Valley Solutions

Valley Solutions offers a daily look at the top headlines appearing on media websites affecting the San Joaquin Valley. It is compiled by Mike Dunbar, who worked in Stockton, Modesto, Merced and Los Banos media for 40 years and later served as Adam Gray’s press secretary when he was in the Assembly. Valley Solutions is brought to readers by Rep. Adam Gray.

Anger over Bay-Delta plan

Maven / Bureau of Reclamation. Comments on CA State Water Board Bay-Delta Plan Update. 
Synopsis: Expressing “serious” concerns with the State Water Board’s most recent update to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, new Bureau deputy commissioner Aubrey Bettencourt responded with bureaucratic outrage. She wrote that the state’s plan “threatens reliability of water supplies that support not only the Central Valley Project but the entire fabric of CA’s agricultural economy, rural communities, urban centers and natural vitality.” Among her concerns is a consolidation of decision-making authority in the water board’s executive director, which “sidelines the collaborative, multi-party framework of the MOU or the proposed governance structure.” The plan was released on Aug. 19, and public comment is open through Oct. 29. The water board responded by saying it does not require federal input or permission to implement the plan. But the Bureau listed seven actions it could take if its concerns are ignored. “Our objective is clear: Improve water supply outcomes for all of California while incorporating robust, measurable species protection through the best available tools and science.”

Maven. Westlands to end participation in Healthy Rivers & Landscapes program. 
Synopsis: Westlands Water District says it will pull out of the voluntary agreement it has negotiated with the State Water Board if the state’s draft of the Bay-Delta plan is implemented. Westlands says the final draft abandons commitments made originally in 2022 based on “multiple years of analysis and collaboration.” The statement called on the state to reverse its draft and “honor its agreement.” It concluded: “Westlands cannot support a program that has departed so significantly from its original purpose.”

More anger for state water board

Maven. SF Baykeeper: State Water Board capitulates to special interests in new Sites Reservoir permit.
Synopsis: After being blasted by the Bureau of Reclamation and Westlands for its water-quality plan, the State Water Board came under attack from the environmental community for its plan to store more water. SF Baykeeper insisted the water board is “giving in to corporate agriculture interests and water utilities in Southern California.” Baykeeper is upset the state would allow excess water from the Sacramento River to be stored in Sites for use later.

56 Days and counting

Turlock Journal. Get ready for the mailers, ads, social-media hype that comes with election season. 
Synopsis: Columnist Mike Lynch says Labor Day is the traditional start of campaign season, and this year’s campaigning could be especially noxious. The airwaves, social media and our mailboxes will be filled with campaign ads, many angry, alarming or just false. When it comes to local races, you can set aside some of the nonsense and vote on issues alone.

Merced County Times. Yang Pao Thao seeks growth, investment for South Merced.
Synopsis: Yang Pao Thao has made quite an impact on the city since being plucked from the planning commission to fill the vacated District 2 seat on the Merced City Council a year ago. His campaign kickoff at the County Fairgrounds last week was on a big stage. He invited Chi Neng Vang, son of legendary Hmong leader Gen. Vang Pao, to speak.

Turlock Journal. Senate District 4 candidates to face off in public debate. 
Synopsis: Democrat Jaron Brandon, a Tuolumne County supervisor, and Republican Alexandra Duarte, the wife of a former congressman, will debate Thursday at Greens on Tenth in Modesto. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Modesto Focus and Rotary, admission is $20. The district is the largest in the state and has been decidedly conservative in past elections.

Historic mansion is sinking

Merced County Times. Historic Atwater mansion is sinking.
Synopsis: After 112 years standing at downtown’s center, the Bloss Home is sinking. “We need to correct this with some urgency,” said Greg Olzack of the Atwater Historical Society. “The integrity of the whole building is at risk.” The city has set aside $75,000 to do engineering studies and begin repairs.

Mayor responds to charges

Modesto Focus. Hughson mayor responds to latest investigation into alleged lewd behavior. 
Synopsis: Hughson Mayor George Carr admits he have used “poor judgment,” but disputed that he ever kissed or otherwise acted inappropriately with employees of the Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority. “Kissing – no, I don’t believe that ever happened. I don’t remember. I don’t think I ever did that,” Carr told reporter Garth Stapley. He said he did once examine the fingernails of an RTA staffer. “I complimented them, and that was the end of it.” A law firm looked into the accusations and determined Carr violated the agency’s policy on touching employees. He also told jokes referencing sexual topics – which he does not deny. “I was talking to someone in private, and an employee overheard it,” he said. Carr says he resigned from the RTA board once he became aware that his actions had caused problems “and I’ve not had interactions with them since.” Carr has also been censured by the city of Hughson in a different case.

Supervisors, treasurer at odds

Merced County Times. County treasurer calls attention to safety of public funds. 
Synopsis: County Treasurer-Tax Collector Karen Adams went before the board of supervisors Aug. 25 to warn of issues in her department, only to have her concerns cut short by supervisors. Supervisor Daron McDaniel told Adams she was being disrespectful by bringing up the issue in a non-agendized report. Supervisor Scott Silveira said it was “a little backhanded” to speak of it in public and should have been handled “offline.” Adams told Editor Jon Whitaker that she was frustrated over a lack of response from the supervisors and provided him with a complete statement – which he published. Her final comment to Whitaker was, “I want to avoid becoming front-page news due to public funds theft like many local agencies throughout the nation.”
MAD Note: The story appeared on Page 4.

Nuts to data-center claim

Cal Matters. Fact-check: Is Sam Altman right that almonds use more water than ChatGPT queries?
Synopsis: The head of ChatGPT made an astounding statement last week on the Sources Podcast. He said it takes 38,000 ChatGPT queries to use as much water as producing a single almond in California. Altman said a “modern very large data center” uses “the equivalent amount of water as an office building in terms of, you know, people like running the sinks and the toilets and whatever.” As the story points out, the digital industry is so secretive about its data that it is impossible to verify or dispute such a claim. A professor at UC Riverside said it depends on location, temperature, the type of cooling system, length of the prompt, reasoning required, output and even more. The lack of transparency is why there are several bills awaiting the governor’s signature or veto. Regardless of the validity of Altman’s claim, the Congressional Research Service said data centers are using MORE water than they used to, not less. In 2023, it was estimated that data centers used 17.6 billion gallons (about 54,000-acre feet).
MAD Take: This story didn’t really answer the question, so I’ll give it a try. Three years ago, it was estimated that every query required 50 gallons to answer, a statistic Microsoft’s AI now insists was always “completely false.” Now, says Bing, a typical prompt requires from 0.23 to 500 milliliters to answer, with ChatGPT using around 0.32. So, what does that amount to in almonds? If a single ChaptGPT query requires the average of one-tenth of an ounce of water, then 7,600 queries equals about 1 almond. Altman’s ChatGPT gets roughly 2.5 billion queries every day, or about 30,000 per second. Put another way, answering all those queries uses that’s about 330,000 gallons, or about 1 acre foot a day. And that doesn’t include all the queries being answered by Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Claude, Grok, Zapier, ElevenLabs, Lovable or the other 10 or 15 AI players building data centers. So, unless Altman’s “very large data center” is processing fewer than 7,600 queries a day – he’s mistaken. Or he can’t do math. Or his AI doesn’t have it right. Take your pick.

‘Ecstatic’ over salmon migration

Good News Network. Endangered salmon return to Mendocino rivers in incredible numbers.
Synopsis: Saying “everybody’s just ecstatic,” officials described a 10-fold increase in the number of spawning salmon coming up creeks and rivers along the Mendocino coast. At last count, the number was 30,000. The scientists who track the rivers say they never thought they would see such a migration. They credited targeted restoration efforts for moving the needle.
MAD Take: It bears repeating: If you don’t kill salmon in the ocean, they can find their way back to California’s rivers to make more salmon. The story is the same across the state. It ain’t rocket science.

Celebrating Valley’s cultures

Stocktonia. Stockton’s Black Family Day is a ‘reunion,’ rooted in a push for Black student access at UOP.
Synopsis: Black Family Day is one of, if not the, oldest cultural traditions in Stockton. This year, hundreds of families showed up for the event from Saturday through Monday. The original Family Day was at Delta College when the Black Student Union, MEChA and Movimento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan protested to demand more Black students be admitted to UOP. Since then, UOP has created a program for first-generation students, awarding roughly 20 scholarships to Black students every year.

Stocktonia. ‘Generations come together’ as Stockton Community Pow Wow returns for 46^th year.
the Native American Indian Center hosted its 46^th annual event over Labor Day weekend at Delta College, chaired by Destiny Rivas. Kyla Miller was crowned Pow Wow Princess.

Turlock Journal. Miss Melon candidates display their talents. 
Synopsis: The Miss Melon pageant got the preliminaries out of the way with a talent show last Friday night. A holdover from the original Melon Carnival established in 1911, the Carnival was resurrected in 2023 as a one-day fair. That means doing some activities in advance. Contestants had to display a talent and compete in public speaking, among other things. There are five age divisions. While there are several candidates for titles in five divisions, Miss Melon and Legacy Miss Melon have only one each – Melissa Lopez and Gracie Olesen. The pageant is Sept. 19 in downtown.

Mosquito bites hospitalize 3

Modesto Bee. More serious version of West Nile virus hospitalizes 3 people in Stanislaus County.
Synopsis: A serious neuroinvasive strain of West Nile virus has hospitalized three people from Stanislaus County. County health officials refused to divulge any details on any of the cases. The more severe form of the disease can cause death or long-term disabilities.

From the police blotter

GV Wire. Merced County driver stopped at 112 MPH on Hwy 99.
Synopsis: The CHP says it stopped a driver traveling on Hwy 99 at 112 mph near Plainsburg Road. That means the car was covering 160 feet every second, leaving the driver no time to react to sudden changes by other drivers or debris in the road. Any driver cited for speed in excess of 100 mph has his or her license automatically referred to the DMV for review and likely forfeiture.

Fresno Bee. Police use Flock cameras to find suspect in fatal crash with bicyclist in Visalia.
Synopsis: Visalia police arrested a man last Wednesday in connection with a hit-and-run death. Antonio Gaona Vasquez, 32, is accused of running over John Aguilar, 63, of Woodlake. Police identified Vasquez from a 5-second clip of video they found on a Flock camera.

Westside Express. Los Banos police department welcomes new officers, promotes sergeant.
Synopsis: Stephen O’Day was promoted to sergeant, and Mitchel King and Cesar Grajeda were sworn into duty by Los Banos police chief Ray Rena last month. The department now has 47 sworn officers. O’Day is a second-generation cop, and called police work, “The best job in the world.”