Valley Solutions

Rating the Valley’s hospitals

Modesto Focus. 14 Valley hospitals, including two in Modesto, earn A grades in Leapfrog ratings. 
Synopsis: Fourteen Valley hospitals got top marks in the 2026 hospital safety survey compiled by The Leapfrog Group. Among those 14, seven were singled out for having sustained straight-A grades for two or more years. The ratings are based on 22 criteria established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ranging from medication errors to data safety to infection control. Kaiser hospitals in Modesto, Fresno and Manteca all received “Straight A” grades for continued excellence along with Mercy Medical Center in Merced. Others awarded A grades included Memorial MC in Modesto and Los Banos. Getting a B was Adventist in Lodi, St. Joseph’s in Stockton and Sutter Tracy. Getting C’s were San Joaquin General in French Camp, Community Regional in both Fresno and Clovis and Saint Agnes in Fresno. Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, Doctors Hospital in Manteca, Emanuel MC in Turlock and Dameron in Stockton refused to participate in the process and were not graded.

Police watch viral videos, too

GV Wire. Modesto police seize 311 pounds of illegal fireworks, arsenal of weapons in raid. 
Synopsis: Modesto police arrested Toby Ovrahim on Wednesday after he posted videos that showed him lighting explosive devices and then throwing them from a moving vehicle. They searched his home on Brandy Court, and found 130 M-style bombs, 311 pounds of illegal fireworks, 12 firearms, 1 assault weapon and 13 pairs of brass knuckles. He is now the guest of the Stanislaus Public Safety Center.

Grisley discoveries

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus Sheriff’s Office investigating Knights Ferry human remains as homicide.
Synopsis: Human remains were found near Hwy 108 west of Knights Ferry on April 30, with the Major Crimes Unit called in when “circumstances surrounding the incident” were deemed “suspicious.” The SO would not divulge any information – age, gender, condition, etc.  

Fox26. Evidence points to human remains at home linked to Kristin Smart’s killing, sheriff says.
Synopsis: San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said there is evidence that human remains had been kept in the location his teams checked Wednesday. Officers searched the home of Susan Flores, whose son Paul was convicted in 2022 of killing Kristin Smart while both were college students. The investigators took soil samples. Smart, a freshman from Stockton, went missing in 1996 after having last been seen with Paul Flores.

Tunnel creeps forward

Cal Matters. Will CA ever build the Delta tunnel? Major battles ahead as Newsom era nears end.
Synopsis: Rachel Becker writes that the “$20 billion Delta tunnel largely cleared another chokepoint last week, but it still faces obstacles of a different magnitude.” Opponents say it will destroy the largest estuary on the West Coast and the livelihoods of all who live around it. Supporters say it will improve the Delta while providing Southern California and farms in the South Valley with a reliable water supply. While the Delta Stewardship Council cleared the path on four of six categories, other issues remain -- like financing. Many believe the tunnel will be far more costly than the state’s $20 billion estimate, more like $60 billion or $100 billion. The court has refused to allow the state to fund it through bonds sold for other purposes. Meanwhile, water districts who would benefit are dropping out of the project. Experts say the tunnel is inevitable as CA’s water problems become more severe. Others say desalination of seawater or brackish groundwater can solve the state’s problems. The courts are being asked to decide who actually owns the water, another big issue.

LA Times. Newsom pledges to move forward with Delta tunnel.
Synopsis: Gov. Gavin Newsom said his team is “moving forward aggressively” to ensure water will someday flow through the giant Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tunnel directly to the pumps feeding the twin state and federal canals. He calls the tunnel a “climate adaptation project,” saying it is necessary to provide water for residents of the LA Basin and San Diego in a drying world.

Politics in Merced County

Merced County Times. Lopez cites 35 years of experience in education.
Synopsis: Reporter John Miller talks to MCOE Superintendent candidate Richard Lopez, who describes his 35 years in public education. The current superintendent at Merced River School District, he is a former board member of Merced Union High School District. Lopez is running against Ana Boyenga, Alberto Velarde and Paula Heupel.

Merced County Times. Murphy pursues golden opportunity to take a stand for residents in district.
Synopsis: Former Merced Mayor Mike Murphy talks to Editor Jonathan Whitaker about his run for the Assembly. Murphy is hoping to fill the District 27 Assembly seat being vacated by Esmeralda Soria, who is running to fill the Senate seat being vacated by termed-out Sen. Anna Caballero. Republicans have identified the seat as their No. 1 target in the Assembly, calling it “a golden opportunity.” Running against Murphy is Fresno Supervisor Brian Pacheco and Livingston councilmember Japjeet Singh Uppal.

Suffragettes roll in style

Modesto Bee. Little car on a big mission recreates a visit to Modesto first made in 1916. 
Synopsis: The League of Women Voters welcomed a restored 1918 Saxon Flyer to Modesto to help recreate a 1916 ride that was performed to promote women’s rights in the age of suffragettes. Today, the car is touring cities to promote ratification of the 28^th Amendment that would codify the equal rights of women by guaranteeing them in the Constitution. The women who came to Modesto in 1916 stayed at the Modesto Hotel, according to a book by Jeryl Schriever. The bright yellow Saxon Flyer goes only 25 mph and is trailered between stops. “The right to vote is often taken for granted,” said Mayor Sue Zwhalen. “We are nothing without the voters at the local, state and federal level. You make the decisions; this is our city and our future.”
MAD Note: Though ratified by 38 states, the Equal Rights Amendment has yet to be enshrined in the Constitution. With the recent rejection of the Voting Rights Act, it appears the right to vote is not as secure as once thought.

Canvas hack hits colleges

ABC30. Multiple Central CA colleges impacted in massive Canvas hack.
Synopsis: The computer application used by 8,000 colleges has been hacked, and the hackers are demanding ransoms or they will divulge sensitive information of millions of students. Fresno State, UC Merced and College of the Sequoias all use the program.

UCM’s top frosh is a Tiger

Patterson Irrigator. Patterson native Sonya Gregoris named UC Merced’s Freshman of the Year.
Synopsis: After almost giving up on playing collegiate soccer, Patterson High grad Sonya Gregoris stuck with it for one more year and found herself making a big impact at UC Merced. “I worked my butt off, then I finally made the starting lineup. Ever since that, I was just like … ‘Maybe I was meant to play soccer in college.’” Gregoris played in all 18 games, the first freshman to do that for the Bobcats. She helped the team record 9 shutouts and scored a goal and an assist. Next year she expects to play center-back.

Her goal: A better cement

Merced Sun Star. New UC Merced professor working on making concrete more sustainable.
Synopsis: Cement is responsible for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions and is part of the problem when it comes to creating greenhouse gasses. But what if it could be part of the solution instead? That’s the premise of the work being done by Dr. Marina Garcia Lopez-Arias, a professor of civil engineering at UC Merced. She recently won the Outstanding Postdoc Award from Purdue University. She is enhancing the carbon-capture capabilities of cement by adding nanoparticles that cause pollutants to decompose harmlessly.

Latino voters want the truth

Cal Matters. Latinos in CA are mad at Trump; their votes for gerrymandering show it. 
Synopsis: This story is built on the wisdom of Republican pollster Mike Madrid, who said Latino voters sided with Donald Trump because they believed he would make the economy better. Now, they are turning on him because he hasn’t. To borrow a phrase from James Carville, “It’s the economy, stupid.” But there’s more. Immigration raids that swept up mostly working people, the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, and the shredding of the safety net programs, and Latino voters have had enough. Said one young woman born in the US: “Nobody’s really safe in this country now. It’s really sad.” Said another, “Everything is too expensive.” Another: “They sold lies to us, basically. That’s what they do.”

Chief, finance head leaving

Merced County Times. Atwater announces resignations of police chief, finance director.
Synopsis: Richard McEachin is retiring as Atwater police chief effective Aug. 31, concluding a 22-year career in law enforcement. Anna Nicholas, the city’s finance director since 2023, will be leaving on May 29.

Are their housing plans better?

Merced Focus. Atwater, Merced County plan rezones to avoid state lawsuit over housing plans.
Synopsis: Officials at Merced County and Atwater are changing housing plans in ways they hope will comply with state requirements. The city and county were among 16 called out by Gov. Newsom for not having appropriate housing plans. Being out of compliance could mean a loss of state funding or even a lawsuit from the state. Jonnie Hanson Lan of Atwater said the city is “real close” to meeting the state’s standards. Merced County will rezone 500 parcels to mixed-use, which would allow high-density development. Both the city and county plans are under review by the state.  

10,000 frogs in Yosemite

Maven. CA red-legged frog recovery reaches 10-year milestone in Yosemite.
Synopsis: Over 10 years the US Fish and Wildlife Service, CA Dept of Fish & Wildlife, Yosemite Conservancy and the SF Zoo & Gardens have released 10,000 red-legged frogs into meadows and streams in Yosemite Valley. Invasive bullfrogs killed off all the native red-legged frogs 30 years ago, but conditions have improved for their return and now multiple generations of red-legged frogs have survived and have re-established the population.
MAD Take: Mark Twain would be happy, Moses not so much.