valley, has decided Merced can wait. It’s part of a cost-cutting effort, as the project has to cut corners to stay alive. Instead of coming into downtown, the train will swing west a few miles south of Merced. A project first approved by voters in 2008 as a way cut the cost of getting from LA to the Bay Area, it was supposed to be finished by 2018 and cost only $10 billion. The longer this takes and the more it costs, the less sense it makes.

No. 9: City council reclaimed

With a special election in May, the reclamation of the Los Banos City Council was completed. Instead of a four-member council majority rubber-stamping the outrageous actions of a petty city manager, Los Banos is back on track completing projects, forging ahead. Thanks to Mayor Michael Amabile and Mayor Pro Tem Deborah Lewis, the city seems to have a new direction and new joy.

No. 10: Journalism survives, thrives

Journalism is not dead. Yes, the big media companies lost their way and many of the Valley’s newsrooms have been hollowed out. But we’re seeing something downright inspiring arise in their place. The Modesto and Merced Focus – with Garth Stapley, Victor Patton, Marijke Rowland and Joe Kieta at the forefront – are providing some of the most important stories in the Valley. Stapley picked up where he left off as an investigative journalist, terrifying some who don’t want their actions noticed. There are others, like Eric Caine at Valley Citizen who has been stalwart in exposing problems at MID, Scott Linesburgh’s direction at Stocktonia, Bill McEwen at GV Wire and the staff at Fresnoland – all doing compelling work. The Westside Express has been stellar in covering Los Banos and Dos Palos, while 209 Multimedia’s Sabra Stafford, Kristina Hacker, Dennis Wyatt and Jeff Benziger still provide real news about the communities of Manteca, Turlock, Oakdale, Ceres and Newman. If not for the Journal’s Joe Cortez and David Taub at GV Wire, we’d have precious little political coverage of our Valley. They are doing incredibly important work and deserve our support. Sadly, Rich Estrada – who kept us very well informed about high school football through his Black Hat Football – passed last week.