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History

Allen Short: Still Picking the MID Money Tree

November 11, 2012 By Eric Caine Leave a Comment

  Even though departing Modesto Irrigation District (MID) General Manager Allen Short has been Executive Director of the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority (SJTA) since May, the Modesto Bee announced his appointment to the job just last Friday. Short will officially begin the new job January 1, one day after he leaves the MID. The SJTA includes six water districts. It’s essentially a lobbying agency whose joint powers give it more […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID Allen Short, Modesto Irrigation District Allen Short, San Joaquin Tributaries Authority

Has the Modesto Bee Become a Follower of the Valley’s New Media?

November 9, 2012 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

  To his credit, the Modesto Bee’s Garth Stapley did acknowledge that Emerson Drake provided much of the subject matter of Stapley’s most recent Modesto Irrigation District (MID) report. In fact, Drake, via his Eye on Modesto website, broke the news of MID payouts to “consultants” via the circuitous route of Martino Graphic Design well before the Bee decided to cover the story. Stapley was responsible enough to credit Drake for his […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Allen Short MID, Emerson Drake, MID Martino Graphics Design

Short and O’Laughlin Flee Rising Tide of Problems at MID

November 3, 2012 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

  Six months ago, no one could have guessed the Modesto Irrigation District’s (MID) General Manager and General Counsel would be leaving under a cloud formed by a cascade of Falling Water. Six months ago, no one would have predicted that a slow-talking cowboy from eastern Stanislaus County would take on Allen Short, Tim O’Laughlin, four MID Directors, and the Modesto Bee and prevail over them all. Newly-elected Director Larry […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID Director Larry Byrd, MID Falling Water Charge, MID Manager Allen Short

Modesto Police Department Low Staffing Levels of the 1990s Resurface, by Bruce Frohman

November 1, 2012 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

  Former Modesto City Councilman Bruce Frohman has an insider’s view of problems with City budgets and police staffing. Here, he offers an up-to-the-minute look at current problems with staffing in the Modesto Police Department. News Item: California Highway Patrol to Help Stockton Police Department Maintain Order The recent decision of the California Highway Patrol to help the Stockton Police Department sparked this writer’s interest in examining Modesto Police Department operations to […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Modesto Law Enforcement, Modesto Police Department

Bee Scales New Heights of Hypocrisy

October 27, 2012 By Eric Caine 4 Comments

  Long-time readers of the Modesto Bee have known that for the last two decades, any time the Bee takes a position on an issue it also abandons objectivity and fair play. Thus, it was no surprise that when the Modesto Irrigation District’s (MID) proposed water sale to San Francisco was rejected, the Bee immediately began a campaign to get the sale back on the table. The means the Bee […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID Falling Water Charge, MID water sale

Coming Soon to the State Theatre: California History

October 27, 2012 By Eric Caine Leave a Comment

  What better venue than Modesto’s historic  State Theatre to view a documentary film of one of the greatest eras of California history? Edmund G. “Pat” Brown was among the last of California’s larger than life politicians back when it was still possible to be both visionary and progressive. “California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown,” features a cast including some of the Golden State’s greatest and most […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: State Theatre, State Theatre Modesto

MID Falling Water Charge: Subsidy or Slush Fund?

October 21, 2012 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

  According to Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini, news that local farmers have been receiving subsidies amounting to $89 million over seventeen years was as big a surprise to farmers as to anyone else.“Ninety-nine out of a hundred farmers have never heard of the Falling Water Charge,” said DeMartini last Friday.The Falling Water Charge is the controversial fee (some would say “tax”) that the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) imposes on […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID Falling Water Charge, Modesto Irrigation District Water Sale

Read the Memorandum That May Drown the MID in Falling Water

October 14, 2012 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

    The Valley Citizen has obtained an internal Modesto Irrigation District (MID) memorandum. Almost ten pages long, the memorandum provides legal analysis of possible consequences for the MID of Proposition 26. Proposition 26 was approved by California voters in 2010. Its purpose was to prohibit unjustified fees and costs imposed by entities that provide public services. In 1995, the MID added a “Falling Water Charge” to its bill for […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID Falling Water Charge, MID Falling Water Memorandum

Citizens of Salida Will Decide Their Future, by Bruce Frohman

October 13, 2012 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

  The City of Modesto has started an effort to annex the small unincorporated town of Salida. In doing so, the citizens of Salida will be forced to decide their town’s future. They have three basic options. They can annex to the City of Modesto, incorporate as their own city, or leave themselves unincorporated. The Annexation Option If Salida annexes to the City of Modesto, residents will get the advantage […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Bruce Frohman, Salida Annex, Salida annexation

Is the MID Taxing Customers Illegally with the “Falling Water Charge”?

October 12, 2012 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

  Just when it looked like things couldn’t get any worse for the Modesto Irrigation District (MID), the heavens opened and delivered a world of trouble in falling water. In the arcane parlance of irrigation districts, “falling water” is water that falls from dams and spillways to provide electricity. Some districts impose on their customers a “Falling Water Charge.” The Falling Water Charge is an attempt to capture the value […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Falling Water Charge, MID Falling Water Charge, Modesto Irrigation District

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Off The Wire

In California?s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
In California’s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
How do you change a place as polluted and desperately unequal as the San Joaquin Valley?
www.nytimes.com
America?s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
America’s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
In a time of fentanyl and meth, we need to use law enforcement differently and more often.
www.theatlantic.com
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It?s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It’s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Researchers coined the term “plasticosis” to describe stomach damage related to ingesting trash.
www.audubon.org
'Greedflation,' Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
‘Greedflation,’ Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM?s home for opinion and news…
talkingpointsmemo.com
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
Recommended steps include raising awareness of antisemitism now and in the past, expanding knowledge of Jewish heritage in the US
www.timesofisrael.com
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faces a prison sentence up to 25 years in the first punishments for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
Opinion | America?s Poverty Is Built by Design
Opinion | America’s Poverty Is Built by Design
How did the U.S. become a land of economic extremes with the rich getting richer while the working poor grind it out? Deliberately.
www.politico.com
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer's Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has 'No Place' In Congress
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer’s Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has ‘No Place’ In Congress
The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) following a  TPM…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
After widespread, bipartisan criticism, the governor revised his budget to include $40 million to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains.
calmatters.org
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
Conventional wisdom had long suggested the opposite.
nymag.com
Spiraling in San Francisco?s Doom Loop
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.
www.curbed.com
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
The two lots could accommodate about 500 tents and would be an alternative to congregate shelters
www.sandiegouniontribune.com

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

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