Valley Solutions

Abstaining from her duty

Valley Citizen. MID director abstains from duty and campaign promises. 
Synopsis: Publisher Eric Caine writes about the promises made by Modesto Irrigation District director Janice Keating, who ran on being a budget hawk and willingness to demand answers to tough questions. But ever since her lawsuit against board chair Robert Frobose failed, Keating has been having “trouble staying focused on issues critical to MID’s financial security,” writes Caine. In two votes to continue the investigation into Larry Byrd’s use of district water on land outside district boundaries, she has been the deciding vote to derail the investigations. By letting Byrd off the hook, “Keating not only broke her campaign promises, she abandoned her duty to monitor and safeguard the district’s most precious resource.” Caine reminds readers that Keating is up for re-election in November.

Fed-up shopkeeper gets justice

Turlock Journal. Downtown business owner confronts shoplifter, becomes internet sensation.
Synopsis: Megan Burk, owner of Moon Child Crystal Shop in Turlock, didn’t mind the scruffy looking woman standing in her shop to get warm on a rainy day. But when Burk saw she the woman stealing, she went after her. Burk chased down the woman and pulled her back into the store to recover about $250 worth of stolen merchandise. The Merced native once worked as a correctional officer, so she wasn’t intimidated. Most of the episode was captured on in-store video and has now gone viral, turning Burk into a hero for many. Police arrived within minutes of being called and noted the suspected thief has prior convictions for similar offenses. “It might not seem like a lot, but $246 is huge,” said Burk. “Sometimes, that’s all we do in a single day. This is our livelihood. The economy sucks, so $246 is a big hit.” As for becoming an internet star, “It’s kind of funny.”

Politics: Dems can’t decide

Politico. CA Playbook: Democrats’ weekend of indecision.
Synopsis: Democrats spent three days talking about who should and shouldn’t be running for office in California. But the field for governor is no clearer today than it was last Thursday when the state convention began. Eric Swalwell got 24% of the convention votes while Betty Yee and Xavier Becerra were next with about 5% each. No one got the 60% of votes needed for an actual party endorsement. Katie Porter cemented her reputation as a woman with a whiteboard message and her reputation for profanity. In other races, Dems also couldn’t decide on which candidate to back against David Valadao in CA-22 – Dr. Jasmeet Bains or Prof. Randy Villegas.

LA Times. Some Democratic candidates for CA governor need to drop out. 
Synopsis: Columnist George Skelton states the obvious – there are too many people running for governor of California. And most of them are Democrats. He suggests a culling. Bottom line, if you’re not polling more than 5% of the vote, it’s time to exit the field. Skelton’s says he’s talking about you Xavier Becerra, Antonio Villaraigosa, Betty Yee, Tony Thurmond and Ian Calderon.

Politician right about dams

Ag Net West. Jamie Johansson: A farmer running to fix California.
Synopsis: Nick Papagni interviews former CA Farm Bureau Federation president Jaimie Johansson who is running to replaced termed-out Assemblymember James Gallgher in District 3. Gallagher’s top priority: Water. He supports building Sites and wants to make certain that the Eel River dams are not removed. That leads to his second priority – recognizing hydropower as renewable energy. Virtually every other state in the nation recognizes hydro-generation as renewable. But not CA.
MAD Note: Johansson wouldn’t be the first member of the Assembly to point out the stupidity of refusing to recognize falling water as renewable energy. Adam Gray was doing that back in 2018 when Kevin De Leon came up with the harebrained idea to force more solar generation by public utilities. His plan worked, but the cost to Valley residents was significant and it is growing. The state required an ever-increasing amount of renewable energy to be purchased by every public utility. Then, to incentivize solar generation, the state declared that hydropower was no longer renewable – at least until 2040, when it would suddenly become renewable once again. Now, we’re generating more solar power than we can use on many days and yet power from falling water is still not considered renewable. Who makes that energy? Our irrigation districts. Worse, this rule discourages investments in modern turbines which can nearly double the output of clean energy from water.

Farm bill’s hidden agenda

SF Chronicle. Republicans want to use the Farm Bill to kill a CA law they hate. 
Synopsis: Reporter Alexi Koseff writes about the National Pork Producers Council’s efforts to gut Prop 12 through the Farm Bill. The council, controlled by midwestern and southern pork companies, failed to get the Supreme Court to strike down Prop 12 -- which allows voters to set standards on the food sold in California stores. That angered farmers who want to house pigs in tiny cages too small to allow any movement. Meanwhile, 27% of pig farmers across the nation have invested in larger spaces for pigs – investments that would be lost if Prop 12 is overturned via the Farm Bill. Those farmers don’t support so-called “Big Pig.” Even some Republicans are balking at telling voters that their votes no longer count.
MAD Note: There are three Democrats on the House Ag Committee, including Valley Reps. Adam Gray and Jim Costa. Gray has been a vocal critic of the efforts to derail Prop 12, pointing out ties between the NPPC and China, where hogs are confined to tiny cages and raised in multi-story factories. When African Swine Flu hit in 2019, the spread was near-instantaneous due to pigs being kept in such close proximity to each other and 50% of the nation’s hog population was lost.

Breaking up with PG&E

CBS13. San Francisco lawmaker to propose plan to let cities break away from PG&E. 
Synopsis: Two months after a massive outage left part of San Francisco in the dark, some lawmakers are blaming PG&E and want to make sure it never happens again. Sen. Scott Wiener, who is running to replace Nancy Pelosi, said he will announce a plan today to allow cities to declare their independence from the monopoly utility giant. Among those consulting with Weiner is Prof. Severin Borenstein, the state’s pre-eminent energy economist. He says prices in SF could fall because customers in the city are subsidizing more rural areas of PG&E’s territory – like small cities around Modesto, Merced, Manteca and elsewhere. Losing its customer base in San Francisco would mean those living in other areas would be stuck with vastly higher prices.
MAD Note: South San Joaquin Irrigation District, which generates power at the Tri-Dam Project with OID, has been trying to break away from PG&E for more than 20 years.

Why Grasslands is so important

PPIC. A network of wetlands thrives in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. 
Synopsis: The PPIC’s Sarah Bardeen speaks with Ric Ortega, general manager of Los Banos-based Grasslands Water District. Grasslands is the largest remnant of wetlands that once covered much of the San Joaquin Valley. The district covers 240,000 acres or 375 square miles and offers a vast habitat to all sorts of wildlife. The wetlands were restored in the 1990s after President George HW Bush signed the Central Valley Project Improvement Act – seen as an enormous victory for the environment. Ortega talks about the partnerships with San Luis Delta-Mendota Water Authority and others to bring water to the refuge. He also discusses the importance of wetlands to groundwater and even international treaties.

Gregori girls live up to hype

Modesto Bee. Historic shootout: Gregori beats Davis in penalties for first SJS championship. 
Synopsis: The Gregori girls soccer team lived up to their top ranking by winning their first Sac-Joaquin Section title. In the finals, they faced Davis Senior High – of Davis, not Modesto. After the game and overtime resolved nothing, the Jags won by making 6 of 7 penalty kicks in the 6-5 win. On the Davis kick that would have tied the score, keeper Jocelyn Malagon lunged left to block the kick. The ball went right, but Malagon extended a foot and made the save. Said her coach: “We know what we have in Jocelyn. … Whoever’s listening and hears this and needs a goalkeeper at the next level, she’s fantastic.” The Jags finished with 19 wins in a row and a 23-0-1 record, scoring 93 goals while giving up just 4.

Mayor: Take off those masks

Fresno Bee. Why Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer doesn’t think ICE agents should wear masks. 
Synopsis: Fresno’s police chief for 18 years, Mayor Jerry Dyer is adamantly opposed to law-enforcement wearing masks to hide their identity. His comments were part of a 40-minute conversation with The Bee and echoed his speech to the US Conference of Mayors in Washington last week. In this Q&A, he says ICE uses tactics discarded by law enforcement 30 years ago because they’re ineffective or counterproductive.

Fresno suing feds over funding

GV Wire. Fresno sues Kristi Noe, Pam Bondi for restrictions on firefighter, police grants. 
Synopsis: The city of Fresno joined 10 CA and Oregon cities and counties in a lawsuit against the Dept of Homeland Security for denying first-responder grants based on the city’s hiring rules and immigration policies. Instead of fulfilling the goals of the grants, the Trump administration uses the money to force his agenda. Other cities joining the lawsuit include Los Angeles, San Diego and Stockton. At stake is roughly $13 million to hire firefighters and police officers. The cities and counties say following the administration’s rules would have violated the law.

Flights to Guadalajara halted

Fresno Bee. Fresno travelers impacted as cartel-linked violence in Mexico disrupts flights.
Synopsis: Popular flights from Fresno to Guadalajara were canceled Sunday night when violent narco-gang began blocking access to the city from the airport. The blockades were a reaction to the killing of Nemesio Ruben Cervantes, aka El Mencho. Volaris cited “significant safety risks” to travelers.

Can ‘Napa Boys’ make wine cool?

SF Chronicle. CA wine could use another ‘Sideways’; is this gross-out comedy it?
Synopsis: Reporter Jess Lander writes about the movie “The Napa Boys,” which is not a sequel to “Sideways” but is pretending that it might be. In 2004, the two main characters in “Sideways” loved pinot noir and one, famously, “hated f—ing merlot.” The movie created “The Sideways Effect,” killing sales of merlot and driving up production of pinot by 170%. “The Napa Boys” is more of a parody of “Sideways,” it might even put some people off drinking wine entirely. Instead of Giamatti, think Stiffler in “American Pie.” Lander concludes this story with an entertaining idea of her own.