Valley Solutions

Fireworks or drones?

LA Times. Fourth of July fireworks shows divide CA: ‘Left-wing lunacy’ or basic sanity?
Synopsis: The CA Coastal Commission has lowered the boom on fireworks. It announced it would not approve any fireworks shows going forward, only drone shows. Even inland, big fireworks shows are “on the decline” due to more regulations, litigation and public concern over wildfire and pollution. Fourth of July shows at the Rose Bowl, Morro Bay, Lake Cunningham and even San Diego’s Big Bay Boom show have all switched to drones. Instead of giving up, many people are setting up their own fireworks shows – both legal and not. Ken Calvert even introduced a bill to make it illegal to make fireworks illegal. Fireworks go back 140 years in California, to July 1, 1882, when they were called “skyrockets with golden rain meteors.” Drones are a bit more recent.

Making good use of manure

Grist. Cow manure could be the next data-center fuel. 
Synopsis: Republished from the website Sentient, this story initially focuses on a 4,000-cow operation that uses two anaerobic digesters to process manure. The biogas refined in those digesters isn’t piped to far-away turbines to supply the grid; it is consumed onsite to power crypto-mining operations. The first-of-its-kind operation is run by Ag-Grid Energy of Pennsylvania. Crypto-mining today, data centers tomorrow. Enchanted Rock has already partnered with Microsoft to provide backup power for a data center in California. The hedge fund Black Rock is working with Vanguard Renewables to produce the “fuel of the AI age.” Those who hate digesters are angry that big tech appears to be throwing them a lifeline. Attaching power generation to agriculture will further concentrate ag economics, says one. Another activist researcher insists that “factory farms” produce 941 billion pounds of manure each year in the U.S., polluting the air and water. Digesters do not make the manure disappear.
MAD Take: What? Anti-digester activists say cows and other farm animals produce 941 billion pounds of manure each year. That’s an incredibly large number. But is it big enough? Those animals aren’t pets. They’re food producers – cheese, eggs, meat, etc. For accuracy’s sake, we should add to that manure number the amount of, uh, waste produced from the consumption of all that food. The EPA says humans produce 20 million tons of biowaste each year, or another 40 billion pounds. Interesting how math works. If 330 million humans produce 40 billion pounds of manure, how on earth could half as many cows and pigs – about 160 million animals combined -- produce 20x as much? Something stinks about those calculations.

Going after ‘unpermitted’ food

Modesto Bee. Grand jury warning: Food sold by unpermitted vendors endangers Stanislaus residents.
Synopsis: The Merced civil grand jury detailed what it calls a Merced-based regional problem with food vendors. Officials in Merced and Monterey counties insist there is a Merced “kingpin” preparing food then trucking it to roadside stands for sale in at least six counties. Meats are stored then transported to stands in other counties without any refrigeration. Last week, Stanislaus Supervisors voted to form a task force to investigate pop-up food vendors operating outside the county’s inspection protocols. The stands often have blue and red tents covering portable tables. There are no permits and no inspections. It is estimated the stands take in more than $100,000 a month.

What we do with water

Valley Ag Voice. Rewriting the narrative on CA’s water reality. 
Synopsis: Reporter Natalie Willis provides a detailed look at the recent UC report “A History of CA Agriculture” and its two competing narratives. 1) CA farmers are innovators and resourceful beyond compare, building an unparalleled system of creating food and wealth from limited resources. 2) Farmers have destroyed the environment in pursuit of their own wealth. Ag’s use of water is central to the report, starting from the premise that “agriculture utilizes 80% of the state’s water.” The report lays out how food production in California is less impacted by drought than other parts of the world. Our droughts are just as severe, but our results are not. We continue to thrive. She references other reports – from the state, PPIC, etc. – as she pivots to the San Joaquin Valley and the difficult choices facing farmers here. Already, “permanent” crops like trees are being removed in the South Valley due to lack of water. What this means for local economies and individual farmers is examined in detail.
MAD Note: I hate seeing that old bromide about “80% of water in California goes to farms.” It doesn’t. Half of all water that falls on California every single year stays in the environment, soaking into the ground, running off into rivers and flowing out to the ocean. Of the water we store, which is less than half of what we get in an “average” year, 80% was used by ag 30 years ago. It’s less than that now, but close. And what happens to that water? We eat it.

State squeezing out farming

Ag Alert. Regulatory costs put Napa County wine future at risk. 
Synopsis: Johnnie White writes about his Napa vineyard, which his family has farmed for six generations. “We never expected farming to be easy. But we have always believed it would remain possible. Today, that assumption is no longer safe.” He cites the Cal Poly study that puts the cost of regulatory compliance at $1,744 per acre for vineyards. Throw in 8% higher costs for fuel, 5% more for insurance, 4% for utilities, and a 12% drop in wine consumption, and breaking even is a dream. “No one is asking for a free pass,” writes White. “Farmers understand the importance of environmental stewardship … What we ask for is balance.” He wants legislators to review all those costly regulations. And quickly. 
MAD Take: Interestingly, Adam Gray was thinking about this very subject as he traveled home to the Valley from Washington on Wednesday. “California has the best agricultural economy in the world, and it’s thanks to the hardest working farmers, ranchers and dairymen on the planet. Government should be offering deliberate, sustained investments that protect our water and support the families who feed the country.”

Shared housing at UC Merced

Merced Sun Star. What is UC Merced’s Promise Housing, and how does it affect MC students?
Synopsis: Merced College and UC Merced are forming a partnership to share student housing starting in the spring semester of 2027. Promise Housing will allow Merced College students to live on the UC Merced campus as they “transition” into the UC academic community. Up to 488 students will move in starting in January. Rent for the furnished units will include all utilities.

Changing the locks on complex

Fresno Bee. Fresno changes Granite Park locks, takes over sports complex.
Synopsis: The embattled Granite Park Sports Complex is back under control of the city of Fresno after locksmiths changed the locks. It ended the tenure of Central Valley Community Sports Foundation, which was run by Terance Frazier. He said the park “is now their responsibility.” Games resume at the park tonight.

Modesto mask ban halted

Modesto Bee. Modesto will temporarily stop enforcing mask-ban ordinance at protests, judge rules. 
Synopsis: Federal judge John Mendez on Tuesday told Modesto it cannot enforce its ban on face masks at protests. His ruling is temporary, responding to a request from the ACLU. He said the ban for safety reasons is not “narrowly tailored” enough to pass muster. He noted that a violent protester who arrived dressed as a frog would not be arrested.

‘Fixing’ the price of gas

LA Times. Gas giants use AI to raise prices, lawsuit says, another algorithmic hit to cost of living. 
Synopsis: A federal lawsuit brought by three motorists accuses Walmart, 7-Eleven and 10 other so-called discount gas stations of using a computer program called Kalibrate to keep gas prices artificially high. This will test a new CA law that treats algorithm-driven pricing across multiple stations as price-fixing mechanism. The algorithm adjusts prices in real time, “squeezing out” more profit from specific customers. Instead of the “smoky back room” deals to fix prices in the past, we now have “mechanisms available to competitors to fix prices without the cigars, the smoke or even the room.” Kalibrate denies wrongdoing. The DOJ says there are similar programs fixing prices in other industries, including real estate and groceries. “People can’t afford to make ends meet. Why is that? A lot of that has to do with there is no competition. And people know that,” said a UC Berkeley researcher.  
MAD Take: Is there a single case in which Kalibrate was used to lower the price of gas? Didn’t think so.

Can he see it from there?

Politico. California Playbook: Relief gives way to reality. 
Synopsis: Deep in this daily notebook of political news, we find that Kevin Lincoln is using Artificial Intelligence to attack Adam Gray in the race for CA-13. He dredges up a bill from 2016 to go negative as quickly as he can.
MAD Take: Somehow, it makes sense that Kevin Lincoln would be forced to rely on artificial intelligence for his ads against Adam Gray. Maybe if he lived a little closer to the district, he would understand its voters better.

Train will be 5 years late

Ceres Courier. Ceres has much longer to wait for ACE train service.
Synopsis: Catching up to a story that appeared last week in The Bee, the Courier notes that the long-awaited arrival of the Altamont Commuter Express is going to take longer. At least five years longer. Higher construction costs and agreements to share the tracks with freight carriers have delayed the project. Extension of the ACE train to Ceres (and eventually Merced) was part of a budget deal in 2016. In preparation for the train’s arrival, Modesto remodeled its downtown station, and Ceres began planning its new platform west of Hwy 99. 

Lizzo was a life-saver, sort of

Stocktonia. Singer Lizzo ‘saved my life,’ Stockton vice mayor Jason Lee gushes on red carpet. 
Synopsis: Stockton vice mayor Jason Lee credited Grammy-award winner Lizzo with coming to his rescue after he fainted at a nightclub. The comment was made as Lee interviewed Lizzo during the BET Music Awards red-carpet walk last Sunday. It might have been overstatement. Lee became overheated at a club and Lizzo “gave him a rub before he was hooked up to an intravenous tube.” Lee admitted his statement might have been “a little overdramatic.”