Around The Valley
Turlock Irrigation District tests solar panels over canals In what could be a major step forward in conservation and adaptation for climate change, the Turlock Irrigation District is placing solar panels over irrigation canals. The project is a test of concept that should reduce evaporation losses in the canals while providing solar energy to district customers. Read more
Growing threat of Valley Fever Valley Fever, once a rare fungal infection communicated by blowing dust, has become a growing threat to public health, especially in the southern San Joaquin Valley. As more and more people are infected, it’s imperative that people become more aware of this potentially fatal disease. A new report details why. Read more
Valley is “ground zero” for groundwater management It’s been ten years since passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SIGMA) and two groundwater basins are still on probation for failure to produce acceptable sustainability plans. Many San Joaquin Valley towns still don’t have safe drinking water and almost every large city is still dependent on groundwater. Though many authorities think the Valley will achieve sustainability by 2040, the first decade since passage of has been fraught with difficulty, despite the expenditure of a billion dollars. Read more
Alvarado-Gil at center of new scandal and lawsuits California State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil caused a stir recently when she switched parties from Democrat to Republican. Now she’s being sued for sexual harassment and suppression of First Amendment rights to free speech. Chad Condit, Alavarado-Gil’s former Chief of Staff, has alleged she pressured him into oral sex by threatening his job security. In an unrelated action, the owner of Turlock’s B&C Investigations has sued the Senator for having been removed from a June 21 press conference. Read more
Modesto police review board recommends stricter oversight The Modesto Police Community Review Board’s first annual report recommended greater transparency, more emphasis on de-escalation techniques, and enhanced awareness of the effects of trauma on police officers. The wide-ranging report, released in late August, included the need for local communities to engage with law enforcement in compiling data that would reflect community needs and areas for improvement. Read more
Fresno Supervisor claims camping penalties not about homeless Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau claims that the county’s new anti-camping ordinance isn’t directed at homeless people. “It’s about all the rest of us that are impacted by people who do things that are not right in the public space.” Advocates for homeless people disagree. They cite lack of services and housing as driving factors in homelessness and argue that the elderly people on fixed incomes, the disabled, and victims of domestic violence make up large percentages of the homeless population. Read more
Letters
- Learn 100 Common Valley Birds: Species Numbers 70 and 71
Jim Gain’s Reflections of the Natural World isn’t just a virtual excursion into a visual paradise, it’s also a great educational tool for anyone wanting… Read more: Learn 100 Common Valley Birds: Species Numbers 70 and 71
FEATURED
- Rules of Thumb for Local Elections in the San Joaquin Valley
The conventional wisdom for city and county elections in the San Joaquin Valley has always maintained these elections are “non-partisan.” That is a convenient fiction. Elections are always partisan to an extent, otherwise why have two or more candidates? There was a time in what now seems a fairy-tale past when moderates from both our… Read more: Rules of Thumb for Local Elections in the San Joaquin Valley - Congressman Duarte can run, but he Can’t Hide
California Congressman John Duarte insists that he’s a moderate Republican willing to go against the doctrinaire commands of his party. Nonetheless, Duarte knows any candidate for office in today’s Party of Trump (PoT) who steps even a millimeter over the line of Trumpist dogma risks the fiery fury of der wannabe Fuehrer. Independence in today’s… Read more: Congressman Duarte can run, but he Can’t Hide
RECENT
- Illegal Immigration in the San Joaquin Valley
Over the twelve years from 2010 until 2022, California’s total immigrant population increased about 3%. The portion of undocumented immigrants in that total declined from 28% in 2007 to 18% in 2021. That’s compared to a 14% (or 1.2 million) increase from 2000 to 2010, and a 37% (or 2.4 million) rise in the 1990s.… Read more: Illegal Immigration in the San Joaquin Valley - San Joaquin Valley Election: Your Vote and Mine
Flannery O’Connor’s short story, Good Country People, features a Bible salesman who steals a woman’s artificial leg, leaving her stranded in a hay loft in the family barn. That’s just the bare plotline. Like any of O’Connor’s stories in the broad Southern Gothic tradition, it has multiple layers of irony, elements of the gruesome and… Read more: San Joaquin Valley Election: Your Vote and Mine