Valley Solutions

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 and later served as Adam Gray’s press secretary when he was in the Assembly. Valley Solutions is brought to readers by Rep. Adam Gray.

More trouble for Heath Flora

CA Post. Disgraced CA lawmaker caught making NFL bets in emails with dive bar. 
Synopsis: Assemblymember Heath Flora is back in the news. The new CA tabloid writes that Flora -- already the subject of two state investigations –now appears to have participated “in a high-dollar NFL survivor pool run through a Sacramento dive bar.” That would be Club 2 Me in East Sacramento. While state law allows “friendly” betting schemes on the NFL, March Madness, etc., the pots cannot exceed $2,500. The pool in which Flora participated, apparently, had the potential to pay out $5,000. Flora has run without opposition in the past, but this year is opposed by political neophyte Matthew Adams. Meanwhile, other investigations are looking into where Flora lives and his acceptance of per diem expense money, which is supposed to go only to legislators who live outside Sacramento.

55 Days until election …

Adam Gray For Congress (Twitter). Labor Day with the Labor Council.
Synopsis: Adam Gray sent out this message over Twitter (X) on Tuesday: “Great time yesterday with the North Valley Labor Federation at their third annual Labor Day Picnic. Thank you to all our local labor unions across the Valley for working every day to strengthen our workplaces and make our communities stronger.”

Cal Matters. What CA’s insurance commissioner does – and how it affects your wallet.
Synopsis: Insurance commissioner “may seem like an obscure regulatory position,” writes Levi Sumagaysay, but it has impacts on your home, health, car and more. It’s the commissioner’s job to ensure that you can get insurance at a reasonable price. It’s also part of the job to make sure insurers actually pay the insured after catastrophe strikes. Most states appoint commissioners, but CA elects. Your choice this year is Ben Allen or Jane Kim. For those who have not made up their minds, Cal Matters offers a quiz to help. Try not to check the attribution before choosing your preferred answer.

Some special Valley events

Merced Sun Star. Boat races return to Lake Yosemite; what makes the event special. 
Synopsis: The Lao Boat Racing Festival will be from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday on Lake Yosemite in Merced. The celebration is sponsored by the Vatthanatham Lao Foundation and includes music, dances, food and, of course, boat races. Admission is $20 per vehicle or free if you walk in. The Foundation will also host a Floating Lantern Festival from 6 to 10 p.m.

GV Wire. Smithsonian selects Fresno for inaugural Great Valley Gathering. 
Synopsis: Fresno will host the inaugural Great Valley Gathering from Oct. 2-4 at Courthouse Park. It’s part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a nationwide celebration of cultures and groups. There will be music, dance, food, community conversations, storytelling and other activities involving groups stretching from the Sacramento Valley through the Tulare Basin. It’s tied to America’s 250^th celebration and is one of 40 nationwide. Festivalgoers will be asked to record their own “self-evident truths” in a special booth.

Is the Valley ready for floods?

Ag Daily. Strong El Niño could reshape winter weather for US ag.
Synopsis: Evidence is mounting that the West Coast will see a “very strong” El Niño this winer – perhaps the strongest ever. The weather system is based on warmer-than-usual water in the Pacific and its impacts are unpredictable. Many forecasters warn that large “atmospheric rivers” could develop, inundating the Sierra with snow then rain. That could lead to flooding similar to that of 2023.

PPIC. Supercharged sea levels this winter will forecast the future.
Synopsis: The PPIC looks at predicted king tides of 18 feet and how those will intersect with the predicted Super El Niño. “This combination of events could push sea levels to record-breaking heights.” While this is serious for low-lying coastal areas, it could also have impacts inland through the Delta. Says expert Mike Savarese, “Flood infrastructure is probably the place we are least prepared in California. We know that, but we don’t know how to pay for it.”
MAD Take: Or have time to fix it.

Ag Net West. Edward Ring warns CA must prepare for the next flood. 
Synopsis: Interviewers at Ag Net West talked with water expert Edward Ring of the CA Policy Center, who continues his crusade to have the Delta dredged. Ring noted that dredged rivers and canals can move far more water when flooding – as is expected in this year’s El Niño – occurs. “If we don’t dredge that Delta, the South Delta, we’re going to have flooding that’s going to make 1997 look like nothing,” said Ring. He also spoke of aquifer recharge on farms and desalination to provide water for cities.
MAD Take: Edward Ring is smart and most often correct, especially about the need for better water infrastructure. But he’s ignoring one important aspect of dredging: What about all the mercury sitting inert in the sediment? Considering mercury’s brain-damaging toxicity, do we ban fishing in the Delta? Do we build treatment plants? Dredging good, mercury bad.

Will cameras protect students?

Ed Source. Children couldn’t tell them what happened; now some parents want cameras in classrooms. 
Synopsis: Parents of special-needs children in Visalia and Bakersfield are petitioning to have cameras installed in classrooms over fears their children are being abused. In Visalia, a kindergarten teacher was cited for misdemeanor child abuse. “Putting a child’s safety in the hands of adults’ word of mouth has failed our children,” said parent Brittney Camacho. Said another, “There are cameras throughout the hallways, the playgrounds, the cafeteria, sometimes even in offices. Why not in the classroom?” Rights attorneys say laws prohibit classroom cameras and others say the parents of every student would have to consent to their children being filmed.

Modesto Bee. Turlock middle school employee to be tried on charges of child sex-abuse material.
Synopsis: Camden Ashton Wilson, 23, has been charged with five felony counts of having explicit videos and images of children on his phone. He worked as a para-educator at Dutcher Middle. He is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail. The district said Wilson worked with special-education students.

App will tell you, ‘Pull over!’

KCRA. Turlock fire engines adopt new technology to improve safety, response times. 
Synopsis: Two Turlock Fire vehicles will be equipped with HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud to improve roadway safety and cut emergency-response times. The devices send out alerts over navigation systems such as Waze and Apple Maps of approaching emergency responders. Failure to yield has been a growing problem said deputy chief Jeff Serpa, because people either don’t hear sirens or don’t know the law. This will alert drivers who are using nav systems to get out of the way. Since being installed in July, the Safety Cloud has sent out 3,400 notifications.

Turlock housing plan almost done

Modesto Bee. Turlock rezones 52 sites for housing as city awaits state approval of overdue plan.
Synopsis: Turlock has rezoned 70 acres for housing as it seeks state approval of its long-overdue Housing Element. The city’s plan is in the final-review stage by state authorities and identifies locations for 5,802 homes -- 1,305 for very-low-income residents and 2,498 above-moderate income units. Turlock had been among 16 cities identified by the attorney general for failing to update its housing elements and remains among the last five to be approved. The good news: The city has not been subjected to any “builder’s remedy” applications that would bypass local planning procedures. Mayor Amy Bublak called it “a major step forward.”

More scary data-center news

Wall Street Journal. States that gave data centers billions in tax breaks are now ripping up the deals. 
Synopsis: Back in 2016, Ohio lawmakers thought the AI boom would be great for business, so they offered incentives to make Ohio one of the leading locations for new centers. Just last year, developers reaped some $1.5 billion in tax benefits, more than 10x the original state estimate. Meanwhile, it has become clear that data centers are not big employers. Some lawmakers want to repeal the tax exemptions. “They seem to have more money than God and they’re able to build without the need for these types of incentives,” said one state rep. Officials in Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and Texas are having similar epiphanies. The developers are crying foul, but the story points out that when these incentives were established the centers were a fraction of the size they are now.

Modesto Bee. Modesto district considers how to safeguard ratepayers against data center impacts. 
Synopsis: Modesto Irrigation District says data centers would have to file for service under its “large-load” management system and pricing. Anything exceeding 5 megawatts is in that category, and 5 MgW would be a small data center. Also, before a data center could connect the developer would have to agree to fund all system improvements.

Wall Street Journal. Anthropic researcher quits over ‘out-of-control’ AI fears. 
Synopsis: Saying his lab is building machines capable of destroying humanity, Jacob Coxon has quit Anthropic. His colleagues are already using terms like “endgame” to describe AI’s trajectory. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has expressed similar fears and is urging companies to halt development beyond human capabilities. Meanwhile “machine agents” have collaborated to create “swarms” that invated other computer systems, even concealing themselves to avoid detection. Coxon says the next step will be machines that can refuse human commands. Researchers at OpenAI and other firms have made similar claims. Sam Altman of OpenAI said, “things are going to go very wrong” unless “people act quite urgently.” Coxon, Amodei and OpenAI’s chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, were among 1,000 scientists who signed a statement urging a global slowdown – which the Trump administration has rejected.

No protest for this data center

SF Gate. That one time no one protested a new data center.
Synopsis: On Aug. 26 the Fair Board in Perris heard a proposal to build a data center on the Southern CA Fair & Events Center grounds. No one offered any protest. Global Stack can now proceed with a plan to build a small-scale center on the fairgrounds – one of 70 it plans across the state. These aren’t the hyper-scale centers, but “localized versions” about a tenth of the size of a large center. Global Stack promises to enhance the “emergency response system” for local communities, making them “blackout proof.” Global Stack says they use closed-loop cooling and do not need to be connected to the local water supply. A UC Riverside professor said “closed-loop” does not mean “zero use.” Generation facilities somewhere have to be cooled. Most Californians already live near a data center since there are 300 in operation. Among communities moving to ban them are Patterson, Modesto, Calistoga, etc.

Valley jail ‘featured’ on Discovery

Stocktonia. ‘Lonely, depressing’: Reality TV takes gritty look at San Joaquin County jail. 
Synopsis: A Discovery Channel documentary series called “120 Hours Behind Bars” will feature “San Joaquin County, CA – a hotbed of gang activity and violent crime” on Episode 8. Inmates, guards and others will be interviewed at the sprawling jail complex in French Camp. Featured prominently is Sheriff Pat Withrow, describing “a lot of shootings and robberies and drugs.” An inmate said she finds the place “really lonely, depressing.” She is accused of killing someone last year.

Sinkhole tries to swallow Nic Cage

GV Wire. Sinkhole opens at Nicolas Cage’s Malibu Home, forcing evacuations.
Synopsis: The city of Malibu has ordered evacuation of 31 properties after a 30-foot deep sinkhole opened under the driveway of a beachfront home purchased by actor Nicolas Cage. The hole is 60 feet wide and a gas line that runs through it is leaking. Cage bought the four-level home in 2024 for $10.5 million on a street popular with celebrities. The city warned that post-tropical cyclone Marie might cause damage from high tides and rain, which is thought to have contributed to hole forming.
MAD Take: Or it could be the mouth of Hell opening for the star of “Ghost Rider” or “Sympathy for the Devil.”