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Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

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Environment

Coronavirus? Just Chase it Around Town

March 19, 2020 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Imagine some of the most vulnerable residents in your town being chased from place to place during a pandemic. Imagine that their only access to hygiene is public restrooms, back alleys, and the great outdoors. Fanciful as it may sound, that’s exactly the case with members of Modesto’s homeless population who didn’t make it into the county’s new 182 bed shelter on 9th and D Streets in Modesto. When the […]

Filed Under: Environment, History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Another OID Water Scheme Revealed

March 12, 2020 By Eric Caine 5 Comments

Oakdale Irrigation District Board of Directors

At least three of Oakdale Irrigation District’s (OID) directors seemed reluctant to pursue local water sales during their March 3 meeting. Though they had committed to develop a plan for delivering water to local buyers outside the district the last July, directors Herman Doornenbal, Brad DeBoer, and Tom Orvis seemed to be having second thoughts about following through on the program. When audience members reminded the board some had spent […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

OID: Still Gambling with Its Water Rights

March 6, 2020 By Eric Caine 5 Comments

Unsustainable Pumping Graphic

Last July, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) Board of Directors agreed to develop a five year plan to deliver water to farmers outside district boundaries but within its sphere of influence. Based on the board’s decision, several farmers who had petitioned for water began making good on their promises to provide infrastructure necessary for the deliveries. In some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent. Then, just last Tuesday, […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Linda Santos Oakdale Irrigation District, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

Homeless: Time to Focus on Accountability

March 4, 2020 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Alan Davis downtown Modesto

The sign on J Street reads, “Cruising Prohibited.” Below that,  “Loitering Prohibited, 6pm to 6am.” Another warns, “This area is under video surveillance.” It’s very doubtful Alan Davis, the amputee across the street, ever reads the signs, even though he’d haunted downtown Modesto for months before being taken by volunteers to the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter (MOES) last fall, where he had a tent, a bed, and routine checkups of […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Alan Davis homeless, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Del Puerto Canyon: The Birds, the Flowers, the Dam

February 6, 2020 By Eric Caine 11 Comments

Immature Golden Eagle Del Puerto Canyon by Jim Gain

Modesto’s Jim Gain, in addition to being among the Valley’s most accomplished naturalists, is also one of our finest wildlife and nature photographers. A member of the Stanislaus Audubon Society’s Board of Directors, Gain has been documenting bird life in the Valley for over thirty years. Over the decades, he’s been especially drawn to Del Puerto Canyon, in part because its diverse habitats almost always offer wonder, and frequently produce […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Del Puerto Canyon, Del Puerto Canyon dam

Del Puerto Canyon: Then and Now, a Controversy

February 5, 2020 By Elias Funez 32 Comments

Along Del Puerto Canyon by Elias Funez

Nestled among the rolling hills of Northern California’s Diablo Range, along the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, lies the narrow entrance to a unique canyon long known for its geological, biological, archaeological and paleontological significance. Of late, however, Del Puerto Canyon is becoming better known for some very fast- tracked and heretofore little-known plans to build a 260 foot high dam and reservoir in an area with unstable […]

Filed Under: Environment

Will Mistletoe Destroy Modesto’s Urban Forest?

February 5, 2020 By Babette Wagner 4 Comments

Mayor Ted Brandvold wants more money to hire police officers and most agree our police force is understaffed. Nonetheless, many concerned citizens fear Brandvold will divert funds and continue to neglect Modesto’s urban forest, once a symbol of pride that has now become a financial liability. With her typical keen insight and concern for the city, Babette Wagner wonders whether the spread of destructive mistletoe will add even more costs […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Modesto's urban forest

Draining the Last Great Aquifer: a Group Project

December 8, 2019 By Eric Caine 8 Comments

California map of critically overdrafted groundwater basins

Environmentalists who had high hopes Gavin Newsom would lead the way to sustainable water use in the San Joaquin Valley are waking up to the knowledge that the new governor isn’t going to be any more effective than the old governor. Sustainability is just too big a lift. Even before Newsom took office, the terms of the water debate were morphing from “sustainability” to “voluntary agreements.” Not long after, sustainability […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: California groundwater law, Eastern Stanislaus County groundwater, San Joaquin Valley groundwater, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

PG&E: A Casualty of Global Warming?

November 4, 2019 By Bruce Frohman 6 Comments

PG&E tuned

Amid the power outages and horrific fires caused by downed transmission lines, a growing chorus of politicians is suggesting restructuring Pacific Gas and Electric Company.  Although the company operates efficiently with a large economy of scale, San Francisco and other urban areas are looking into breaking off pieces of territory to establish locally owned power companies. Is this a good idea? Climate Change Before 2000, California had longer and wetter […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: PG&E rural, PG&E San Joaquin Valley

Trinitas Partners Hires OID Water Attorney: Conflict?

October 30, 2019 By Eric Caine 4 Comments

OID March 20

In a move very likely to revive local controversies and bitter memories, Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) water attorney Tim O’Laughlin has been hired by Trinitas Partners to manage its huge Hawaiian farming operation in Maui, where it’s known as “Mahi Pono.” Now an entity with too many names and subsidiaries to list, Trinitas/Mahi Pono recently purchased 56,000 acres in Maui for $267 million from sugar cane growers Alexander & Baldwin. […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Oakdale Groundwater Association, Oakdale Irrigation District Fallowing Program, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales, Oakdale Irrigation water rates, Trinitas Partners Oakdale

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Off The Wire

?Monster Fracks? Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
“Monster Fracks” Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
A Times analysis shows that increasingly complex oil and gas wells now require astonishing volumes of water to fracture the bedrock and release fossil fuels, threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
www.nytimes.com
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has 'paralyzed' California cities
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has ‘paralyzed’ California cities
The Democratic governor’s intervention lays down a mark in a legal dispute with potentially profound implications for one of California’s most pressing issues.
www.politico.com
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
www.propublica.org
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How bad is hunger in California? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but now is being reduced.
calmatters.org
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population….
www.mercurynews.com
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
After decades of minimal action, Congress passed the largest and most comprehensive piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. Will we make the most of this opportunity?
www.audubon.org
How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
How the fentanyl crisis’ fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
The epidemic’s staggering scale and infiltration of communities is laid bare in a new study.
www.bbc.com
Can licensed tent villages ease California's homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Can licensed tent villages ease California’s homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City.
www.latimes.com
Mississippi has problems, but it's handling homelessness better than L.A.
Mississippi has problems, but it’s handling homelessness better than L.A.
The public tends to blame homelessness on poverty, drug use, crime or even warm weather. But other cities don’t have L.A. levels of street homelessness because they have more available housing.
www.latimes.com
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
The demonstrators raised “Heil Hitler” salutes and waved flags with swastikas.
www.thedailybeast.com
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom's CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom’s CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Gov. Gavin Newsom?s experiment to push Californians with mental illness off the streets and into treatment, CARE Court, starts soon.
calmatters.org
Pope says 'backward' U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope says ‘backward’ U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church. He says they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
apnews.com

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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