Valley Solutions

CVP promises 100% allocation

Maven. Reclamation announces initial 2026 water allocations for CVP contractors. 
Synopsis: Most of those who rely on water from the Central Valley Project -- wildlife refuges, Friant Class 1 and settlement contractors -- will all get 100% of their allocation. South-of-Delta contractors will get 15%. Normally, February allocation estimates are far more conservative, often under 50%. But with the CVP’s reservoirs at full capacity, the feds are promising full flows for all Sacramento River users – north-of-Delta, municipal and Settlement contracts. South-of-Delta irrigators will get 15% while municipal-industrial contractors will get 65%. However, South-of-Delta contractors are “expected to reschedule approximately 180,000-acre feet of unused allocated water from 2025 for use in 2026.” Much of that is being held at San Luis Reservoir in Merced County. “We are committed to delivering as much water as possible to our Central Valley Project contractors,” said acting director Adam Nickels. 

Redding Record Searchlight. Rain in Redding sets record; see Shasta’s levels now.
Synopsis: Last weekend’s winter storm shattered rainfall records, dropping 2.74 inches at Redding Regional Airport. That left Lake Shasta 5 feet higher than a week earlier, with more expected in coming weeks. The state’s largest reservoir holds 14% more water than normal for this time of year.

Dancing around political polls

PPIC. Statewide Survey: Californians and their government. 
Synopsis: The latest polling says: Tax billionaires, the cost of living is too damned high, elected leaders should hold town halls, 6-in-10 voters would prefer to send Democrats to Congress, and political extremism is threatening America. PPIC pollster Mark Baldassare also said the race for governor this year is “very unusual.” He says there are two tiers of candidates. The top tier has three Democrats and two Republicans. Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer occupy the top tier with Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. It’s too soon to say if Silicon Valley money will lift Matt Mahan into the upper echelon.

Cal Matters. No clear frontrunner for governor, but new poll names five with the best shot. 
Synopsis: Columnist Dan Walters looks at the PPIC poll then echoes George Skelton of the LA Times in telling Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls that some of them need to jump off the merry-go-round. If you’re still polling in single digits – looking at you Xavier, Betty, Tony – then give it up. He said there is a real chance that both of the top two ballot spots could go to Republicans – depriving the state’s 11 million Democrats of a candidate.

Two CEOs moving on

Valley Sun. CA Citrus Mutual, Fresh Fruit Assn part ways with CEOs. 
Synopsis: Sources have confirmed that Daniel Hartwig is no longer the CEO of the Fresh Fruit Assn and Casey Creamer has left CA Citrus Mutual. Hartwig was hired in 2023, replacing the well-respected Ian LeMay. Hartwig worked the previous decade for Woolf Enterprises. Creamer led Citrus Mutual for 6 years after being promoted from executive vice president. A Cirtus Mutual statement was perfunctorily noncommittal, wishing Creamer well in “future endeavors.”

Merced Sun Star. Central Valley legislator wants CA high-speed rail CEO fired after recent arrest.
Synopsis: Alexandra Macedo, a Tulare Republican, has demanded that Gov. Gavin Newsom “immediately” fire Ian Choudri as CEO of the CA High Speed Rail Authority. Choudri was cited after a domestic disturbance at his Folsom home along with his fiancé. The fiancé was later accused of pulling Choudri’s 17-year-old daughter by the hair and locking her out of the house. No charges were filed.

Farm Bureau likes Farm Bill

Morning Ag Clips. Farm Bureau calls on House Agriculture Committee to pass Farm Bill. 
Synopsis: Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall is calling on House Ag Committee members to pass the Farm Bill so that farmers have greater “certainty” as they face high expenses and “historically low crop prices.” In a direct reference to the ag committee’s three California members, Duvall pointed out that the bill “bolsters assistance to specialty crops.”
MAD Take: What Duvall failed to mention is that the bill would circumvent the will of voters in California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Arizona, Ohio, Colorado and New Jersey. Having lost in the Supreme Court, the Farm Bill contains language to override Prop 12 and laws like it in at least nine states. Prop 12 allows voters to set food standards in their states, apparently because they no longer trust federal regulators.

Insiders betting on politics?

Wired. Kalshi suspended a CA politician and a YouTuber for insider trading. 
Synopsis: The prediction-market website Kalshi – basically, a site that books bets on what will happen next – has banned two people from the site. One is a real gem. Kalshi did not identify the person it turned over to authorities for investigation into bet rigging, but he’s the same guy who once spouted praise for Nazis while running for governor in CA. Now he claims to be a progressive and is running for Congress in CA-26. Rich-guy Stephen Cloobeck has also been banned from betting on the governor’s race. Apparently, Kalshi tracks bets and winners and if you win too much it assumes you might have inside information. For instance, several people bet in advance that the US would fly to Venezuela and kidnap Nicolas Maduro. Lucky guess?

Farming sunshine?

KVPR / NPR. Why farmers in CA are backing a giant solar farm. 
Synopsis: NPR’s Dan Charles comes to the Valley to provide an overview of the massive solar-panel facility being planned for 200 square miles between Firebaugh and Huron. The story is familiar to folks living here, but new to NPR. Much of the proposed area is so-called “white lands,” with no source of irrigation water. “If we had the water to do it, we would farm it,” said Ross Franson of Woolf Farming. But “you have to deal with the cards you’re dealt.” Westlands Water District is among the biggest backers of Golden State Clean Energy’s plan to install literally millions of solar panels on the land. The energy will be shipped west to Silicon Valley data centers. UC Santa Barbara scientist Grace Wu calls the area “fantastic” for solar panels because it can’t be farmed and is of “minimal value” to wildlife. The land belongs to roughly 150 different farmers. “We look at it as a new crop,” said one of them. Others, like the farmworkers living in Huron, wonder what is in it for them – and the answer is, “not much.”
MAD Take: Not mentioned is that this is just one of several similarly sized projects in the Valley, from western Stanislaus County to Dos Palos.

Cheering for more salmon

Maven / Golden State Salmon Assn. Salmon numbers rebound in 2026, raising hopes for fishery.
Synopsis: The Pacific Fisheries Management Council forecast 392,349 salmon are in the ocean this year, a significant recovery over recent years. The number is based on the 2025 spawning counts, which was the highest since 2011. The good numbers were attributed to a wet winter with abundant flows through CA’s rivers to the ocean.
MAD Take: Unmentioned by the Golden State Salmon Killers Assn was the fact that commercial fishing has been banned for three years, giving CA salmon time to recover from both unsustainable catch estimates and scofflaw fishers who ignore limits.

Anti-vaxxers cost districts $$$

EdSource. CA schools with low vaccination rates lose millions of dollars. 
Synopsis: Diana Lambert reports that CA schools lost $2.2 million in state funding across two years because some students did not have required vaccinations – meaning they couldn’t not attend classes. That deprived districts of “average daily attendance” funding. The vax-protesters are concentrated in wealthier suburbs, but some live in the Valley, too. Madera’s Chawanakee Unified ranks No. 8 in the state for losses, and Stanislaus County’s vaunted Hart-Ransom is on a watchlist for having only about half its kindergartners and even fewer seventh-graders vaccinated. Meanwhile, the cases of measles – once considered vaccinated out of existence – are soaring across the US, including in CA.

Pulling out of peaches

Modesto Bee. Del Monte collapse leaves CA peach growers stranded: ‘No place else to go.’ 
Synopsis: Valley peach growers are reckoning with fallout from Del Monte’s bankruptcy. This lengthy story details impacts from north of Marysville to south of Modesto. Only one fruit processor remains, Pacific Coast Producers in Lodi. But it will take only a third of the 75,000 tons that had been under contract with Del Monte. That means two thirds of growers “are just left out to dry,” said one. Growers are abandoning orchards. The somber mood of growers is matched by that of 1,800 workers laid off at the Modesto cannery. The story recalls the closure of Tri-Valley Growers, also in Modesto, 20 years ago and points out that CA once had 11 fruit processors. Now it has 1. Among those quoted is Richard Lial, who has been farming in Escalon for 50 years. He followed Del Monte’s instructions and planted new trees two years ago. “I’m not the only grower Del Monte did this to. I think the court should have had more emphasis on making sure those contracts got picked up.” The most damning comments came from Rep. Mike Thompson: “This is probably the worse environment for agriculture that we’ve ever lived through. Everybody is looking for help right now. There’s not a single commodity that’s not being impacted by something and they’re looking for help. So, we’re going to be standing in a long, long line trying to figure this out.”

Tough time to make wine

SF Chronicle. How to understand the surge of CA winery closures. 
Synopsis: Senior wine writer Esther Mobley says the “California wine shakeout is upon us.” Celebrated boutique operations are going out of business “while wine giants, including Gallo, Foley Family and Jackson Family, shut down production facilities and laid off workers.” Drive up Hwy 29 into Napa and see hundreds of acres of vines piled high as growers give up on grapes. “California wine faces a clear and existential problem: Consumer demand is too small, and the industry is too big.”

SF Chronicle. A fourth major CA wine company announces layoffs this year.
Synopsis: Jackson Family Wines, the sixth-largest US wine company, will shutter its Carneros Hill Winery in Sonoma County, resulting in 13 permanent job losses. It is an “overflow” facility, and no specific brand will be impacted. Last week, E.&J. Gallo laid off 93 workers in Napa Valley, Constellation Brands laid off 200 in Madera and Foley Family Wines closed its facilities in Chalone.

First Tactical merch recovered

Modesto Bee. Modesto company loses $1.2 million in cargo theft; merchandise will be returned.
Synopsis: Merchandise stolen from First Tactical in Modesto was seized and recovered during an investigation in Southern CA last week. Detectives found the $1.2 million in clothing and gear stacked on pallets in a warehouse in Ontario as they investigated a large “cargo-theft” operation. Also recovered were toys valued at $250,000 and Amazon freight worth $100,000. No arrests so far.

Solar panels on butterflies

River Partners. Planting 15 million milkweed to reverse the western monarch decline. 
Synopsis: Last November, volunteers counted fewer than 13,000 western monarch butterflies overwintering along the CA coast – the third-lowest number in three decades. The three lowest census counts of all time have all occurred in the past six years, signaling these important pollinators “are in serious trouble. The migration is collapsing.” River Partners is initiating the largest coordinated monarch recovery effort in the West, planting 15 million milkweed plants from Redding to the Mexico border by 2030. “Monarch recovery can’t wait, and it’s going to take all-hands-on-deck. We’re doing everything as quickly as we can,” writes RP. An important part of their effort will take place at Dos Rios State Park near Modesto through the Motus Wildlife Tracking Network. Butterflies will be fitted with “tiny solar panels” and transmitters, said RP science director Michael Rogner.