Valley Solutions

Helping the Tuolumne thrive

Maven’s Notebook. A thriving Tuolumne River starts now: More water, more habitat, more fish. 
Synopsis: The general managers of Turlock (Brad Koehn) and Modesto (Jimi Netniss) irrigation districts and the SF PUC (Dennis Herrera) combined on this important commentary. Working with River Partners and the state, they have crafted the Healthy Rivers & Landscapes Agreement to govern the restoration of the Tuolumne River. It “reflects years of science, stewardship, and collaboration in one of the state’s most important watersheds.” The ideas and plans it contains are backed by more than 100 studies based on decades of actual data informing considerations of everything from nesting sites to water temperatures. “It can be summed up in 6 words: More water, more habitat, more fish.” It is one of the only agreements ever forged to guarantee more water even in critically dry years. The agreement emphasizes flows from January to June with water in other months to support fish. “These aren’t paper promises. These are daily, year-round releases ready for immediate implementation.” It will also include 77 acres of new floodplain and 100,000 tons of gravel for spawning beds. “This is more than a policy, it’s a commitment from the communities who rely on the Tuolumne River every day for clean drinking water, sustainable irrigation, flood control, recreation and energy.”

People will go hungry

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus nonprofits raise money for food banks, provide grocery gift cards.
Synopsis: Some 93,500 people in Stanislaus County – 17% of the county’s population -- rely on CalFresh benefits provided through the federal SNAP program. Saturday those benefits will be disrupted. Family Resource Centers, Second Harvest, the Stanislaus Community Foundation, United Way, First 5 and the Community Services Agency are all trying to fill the gaps. A single Food for Families Fund has been established for donations statewide or specifically for Stanislaus at the Community Foundation.  

SF Chronicle. Massive hit to SNAP benefits is coming to CA even after the shutdown ends.
Synopsis: Changes to the SNAP under the One Big Beautiful Bill will force the state to make an estimated 650,000 people – including 200,000 children -- ineligible for benefits even AFTER the shutdown ends. Monica Saucedo of the CA Budget & Policy Center calls it an “attack” on the food-security of the poor, as SNAP will be cut by $180 billion over the next decade. Among them are 74,000 refugees from foreign conflicts, including those who helped American forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

SF Chronicle. These businesses rely on SNAP customers; what happens when food benefits end?
Synopsis: Small grocery stores in largely ethnic neighborhoods – Asian and Latino – will be in danger of going out of business as EBT cards go empty this week. Said one owner: “No SNAP, no business.” Another said: “Once the food vouchers are paused, people will have nothing to eat. They will go hungry. If their stomachs are empty, my stomach will also be empty.” The USDA reports that every $1 spent on SNAP benefits generates $1.54 in economic activity. One store owner said she has faith “the president will resolve the SNAP issue” soon. A member of the Chinatown Chamber offered this message: “It doesn’t matter who is right and wrong. People are suffering.”
MAD Take: Interesting story in SF, but the same dynamic is at work in the Valley. Except more so.

KSEE / CBS47. Councilmember donates $50K to Fresno families losing EBT.
Synopsis: Fresno city councilman Nelson Esparza is giving $50K to the Central CA Food Bank, enough to pay for 200,000 meals. “No family should have to scrape by or wonder when their next meal will be,” he said. “If the federal safety net falters, we have an obligation to strengthen our local apparatus.”

Stocktonia. San Joaquin County vows aid to 131,891 facing hunger during SNAP delay.
Synopsis: The Trump administration’s decision not to extend food assistance benefits during the shutdown will deprive 131,891 people – including an estimated 95,000 children – of food. Many will turn to local food banks for basic items. Republicans say they want a short-term bill to fix the problem, but Democrats say it is unfair to make people choose between healthcare and food for the poor – our nation can afford both.

UC foundation adds firepower

Merced County Times. UC Merced Foundation names Gallo, Mahil new trustees.
Synopsis: Stephanie Gallo, chief marketing officer at E.&J. Gallo Winery, and Jay Mahil, owner of Creekside Land Co., have been named to the UC Merced board of trustees. Gallo’s appointment carries on a family tradition; the Gallos were among the earliest and most supportive backers of UC Merced. Mahil’s company is based in Madera and has been involved in farming and food processing. He is a past president of the Madera Farm Bureau and involved in everything from healthcare to water planning.

Valley preps for Prop 50 vote

Fresnoland. Fresno city attorney to monitor Prop 50 special election, too. 
Synopsis: If you vote in person in Fresno on Nov. 4, expect some company. After the federal government said it would send monitors to the county to monitor voting, the state of California said it would send poll-watchers to make sure federal monitors didn’t intimidate voters. Now, the Fresno city attorney is sending monitors, too. City attorney Andrew Janz is concerned federal observers might try to intimidate voters or block access to polling places. He says city police will be available to keep anything “illegal” from happening. 

Stocktonia. San Joaquin County predicts big Prop 50 turnout.
Synopsis: SJ County registrar Olivia Hale says 95,000 votes have already been returned as interest in Prop 50 runs high. She expects up to 75% of the county’s voters to cast a ballot. That would exceed the turnout for the 2022 recall vote, when 55% of voters turned out. The county has a total of 376,181 voters. If Prop 50 passes, the county will go from having two Congressional representatives – Adam Gray and Josh Harder – to having four.

Valley Sun. Fresno County’s rural towns lack in-person voting options; one mayor speaks out. 
Synopsis: Mendota’s Victor Martinez says his town needs a voting center, with voting booths, not just a drop box. The nearest of 23 polling places in Fresno County is 8 miles away in Firebaugh. “It’s a big disservice for our citizens in our city of Mendota,” said Martinez. He said it deprives them of “equal opportunity for voting.” State law requires counties to provide a voting center for every 30,000 registered voters; Mendota has 12,620. Voting centers have to be open for 10 days before an election, making staffing problematical and expensive.

Saving the Valley from sinking

Valley Ag Voice. Farmers are key partners in managing subsidence. 
Synopsis: Paul Gosselin of DWR writes about the impacts of subsidence, or sinking land, in the Valley. Some places have already sunk 25 feet with more sinking predicted. The sinking is due to groundwater pumping that continues little abated. As the ground sinks, pavement and foundations crack, roads pull away from bridges, levees are weakened, wells go dry and irrigation canals are unable to deliver water. If nothing is done, it will get much, much worse.

Keep your feet on the ground

Fresno Bee. Daredevil jumpers at Yosemite add to dangers during shutdown.
Synopsis: The Fresno Bee editorial board (Juan Esparza Loera and Tad Weber) write about the BASE jumpers who have flooded into the park since rangers went on a shutdown-forced hiatus. The jumpers leap off the highest points overlooking the Valley floor wearing webbed jumpsuits to create sort of a glider effect. El Capitan and Glacier Point are two of their favorite spots. It’s illegal because it’s deadly. The climbing community should police itself.

KSEE / CBS47. ‘BASE jumper’ cited near El Capitan in Yosemite.
Synopsis: Park officials responded within minutes after visitors reported a BASE leaping off the continent’s largest piece of granite – El Captian. He was cited after reaching the ground for “illegal air delivery.”

Merced outgrows police HQ

Merced Focus. Merced needs new police station; what’s keeping it from happening. 
Synopsis: Police chief Steven Stanfield talks about leaky pipes, broken AC and cramped quarters at the 60-year-old Merced police department building. The HQ was built around 1965 when Merced was a city of 20,000. A new station for a city of 90,000 would cost around $50 million. What once were closets for hanging coats now serve as offices or interview cubicles. Many officers and supervisors work in the field or in substations, unable to find a desk downtown. Old buildings cannot be easily retrofitted for today’s electronics. “We’re stringing wires together with baling wire to try to make things work,” said Stanfield. He noted, perhaps enviously, the new PD building that opened in Los Banos last year.

Health insurance costs more

Politico. Rude reality check for Californians on insurance prices as shutdown drags on. 
Synopsis: As subsidies run out, making insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act less affordable, thousands of consumers are being shocked by the increases they’re seeing on their bills for next year. Democrats have been warning that this would be the result of the One Big Beautiful Bill, that traded away those pricing subsidies for tax cuts to billionaires. Now, with enrollment opening Saturday, consumers are having to make hard choices. Across the country, farmers and self-employed people are facing the same dilemmas, with prices rising from 25% to 400%. It could lead to 400,000 people dropping insurance. One insurance advisor said she is “praying for a financial collapse” so that her clients can afford health care.

Ag incubator comes to Merced

Ag Net West. Building the future of Ag Tech: Bernstein and The Reservoir at FIRA 2025.
Synopsis: Interviewer Nick Papagni spoke to Danny Bernstein, founder of an ag-tech incubator called the Reservoir in Woodland. Bernstein said he is expanding The Reservoir’s footprint to include one farm in Merced and one in Sonoma. The program is geared to ideas that “not ready for Bruce Taylor or Stuart Wolf (sic). But they still need a place to grow up and mature.”
MAD Note: It’s Woolf, with two o’s, not “Wolf.”

In honor of a spider woman

KCRA. UC Davis scientists discover new species of spider, just in time for Halloween.
Synopsis: The newest addition to the list of the world’s spiders can be found right here in California – Aptostichus Ramirezae. It’s a close relative of the California trapdoor spider; so similar, in fact, that it has gone unnoticed as a distinct species until now. The females spend their entire lives in a silk-lined hole near the beach. Why is this important around here? The spider was named after Martina Giselle Ramirez, dean of the College of Science at Stanislaus State, who is considered a pioneer in the study of arachnids.
MAD Take: A close cousin of this species is the Aptostichus stephencolberti.