Valley Solutions

No murders in Modesto!

CBS13. There hasn’t been a single homicide in Modesto so far this year. 
Synopsis: Homicide numbers across the nation have been falling, but this statistic is remarkable. The city of Modesto has not seen a single murder in 2025. This is the same city in which 25 killings took place in 2015, making it one of the most violent cities in California. By 2017, that had fallen to 20 then 16 in 2020. Last year, Modesto had only 7 homicides. Community engagement and technology are credited with the stunning reversal. Officers are quick to partner with community and church groups and schools. “It’s not just enforcement,” said Lt. Kalani Souza. “It’s education. It’s caring. It’s compassion.” Overall, crime is at a 20-year low throughout the city.

Keeping orchards pest-free

Western Farm Press. Grower strives to shield nut orchards from distress. 
Synopsis: Farmer Matthew Efird is doing everything he can to keep rats, bugs, squirrels and every other pest out of his orchards. That includes a regimented spray schedule, vigilant setting and checking traps and timing insecticides to get the second hatch. His efforts are necessary because several orchards in his area have stopped irrigating and will not harvest trees, attracting bugs and rodents. “With the cash flow issues due to depressed almond price, a lot of growers are having to make budgetary decisions,” said Efird. The first thing they forego is fungicide spraying, then insecticides, then everything else.
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Last chance to see Nuts

Modesto Bee. Nuts announce promotion-packed week ahead of last home series.
Synopsis: The Nuts are leaving Modesto for the Inland Empire next year, so their 80^th year of baseball will be the team’s last. The city and the team could not agree on who should pay to fix up John Thurman Field – which the league deemed inadequate. The Nuts host the Stockton Ports this week then end the season in San Jose. They’re having a garage sale to clear out relics this week and have invited Rollie Fingers to attend Wednesday’s game among other events.

Cleaning up Sanger’s sewers

Fresno Bee. Mary’s Chicken plant sewage strained Fresno-area water system; inaction cost millions.
Synopsis: Melissa Montalvo provides a detailed report on the problems at Pitman Family Farms chicken processing plant in Sanger. The company slaughters 500,000 chickens per week – 150% higher than the number processed in 2010. That results in 1.2 million gallons of wastewater per day. Montalvo reports that the city knew of wastewater problems back in 1999, when it set pre-treatment rules. But those rules were never enforced. Since then, the city has found feet, heads and feathers in its water systems. The company promised to make changes in 2008, but an economic downturn detailed those plans. It made more promises in 2017 but set them aside as production increased.

Fresno Bee. Sanger company trashes local wastewater plant as City Hall ignores problems.
Synopsis: The Editorial Board says city officials should have been tougher on Sanger’s largest employer – Pitman Farms. By ignoring repeated violations, the city and company victimized city residents, forcing them to endure “years of horrible smells.” The company failed to do any required pre-treatment, sending feathers, grease, oils, even chicken heads into the wastewater system. A few months ago, the city had to spend $1 million to clean up its industrial wastewater system. Now, a new city manager is working with the state to bring the plant into compliance. “No one wants to live in a city ruined by the constant smell of rotten eggs or poop.”

Food is rotting in fields

NY Times. Wilted lettuce, rotten strawberries: What happens when you round up farmworkers.
Synopsis: CA Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and farm bureau President Shannon Douglass co-author an op-ed detailing just how many of our food products rely on immigrant labor to be harvested. “We know that fear of immigration enforcement is keeping farmworkers away from the fields,” they write. In response the Farm Bureau is supporting farmworkers, trying to protect them from raids, and working for their rights. They are also asking President Trump to “help us.”
MAD Take: Help from Trump? Where’s the golden head of lettuce? Maybe a couple of 24-carat carrots.

Why hide screwworm truth?

Successful Farming. US screwworm patient recovered, Maryland says, as ranchers criticize secrecy.
Synopsis: The “patient zero” who brought the New World screwworm home to the US has fully recovered from the flesh-eating maggots. But US cattle futures fell on concerns that the pest was here for three weeks before the public was informed. That has made people in the beef industry angry. “It will cause many producers … to simply believe that they’re not being fed the whole story.”

Break out the masks!

LA Times. COVID rising fast in CA fueled by new ‘stratus’ variant tied to Omicron. 
Synopsis: Major cities in California are reporting spikes in positive tests for COVID and hospitalization numbers are rising. “There’s a lot of COVID out there,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong from UCSF. The positive test rate in LA is 12.6%, up from 7.6% a month earlier. In Orange, it’s 14.4%, up from 8.1%. In the Bay Area, Dr. Matt Willis said hospitals are seeing a “wave” of positive tests -- among the highest rates in the nation.  This is coming on the heels of a summer infection season that was lighter than expected. Meanwhile, delays in the rollout of a new vaccine are “just weird,” said Dr. Chin-Hong. He has no patience for the “guidance” coming from RFK Jr.’s CDC. Neither does the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and virtually every other credible medical organization.

LA Times. The plague reappeared in CA; here’s how dangerous it is.
Synopsis: A human was infected with plague last week, contracting it after being bitten by a rodent while camping near Lake Tahoe. If caught early, the “Black Death” isn’t deadly. It’s not even entirely rare, having popped up a few times over the past decade. There was one case in El Dorado County in 2020 and two cases in Yosemite in 2015. Everyone recovered. It comes from bacteria and is spread by infected rodents or the fleas that feed on them. If you live in Central Valley, you don’t have to worry as much, said the doctor, it’s rare here.
MAD Take: That gives us more time to worry about Valley Fever, which is also spread by rodents and is becoming very common.

A different Duarte is running

Valley Sun. Alexandra Duarte launches challenge to Alvarado-Gil for state senate.
Synopsis: The wife of former Congressman John Duarte wants to replace Maria Alvarado-Gil in the state senate. Alvarado-Gil, the Democrat-turned-Republican, is involved in a nasty, nasty lawsuit with her former chief of staff, Chad Condit. Duarte is from the United Kingdom and insists she will stand up “for true conservative principles.” Her husband lost to Adam Gray in November.
MAD Note: The story notes Alvarado-Gil’s lawsuit, but the Duarte family has endured a few of their own. Growers sued three years ago over hundreds of thousands of defective pistachio trees – cloned at his nursery -- he sold to farmers, costing them millions of dollars which he refused to refund.

Old businesses, new locations

Modesto Bee. Downtown Modesto record store moves its music to Roseberg Square.
Synopsis: Broken Records is moving from its location on I Street to Roseberg Square. Owner Shavin Jit needed more space, he says. He sells new and used records, DVDs, CDs, cleaning kits, etc.

GV Wire. Big Tower District name to reopen Sequoia Brewing Co. in Fresno.
Synopsis: Will Oliver, William Avakian, Ian Wieland and Joe Doerr are among those who are applying for a new ABC license for Second Growth Brewing – which will open in the home of the old Sequoia Brewing Co. in the Tower District. All three locations of Sequoia closed without warning in February.  

Movement on wine tariffs?

Morning Ag Clips. Wine Institute applauds progress in US-Canada trade negotiations.
Synopsis: Wine Institute CEO Robert Koch is happy that the US and Canada have agreed to remove all tariffs on US goods covered by the original Canada-US-Mexico Agreement – including wine. Since March, California wine has been completely barred from being sold in Canadian stores. Prior to the ban, 35% of all US wine exports were to Canada. But “the job isn’t finished,” since provincial sales bans are still blocking US wines from reaching most consumers.
MAD Take: Once the tariffs go away, wine makers will still have to convince Canadians not to take out their anger at Donald Trump by refusing to buy California products.

Where was EOC board?

GV Wire. Why did board fail to stop deficits from nearly sinking Fresno EOC?
Synopsis: Nancy Price reports on the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, which, under the leadership of Emilia Reyes, overspent its $130 million budget by $5 million a year. Since Reyes was fired, there have been dozens of job cuts and reduced spending at the 60-year-old organization. Board chair Oliver Baines refused to be interviewed. Problems got worse when the board decided to raise the amount Reyes could spend without board approval. The CEO of CA Assn of Nonprofits laid it out: “The bottom line is, the board clearly wasn’t fully engaged. … The buck stops with the board.”

Primo helps restore rivers

PR Newswire. Primo Brands helps launch pioneering water replenishment habitat restoration.
Synopsis: The owner of Mountain Spring Water, Primo Brands, is linking arms with River Partners to restore floodplains and riverbeds at several sites on the Sacramento and Feather rivers. Primo is providing “significant financial investment for a nearly 1,000-acre portfolio” of floodplain sites to be restored over the next three years. “The state’s rivers are in need of serious investment,” said River Partners’ CEO Julie Rentner. “Beyond real water outcomes, our partnership will deliver critical improvements for species on the brink, flood protection for vulnerable communities, access to restored lands for Tribes and increased public health.” River Partners has been involved in more than 300 river restoration projects across the state, the largest being Dos Rios Ranch – now Dos Rios State Park, in Stanislaus County.