Two Central Valley congressmen who have been outspoken in opposition to water curtailments to the Valley are offering praise for a judge’s order Friday to turn the pumps up for two weeks.

U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger said Friday that the pumping limits for the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project may be lifted for two weeks in order to boost irrigation supplies for farmers.

"It is undisputed that every acre-foot of pumping that is foregone during this time of year is an acre-foot that does not reach the San Luis Reservoir where it can be stored for future delivery to users during times of peak demand later in the water year," says Mr. Wanger.

He says the lower amounts of water allowed for months had been “catastrophic” to farmers and others south of the Delta.

“This is indeed great news for our Valley's farms and economy,” says U.S. Rep Jim Costa, D-Fresno. “It is important that we continue in the days ahead to press forward to ensure our farms and farm communities continue to receive all the needed supplies of water available, even after this injunction expires."

“Finally we are seeing some sanity after what has been years of dysfunctional management of our state’s water system,” says U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Modesto..

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Salyer’s bail denied

Saying he had never heard of such an elaborate plot to elude capture, a federal judge in New York City has denied a request to release Central Valley tomato processing magnate Scott Salyer on bail.

Mr. Salyer will be returned to Sacramento to face a litany of felonies related to a massive bribery scheme in the Valley’s tomato processing industry.

The former chief executive officer of SK Foods LLP did not enter a plea at his arraignment Friday.

In issuing his ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Gold said that this was “one of the most elaborate schemes to flee” that he had ever seen.

Mr. Salyer was arrested at JFK Airport in New York after arriving from Europe, and is charged with 20 counts of wire fraud and mail fraud.

CSU to add hundreds of additional classes

Using more than $50 million in federal stimulus money, the California State University system is expected to add hundreds of additional classes at area campuses this coming fall term, if not sooner.

Under the plan, CSU Bakersfield would get more than $1.1 million to add 187 course sections; CSU Chico would get more than $2.1 million to add 350 sections; Fresno State would get $2.9 million to add 464 sections; CSU Stanislaus would get $1.1 million for 187 sections and Sacramento State would get $3.1 million for 497 sections.

Over the entire 23-campus system, the money could fund in excess of 8,000 more course sections.

While leaders of the California Faculty Association say they are pleased with the news, they say the money must be used as soon as possible.

“The question now is how and when this money is going to be used. There remains a critical need this term for more money to fund additional course sections to help students complete their education and save faculty and staff jobs,” says CFA President Lillian Taiz, a professor of History at CSU Los Angeles.

Anthem Blue Cross rate hikes ‘alarming’

Threatened rate hikes of as much as 39 percent by Anthem Blue Cross has state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner telling the company’s customers to shop around for cheaper rates.

“I’m alarmed by the Anthem Blue Cross health insurance rate hikes, especially in a time when the recession has forced so many people into the individual health insurance market,” says Mr. Poizner.

He says his office will hire an outside actuary to examine the rates line by line to ensure they are complying with state law.

“If we find that their rates are excessive, I will use the full power of my office to bring these rates down,” Mr. Poizner says.

He also reminds Californians who have to purchase individual health insurance that there are dozens of insurance companies to choose from.

“I encourage consumers who are not happy with their rates, co-pays, benefits or service to look at other options,” he says.

Independent voters rise in California

Heading into the 2010 election year, 20.2 percent of California voters identify themselves as “decline-to-state” (DTS), an all-time high as a percentage of total registered voters, according to Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

She says there are more than 16.9 million Californians who are registered voters, up from 15.8 million at this time four years ago.

The percentage of DTS voters – sometimes called nonpartisan or unaffiliated voters – has more than doubled in the last 20 years. In four years, the percentage of people registered with the Democratic Party has increased from 42.7 percent to 44.6 percent, while the percentage of people registered with the Republican Party has decreased from 34.7 percent to 30.8 percent.

The deadline to register to vote in the June 8 primaries is May 24.

California has a “modified closed primary” system that permits each party to determine whether it will allow DTS voters to participate in their primary election. The Democratic and Republican parties will permit DTS voters to request their ballots in the June 8 primary; the other four qualified parties will not permit DTS voters.

UC Davis makes discovery at campus superfund site

A chain of chemical reactions between organic waste and naturally occurring chromium appears to explain the longstanding elevated levels of the chemical chromium-6, a human carcinogen, in groundwater at a federal Superfund site on the southern edge of the University of California, Davis, campus, the university says.

But UC Davis officials emphasize that those chemical reactions and the resulting chromium-6 have not increased concentrations of the contaminant in neighboring drinking-water wells above background levels.

"Based on our sampling, there is no indication that the contamination at the site has affected local drinking water or agricultural uses, but we are going to take steps to make sure that this contaminant is addressed or mitigated," says John Meyer, vice chancellor for administrative and resource management at UC Davis.

UC Davis and the U.S. Department of Energy have been working to clean up the 15-acre site of the former Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared it a federal Superfund site in 1994. Workers have removed 150 cubic yards of soil contaminated with low-level radioactivity, and continue to treat groundwater to remove contaminants.

Keynote speaker named for women’s conference

The Women’s Empowerment Group of Modesto has tapped Michael Loschke as the keynote speaker for their Feb. 24 luncheon. WEG is a non-profit women’s support and networking organization that provides opportunities for women in business to connect and grow.

Mr. Loschke is managing principal for IMC Consulting and Training based in Modesto. He is to talk about leadership skills for women. Prior to the event, attendees are encouraged to participate in a confidential survey of women’s attitudes and opinions.

Comments on this story

John Hardisty 2/7/10 11:40 AM
Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over. Mark Twain is credited with those words. But there are some doubts about that. There are no doubts about the fighting that is going on in Bakersfield, Calif., over flowing water down the Kern River. (Bet you thought all the water wars were raging in the Delta. Well, guess again!) Decades of water deals have diverted river water (as it passes through metropolitan Bakersfield) into canals and then out to agricultural fields, among other places. With a tug-of-war now going on between the city and water districts over some stray water rights, community activists, including the town’s newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian, want those rights used to restore the river’s flow through the city. They are sick of looking at a dry river bed. With a water war raging in the Delta and the feds restricting supplies to farmers, this Bakersfield battle is adding a new dimension to California’s water wars. John Hardisty Bakersfield http://www.svs2help.com/