Valley Solutions

Modesto’s highest paid?

Modesto Bee. Who makes the most at Modesto city hall? Here’s what every employee earned. 
Synopsis: The Bee looks at payroll information, finding 56 city employees who took home more than $300,000 last year. All but 6 of those were firefighters and police officers. City manager Joe Lopez was the highest paid employee at $451,000. Police chief Brandon Gillespie was paid $251,000, but that was substantially less than what Sgt. Frank Inacio Jr. took home -- $422,923. Fire captain Theodore Davis was paid $406,317. Overtime was a huge part of their pay. The median pay was $118,212 for all city employees, meaning half made more and half less. The HR director said thanks to Measure H, Modesto’s city employees are “finally at market,” meaning they’re paid as well as employees in other comparable cities. Modesto’s median household income is $79,891.

CSU pay is an issue

Merced Sun Star. Anger builds among unions and lawmakers over raises to CSU presidents. 
Synopsis: The latest payroll data from the CSU system shows 150 administrators made more than $300,000 last year. The highest paid employee was CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia, who made $1,116,702 last year with another dozen administrators earning more than $500,000. The median pay for all CSU employees was $80,813. The story notes that the CSU system is “navigating a multi-billion-dollar deficit” and has declined to give rank-and-file employees negotiated raises this year. Assembly Bill 1831 from Patrick Ahrens would cap CSU admin pay at $307,000, or 125% of the governor’s pay, and not allow pay raises if tuition is also increasing.

Bay-Delta plan grinds along

Sacramento Bee. Bay-Delta plan heads toward fall adoption with limited changes. 
Synopsis: The much-delayed Bay-Delta Water Quality Plan could be ready for adoption by the end of the year, said Eric Oppenheimer, the executive director of the State Water Board. Though it remains under review, Oppenheimer said there are no major changes envisioned even as thousands of public comments are reviewed. The plan includes the Voluntary Agreements negotiated with various Valley water districts. The agreements resulted in considerably more flow from Sierra rivers into the Delta along with significant habitat restoration. Environmental groups oppose the agreements, saying not enough water is reserved for the environment.
MAD Take: More than 60% of all flows currently are unimpaired, meaning only 40% of flows are diverted for human use. During wet years, environmental flows reach 80% since the state lacks capacity to store additional water. While groups such as the Sierra Club, Tuolumne Trust and others dislike the Voluntary Agreements, the state is seeing the highest salmon spawning numbers of this century four years into their implementation. While habitat restoration and flows played a part, a ban on commercial salmon fishing likely played a larger role. The truth remains: If you want more salmon, stop killing them.

Suing to reverse Trump penalty

Modesto Bee. State sues Trump to restore grants, including $75M to Gallo Glass in Modesto. 
Synopsis: Attorney General Rob Bonta is taking the Trump administration to court, saying it singled out states with Democratic leadership for cancellation of $1.2 billion in grants. The original grants were approved by Congress and signed into law by Joe Biden, meaning Trump had no authority to withdraw the funding. One such grant would have helped Gallo Glass reduce natural gas use at its Modesto bottle-making factory by installing a gas/electric hybrid furnace using 70% less gas. That would have reduced costs and produced fewer emissions. Other canceled grants were in the chemical, concrete and food-processing industries.

Slowing those ‘super speeders’

KSEE / CBS47. Central Valley assemblywoman proposes speed control devices for reckless drivers. 
Synopsis: Esmeralda Soria is pushing for stricter punishment for bad drivers. She has introduced AB 2276, the Stop Super Speeders Act, which would require anyone convicted of excessive speeding to install an intelligent-speed device on their cars. Using AI technology, it would restrict cars from exceeding speed limits. Asked about privacy concerns, she said “Driving is a privilege. If you are a repeat offender, at the end of the day you have to be accountable.” The founder of Street Racing Kills, Lili Puckett, agrees: “It could save so many lives.”

CA Politics: Endorsements

Valley Sun. CA Democrats dole out endorsements; who is the party backing in the Valley?
Synopsis: The website owned and operated by a Republican campaign consultant was one of the few to actually cover the CA Democratic Convention beyond the fight for governor. The Valley Sun notes that the 60% threshold for receiving the party’s endorsement was too high a bar for most candidates. That meant no Democrat was endorsed in the race between Dr. Jasmeet Bains and Prof. Randy Villegas to take on Republican David Valadao. There was also no consensus on who should face Vince Fong in CA20. But in other Valley districts, the party had no problem enthusiastically choosing a standard-bearer – Adam Gray in CA13, Jim Costa in CA21 and Josh Harder in CA9. Annalisa Perea was anointed in Assembly District 31 and Brian Pacheco in 27. Esmeralda Soria was the pick for Senate District 14, outpolling Esmeralda Hurtado.

Modesto Bee. Riverbank newcomer gains state Democratic Party endorsement for Congressional race.
Synopsis: Michael Masuda, 37, got the official Democratic party endorsement in his Quixotic quest to unseat Republican Tom McClintock in CA5. Masuda is happy with the endorsement, but realistic. Republicans had an 11-point registration edge before Prop 50, and now it’s 12.5%. The district is rated “solid Republican” by both Cook Political Report and Inside Elections and “Safe” for Republicans by Sabato’s. Two years ago, Democrat Mike Barkley got only 38% of the vote.

Politico. CA Playbook: Newsom backlash and Politico’s new bureau chief in CA.
Synopsis: A lot of folks see implicit racism in Gavin Newsom’s insistence that a bad SAT score is something Black voters should be able to understand. Megyn Kelly surmised that Newsom’s reaction to the backlash shows he’s scared and the reaction was “worse than he thought.” … In other notes, the fight between Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and Sen. Anna Caballero of Merced is getting hotter. Both are running for state treasurer, and Kounalakis sent out a premature “thank you” post for having received the Democratic Party endorsement. But she didn’t, having gotten only 52% of the vote with Caballero and Tony Vazquez splitting the rest. Caballero called that a display of arrogance. 

Westlands: End subsidence

Maven / Westlands Water District. WWD board adopts subsidence policy to protect infrastructure. 
Synopsis: Westlands Water District’s Board of directors unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing subsidence as a serious threat to water-supply reliability throughout the Valley and Southern California. Among facilities most impacted is the San Luis Canal, which carries water from the Delta south. The district insists that decisions made over several decades have contributed to subsidence, concluding the entire state shares in the responsibility to maintain the infrastructure. The district recommends “strict pumping limits, comprehensive groundwater monitoring, extensive metering and robust recharge efforts.”

School district cuts 17 jobs

Westside Connect. NCLUSD to reduce certificated and classified positions amid budget concerns.
Synopsis: The Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District is cutting 17 jobs before the start of next school year. The cuts were approved 3-2 with Derek Wach and Lyzette Gonzalez voting no. The district of just under 3,000 students is facing a $5 million shortfall. Jobs to be cut include one high school and one elementary teacher, a counselor, account clerk, custodian and several aides. The CSEA says it will go into negotiations on the cuts.

Cartel leader got start in SF

SF Chronicle. Cartel leader ‘El Mencho’ was first caught dealing drugs in SF at age 19.
Synopsis: The man who rose to the top of the New Generation drug cartel in Jalisco got his start selling drugs in San Francisco, where he was jailed twice by the time he was 19. Abraham Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” was imprisoned at Santa Rita in Pleasanton for trafficking heroin. After getting out of prison, he was sent back to Mexico where he set up the New Generation gang, a notoriously violent organization that specialized in bringing fentanyl into the US. The State Dept had offered a $15 million reward for his capture. Mexican special forces carried out the raid that killed Cervantes with “complementary intelligence” from the US embassy, followed immediately by blockades in Guadalajara and other parts of Jalisco and resulting in canceled flights from the US.

Fresno fees: $300/hr for clean up

Fresno Bee. Fresno Council OKs dozens of new fees. 
Synopsis: For those who use Fresno Yosemite International Airport, the county animal shelter or public utilities, fees are going up. New costs will be imposed on special projects or requests, not everyday services. For instance, if your pet is picked up by animal control, it will cost more to get it back. If you’re illegally connected to city water, you’ll pay $558 to disconnect and another $1,574 to restore service. Special trash pickups will run $52 while if caught illegally dumping it will cost $300 an hour to clean it up.

Best donuts (or doughnuts)?

Merced Sun Star. Longtime Merced shop makes county’s best doughnuts, Sun-Star readers say.
Synopsis: Rollen Donuts has been voted the “best doughnuts” in Merced County, getting 39% of all the votes. JR Donuts of Atwater was second followed by Sunshine Donuts of Livingston. Roland Bowler opened Rollen Donuts in 1953, but it has been operated by Jason Kong since 2005. Rollen’s “epic” donuts get 5 stars on Yelp.

Firefall: Worth the wait

Fox26. Yosemite holds its breath as Horsetail Fall turns to molten fire at sunset. 
Synopsis: For roughly two weeks in February, when the setting sun hits El Capitan at an almost horizontal angle, the water of Horsetail Fall appears to be on fire. The sight attracts thousands of visitors each year hoping to see or photograph the intense phenomenon. Those on hand Sunday got a good view, despite passing clouds. “As the sun sank low at 5:38,” the sun hit El Capitan, “igniting the water into a blazing cascade,” in the words of one visitor. Making it even more magical, the Merced River below mirrored the spectacle.