As California suffers through a seemingly endless dry spell, the term "drought resistant" seems to be used everywhere. But one group, at least thus far, really deserves the term -- farmers.
From Capitol Public Radio's Ed Joyce: "More than 500,000 acres of California agricultural land was fallowed last year. But there wasn't a significant falloff in Central Valley employment because much of the land wasn't labor-intensive."
"We haven't seen significant decline in jobs in 2014, some decline in production but in the grand scheme, in the overall scheme of the valley economy, agriculture has been fairly resilient," said Jeff Michael, Director of the Center for Business and Policy Research at University of the Pacific in Stockton.
"Michael says much of the land taken out of production in 2014 was low value field crops."
Speaking of the drought, California icons include cars, the beach -- and swimming pools. But can pools and the drought co-exist side by side?
The AP's Gillian Flaccus takes a deep dive: "As residents struggle to cut waste at the tap, the California Pool and Spa Association is lobbying water districts to quash proposed bans on filling pools and spas. The industry cites an in-house study that found that a standard-sized pool, plus decking, uses one-third the amount of water as an irrigated lawn after an initial fill."
"We're not saying, 'Solve the drought, put in a pool,' but the bottom line is people who put in a pool are making a decision to do something more water efficient with their backyard. They're saving water," said John Norwood, the California Pool and Spa Association's president. "Pools are landscaping."
"Some water conservation experts question the pool industry's math and say, at best, residential pools and lawns use roughly the same amount of water after an initial fill. There are 1.18 million residential pools in California, according to Metrostudy, which tracks housing information."
Pools aren't the only things getting a close look: How 'bout those car washes?
From KQED's Lauren Sommer: "Wheeler’s car wash has an added selling point for drought-minded customers: water recycling. The sudsy water flowing off the cars is recaptured, filtered and put into large tanks. Each gallon is reused four to five times."
“We’re actually only using about 2-to-2.5 gallons per car and that’s less than a dishwasher uses,” Wheeler said. While most car washes recapture at least some water in California, Wheeler’s is part of the WaterSavers program, which accredits car washes that recycle higher levels of water and filter what they discharge."
"The recycling system cost $90,000 to purchase and install, but the business is seeing a return in lower water bills. “When we bought it three years ago, I don’t think anyone thought we’d be in a drought in 2015,” Wheeler said."
One powerful argument against death penalty is the possibility that innocent people will be executed. Apparently, that's exactly what happened in California, according to an appellate judge.
The Chron's court reporter Bob Egelko gives us the scoop: "A federal appeals court judge says a convicted rapist-murderer who was executed at San Quentin in 1998 was “likely innocent” of a capital crime and was put to death only because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that barred a lower court from considering the merits of his case."
"The comments by Judge Stephen Reinhardt in a newly published Michigan Law Review article are the latest salvo in a controversy about Thomas Thompson, one of 13 Californians executed since 1992 under the current death penalty law and the only one whose guilt has been seriously disputed."
"Thompson was convicted of raping and fatally stabbing 20-year-old Ginger Fleischli in 1981 in the apartment he shared with Fleischli’s ex-boyfriend, David Leitch, in Laguna Beach (Orange County)."
Moving right along through the legal system, there are problems with the quality of health care at private prisons in California, according to the person who was assigned to oversee health care in the correctional system.
From the LAT's Paige St. John: "Little progress has been made in resolving, much less improving," the care provided to 4,200 inmates in seven contracted lockups, medical receiver Clark Kelso said in a report filed Monday with the three federal judges who oversee the state's prison system. Four of the seven prisons in Kern and San Bernardino counties are owned by the GEO Group; three are owned by small communities."
"California also houses more than 8,000 inmates in private prisons outside the state. To save money, Gov. Jerry Brown wants to move them to the contract prisons within California, a move that Kelso warned could cause even greater problems providing medical care at those facilities."
"The worst problems were at GEO's women's prison in McFarland, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for Kelso. The prison holds 231 women who are within a year of release. The state pays GEO $9 million a year to house the inmates at McFarland."
Nobody said the life of a politician was easy, but Rep. Ami Bera, an Elk Grove Democrat, is having a particularly tough time. Organized labor, angered at his vote on the Trans Pacific Parternship legislation, is really working him over, and now he's getting hit by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which said his op-ed writing isn't original.
From the Bee's Christopher Cadelago: "The Elk Grove Democrat has acknowledged that “widely used and disseminated statements” appeared in a column he wrote last month for The Sacramento Bee. In the piece, Bera explained his support for the president’s request for so-called “fast-track” trade promotion authority."
"The NRCC ad charges that Bera is “only worried about making his party leaders happy and not standing up for Sacramento families...”
"Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO, which last week announced its own paid ad campaign targeting Bera, is charging he’ll “do anything to keep his job – including shipping your job overseas.”
And from our "Great Credit Score File" comes the tale of a man named God. Take that, Equifax!
"A New York City man whose first name is God has settled a lawsuit with a credit reporting agency that had refused to recognize his name as legitimate. Under the agreement reached in Brooklyn federal court this week, Equifax will enter God Gazarov's name into its database. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed."
"Gazarov now has a robust 820 credit score. He says he was shocked by Equifax's refusal to acknowledge his moniker."
"The Russian native is a Brooklyn jewelry store owner who is named after his grandfather. He says it's a relatively common name in his native country."