Valley Solutions

Light combats ‘irrational evil’

Fox26. UC Merced menorah lighting honors Hanukkah and Australian shooting victims. 
Synopsis: Dozens gathered at UC Merced’s quad to sing, dance and light the menorah on Monday night. The Festival of Lights is meant to help drive away darkness. The celebration comes just two days after 15 people were murdered during a celebration in Australia. “This evil is irrational evil, and we have to have irrational love and light to combat that,” said Rabbi Moishe Golomb. Connor McCrory, who helped organize the event, said, “I’m very proud to be Jewish, but it’s very scary to even wear your star of David out in public and associate yourself anymore – and it’s really sad.” Said Rabbi Golomb, “To hide, scared, is not the way to win over the darkness.” 

Trump challenges Prop 50

Valley Sun. Trump, Tangipa v. Newsom: Inside Prop 50’s first day in court. 
Synopsis: California’s 13^th Congressional district was the hot topic in Donald Trump’s desperate effort to overturn results of Prop 50. In a lawsuit brought by Assemblymember David Tangipa, Trump’s lawyers claim the district was redrawn to over-represent Latino voters. Rep. Adam Gray knocked John Duarte out of the seat last year in the closest Congressional race in the US, and the GOP is hoping to reclaim the seat. The lawsuit seeks a restraining order by Dec. 19, the first day to file to run in 2026.
 MAD Note: Over-represent Latinos? Interesting gambit considering that Latinos make up the largest ethnic group in California with 40% of the overall population. They comprise more than 50% of the population in four of CA 13’s five counties and 60% of the population in three of them. The only county where Latinos make up less than 50% of the population is San Joaquin, the county in which voters were added to the district. Naturally, those data points were not mentioned in the Valley Sun, which is owned by a Republican political consultant.

Patterson unveils hospital plan

Modesto Bee. Patterson could have hospital once again, amid new apartments near downtown. 
Synopsis: Patterson has taken a big step toward building a new hospital. The first phase for Del Puerto Health Care District is to expand its existing clinic, ambulance and outpatient facilities at a 39-acre location west of downtown. Supervisor Channce Condit said the district is “doing a great thing” planning for such a facility, adding that it would not impact his dream of building a casino and hospital at the former Crows Landing Naval Air Station south of Patterson. Patterson’s original Del Puerto Hospital opened in 1950 with 17 beds. Like many small-town hospitals, it closed in 1998. The new hospital would have residential and retail components. The hope is to open by 2032.
MAD Note: The need for medical services on the Westside is both indisputable and dire. But so are the economic realities. With falling reimbursements, the failure to fund Medi-Cal and loss of subsidized insurance plans covering the majority of Westside residents, how would any hospital pay the bills? Small hospitals across the state – from Weed to Madera to Kaweah to LA – are in financial peril. Then there’s the problem of simply finding enough doctors, nurses, etc. to staff them.  

Dam comment period opens

Western Water. Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir draft review opens in CA. 
Synopsis: The US Bureau of Reclamation is seeking public comment on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir west of Patterson. It would store up to 82,000 acre-feet siphoned from the Delta Mendota canal while providing flood control and groundwater recharge. The Bureau’s Adam Nickels said the project offers a “significant step toward strengthening CA’s water infrastructure through collaboration with local partners.” The reservoir would inundate around 800 acres. The comment period closes Jan. 12.

Salmon doing great, but …

Sacramento Bee. CA leaders celebrate salmon ‘comeback’ but climate risks loom. 
Synopsis: Gov. Gavin Newsom recognized the “comeback” of salmon after the first coho in 30 years was spotted on the upper Russian River. Despite reports from across Northern California of salmon appearing in creeks and streams for the first time in decades and good numbers on rivers, activists continue to take a gloomier outlook. “We’ve been fortunate. We have had three wet years,” said a UC Davis researcher. He added “we are seeing 10,000-plus Chinook above Iron Gate dam” where a dam blocked their path for the past 80 years. But, “there were hundreds of thousands historically.”
MAD Note. Instead of detailing the spectacular salmon rebound, the reporter focuses almost entirely on handwringing and demands for ever more water for fish. There is no mention of overfishing as a primary cause of the decline in salmon. But there are two facts about the past 3 years: 1) We’ve had more water in the form of rain and snow; 2) There’s been a ban on commercial salmon fishing. Both have played a role in salmon’s resurgence.  

Surge in college enrollment

Cal Matters. More adults return to college in CA as inflation and job fears rise. 
Synopsis: As CA Community College official Chris Ferguson put it, “When the economy is doing well, our enrollments are down; when the economy is in a tough stretch or in a recession, we see our enrollments go up.” They’re up now. Many Californians are trying to improve their prospects via education. The reporter spoke to students in LA, the Bay Area and Sacramento. Merced College VP Dee Sigismond says enrollment has skyrocketed and the college is trying to make life easier for students with more online classes and schedules for students with jobs. MC is also experimenting with competency certifications that allow students to test out of some classes.

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus State sees enrollment bump from last year after post-pandemic slide. 
Synopsis: For the first time since 2020-21, Stan State is seeing increased enrollment -- up 1% to 9,398, or 103 more students than last year. The entire CSU system saw post-pandemic enrollments fall over the past three years. The top five majors are psychology, business, liberal studies and criminal justice.

Ceres makes reading fun

Modesto Bee. CUSD superintendent’s book club has kids outpacing last year’s records.
Synopsis: Ceres Unified superintendent Amy Peterman has created a book club for students, and the reaction is impressive. Students at Caswell Elementary have read 4,800 books so far. They share reviews, read to each other and even take books home.

TJ Cox going to prison

Fresno Bee. Ex Fresno-area Congressman TJ Cox sentenced to prison following fraud conviction.
Synopsis: After 3 years of hearings and a trial, TJ Cox has been sentenced to 13 months in prison on two counts of fraud. Prosecutors dropped 24 others. He must pay $3.5 million in restitution. Cox admitted diverting client payments to help secure a $1.5 million loan to fund improvements at Granite Park sports complex. The Fresno-area Democrat said he would continue serving the community and supporting his family.

Fresno LGBTQ center closing

Fresno Bee. Fresno LGBTQ+ resource center closes due to lack of funding.
Synopsis: Blaming a loss of federal funding, the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission announced Friday that it’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center will go out of business on Dec. 27. The center provided peer support, case management, trauma counseling and housing assistance for the community. Some services will be picked up by the Fresno EOC’s other 29 programs.

Mayor leery of Texas ‘nonprofit’

KCRA. Stockton mayor questions nonprofit’s claims of gang violence intervention. 
Synopsis: Mayor Christine Fugazi is extremely skeptical of the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation’s claim that it has brokered a 21-day ceasefire among gangs in the city. Fugazi says no one in the city has been able to verify the truce or that anyone actually met with gang members to create it. The nonprofit has communicated only via emailed press releases. Meanwhile, the city has received an $8 million grant to alleviate violence; the nonprofit is asking for “a piece of that pie” or suggesting the city should not accept it. Jennifer West, a spokesperson for the foundation, said via email that the mayor is making up stuff to protect her political future. West declined to appear on camera or be interviewed in person.

Trump plan will hurt CA

LA Times. Trump’s plan to pump more water in CA is ill-conceived and harmful, lawmakers say. 
Synopsis: Reporter Ian James writes that the new Central Valley Project operational plan – known as Action 5 – is drawing fierce criticism from California legislators. Among them is Rep. John Garamendi, who owns a farm in the Delta community of Walnut Grove. “Pumping even more water out of the Delta in the middle of worsening droughts isn’t just reckless, it threatens the livelihoods of the people who live and work here, undermines the region’s fragile ecosystem and jeopardizes the long-term health of our state’s water infrastructure.” Joining Garamendi in his criticism were several of those who represent the Delta – including Ami Bera, Josh Harder and Doris Matsui.

Op-Ed: A ‘needed ESA reset’

Western Farm Press. An ESA reset to protect species – and the rural West. 
Synopsis: Dan Keppen of the Family Farm Alliance writes in praise of the Trump administration’s “significant reset” to restore the “practical, legally grounded interpretations for listings, delistings, interagency consultation and critical habitat designations” that existed during Trump’s first term. He notes that a “small group of tax-exempt environmental organizations” have collected “massive taxpayer-funded attorney fees” for filing lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act. He points to the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians specifically, saying their scientifically dubious actions have resulted in “chronic uncertainty” for water deliveries and “severe economic consequences” for CA’s poorest communities. He wants to “break the cycle of regulation-by-litigation.”