Want to solve climate change? This California farm kingdom holds a key
LA Times, SAMMY ROTH/ROBERT GAUTHIER/JESSICA Q. CHEN/MAGGIE BEIDELMAN/JACKELINE LUNA/PAUL DUGINSKI: "The barren dirt is littered with petrified carrots, blackened and barely recognizable after four years baking in the Imperial Valley’s legendary heat. The August sun is starting to set, but it’s still 113 degrees in California’s hottest, driest county.
Ralph Strahm tried his best to make money off this ground. In addition to carrots, the soft-spoken 66-year-old grew alfalfa and Sudan grass, using Colorado River water that originated as Rocky Mountain snowpack hundreds of miles away.
But the sandy, gravelly soil refused to cooperate. The economics were no good."
Race to zero: Can California’s power grid handle a 15-fold increase in electric cars?
CALMatters, NADIA LOPEZ: "As California rapidly boosts sales of electric cars and trucks over the next decade, the answer to a critical question remains uncertain: Will there be enough electricity to power them?
State officials claim that the 12.5 million electric vehicles expected on California’s roads in 2035 will not strain the grid. But their confidence that the state can avoid brownouts relies on a best-case — some say unrealistic — scenario: massive and rapid construction of offshore wind and solar farms, and drivers charging their cars in off-peak hours.
Under a groundbreaking new state regulation, 35% of new 2026 car models sold in California must be zero-emissions, ramping up to 100% in 2035. Powering the vehicles means the state must triple the amount of electricity produced and deploy new solar and wind energy at almost five times the pace of the past decade."
Bay Area rainfall chart, December and January: Almost 50 inches at wettest spot
BANG*Mercury News, STAFF: "January’s atmospheric river storms brought rainfall five times the average for the month to date in much of the Bay Area.
For this point in the water year — which starts in October — the totals are around twice the average at many Bay Area spots. November was drier than normal, and December brought about double the average rainfall.
The totals below are from Dec. 1 to Jan. 16 at National Weather Service stations."
Growers brace to give up some Colorado River water
CALMatters, ALASTAIR BLAND: "Across the sun-cooked flatlands of the Imperial Valley, water flows with uncanny abundance. The valley, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, is naturally a desert. Yet canals here are filled with water, lush alfalfa grows from sodden soil and rows of vegetables stretch for miles.
Within this grid of greenery, near the desert town of Brawley, Mark McBroom grows 6,000 acres of hay crops, like alfalfa, and fruit orchards, all irrigated by water imported from the Colorado River.
But now, as a record-breaking megadrought and endless withdrawals wring the Colorado River dry, Imperial Valley growers will have to cut back on the water they import. The federal government has told seven states to come up with a plan by Jan. 31 to reduce their water supply by 30%, or 4 million acre feet."
California storms: The past three weeks were the wettest in 161 years in the Bay Area
BANG*Mercury News, PAUL ROGERS: "How wet has it been recently in Northern California?
New rainfall totals show that no person alive has experienced a three-week period in the Bay Area as wet as these past 21 days. The last time it happened, Abraham Lincoln was president.
From Dec. 26 to Jan. 15, 17 inches of rain fell in downtown San Francisco. That’s the second-wettest three-week period at any time in San Francisco’s recorded history since daily records began in 1849 during the Gold Rush. And it’s more than five times the city’s historical average of 3.1 inches over the same time."
S.F.’s Golden Gate Park has a new feature after storms: more lakes
The Chronicle, CLAIRE HAO: "After weeks of rain, Golden Gate Park has gained some photo-worthy new landmarks: temporary lakes.
Near where John F. Kennedy Drive intersects Stanyan Street, not far from the McLaren Lodge, a shallow pond has formed around a grove of trees — some fallen, some standing.
Bridget Hiler, who walks by the area every day, said Tuesday she’s never seen this much water in the field. The day before, the sidewalk was so flooded she couldn’t walk by at all."
500 mudslides, flooded communities, broken bridges: California faces long, costly storm recovery
LA Times, SUMMER LIN: "A pier in Santa Cruz split in half. Extensive flooding in Soquel Village, Capitola and Planada. Vital bridges badly battered or closed. More than 500 reported mudslides across California in the last few weeks, including some that damaged homes and cars in L.A. hillside communities.
The atmospheric river storms that pummeled California for weeks inflicted “extensive” damage to as many as 40 of the state’s 58 counties, and total repairs could reach as much as $1 billion, according to authorities.
The estimated cost is likely to change as teams of local, state and federal officials on Saturday began damage assessment that is expected to continue for several weeks, according to Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services."
As more shooters wear body armor, a California bill would ban most bullet-proof vest ownership
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "Most Californians would be banned from purchasing or taking possession of body armor, such as a bullet-proof vest, under a bill now being considered by state lawmakers.
Assembly Bill 92, introduced by Assemblyman Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, comes as a response to many high-profile mass shootings where the shooter wore body armor. That includes the 2015 massacre in San Bernardino, where two people wearing tactical gear killed 14 people at a holiday gathering.
State and federal law already prohibit people convicted of a violent felony from possessing body armor. AB 92 would make it a misdemeanor for anyone outside of a specified profession to purchase or take possession of body armor."
Former S.F. building commission president pleads guilty to $775,000 fraud
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: "Rodrigo Santos, a 64-year-old civil engineer and former president of the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission, has pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding clients out of $775,000, arranging donations to bribe a city building inspector, lying to the FBI and other accusations.
Santos is the latest defendant ensnared in a federal public corruption probe that has led to charges against a dozen people, and convictions of former Public Works head Mohammed Nuru, and Harlan Kelly, former general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission."
The right choices? Leaders, policymakers and experts react to Gov. Newsom’s 2022-23 education budget
EdSource, STAFF: "Following years of record growth, California is confronting a slowing economy even as it embarks on a range of investments to improve education and the well-being of its students.
In the pages below, more than 60 education insiders — from students to administrators to practitioners and advocates — share their thoughts on how well Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023-24 budget proposal meets their priorities for early education, K-12 schools and the state’s public universities in the face of an expected economic downturn.
Click the links below to see what they had to say."
UC housing problem persists for graduate students
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "Congratulations! You’ve accepted an offer to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of California. Your starting salary as a graduate worker is around $30,000, an almost guarantee that roughly half of your income is going to rent and utilities. You’re new to the city where your UC campus is located, but the institution that accepted you may not offer you housing, not even in your first year, when you’re most unfamiliar with the place you’ll spend the next six years teaching and learning. Coming from out-of-state or even overseas, as almost half of grad students do? Your quandaries get messier.
And even if you locate a spot on campus, your budget is still stretched. Want a cheaper option off-campus? Prepare for a race to find a roommate and apartment before the life of academe consumes all your time. No car? Reliable public transit is no sure bet.
Despite the wage gains and other benefits UC graduate workers secured from the system last month after a historic six-week-long strike, housing relief wasn’t among them — on- or off-campus."
Which Bay Area city is best for you? Tool ranks 25 cities based on 'quality of life' metrics
The Chronicle, LEILA DARWICHE/NAMI SUMIDA: "What’s the best city to live in the Bay Area? The answer is different for everyone. For some people entertainment options are paramount, while others care more about diversity.
In 2022, The Chronicle ranked 25 largest Bay Area cities by quality of life based on 11 metrics, and the city of Alameda came out on top. For our 2023 ranking, we decided to up our game to include 16 metrics and let readers create their own ranking based on their priorities. These metrics don’t include everything a resident might care about, but they hit on many of the factors that contribute to a pleasant city life."
ACE train stalled after it was struck by mudslide near Niles Canyon
BANG*Mercury News, AUSTIN TURNER: "An Altamont Corridor Express train heading westward was stalled Tuesday morning after a mudslide struck it alongside Niles Canyon, an ACE train spokesperson told Bay Area News Group.
The 220 passengers and all crew members were unharmed, according to the spokesperson. As of 11 a.m., the passengers were currently being rescued and being returned to the nearby Pleasanton station. The train was not derailed in the incident.
Service may be impacted throughout the day as crews work to clear the tracks before they can make determinations on what to do with the impacted train."
Who would execute a baby? Tulare sheriff said a Mexican cartel, then backtracks
LA Times, RUBEN VIVES/GRACE TOOHEY/JESSICA GARRISON/ROBERT J. LOPEZ: "The body of the 16-year-old girl was found crumpled outside the home, along with her dead 10-month-old son. It was clear to investigators who came upon the scene in the early hours of Monday morning that the young mother had tried to run away with her baby in her arms. But forensic evidence showed she had been caught before she could escape, and both she and her child were shot in the forehead from above, execution style.
Four other people, including a grandmother asleep in her bed, were killed with similar cold professionalism in the rampage at a family compound in the farm town of Goshen.
Speaking to reporters just a few hours after his deputies had responded to the violent scene, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux characterized the massacre as a targeted attack by an unspecified drug cartel. “The drug cartel,” in his words. What else could explain the depravity of executing a baby?"
Here’s how much S.F. spent on police in Union Square over holidays to lure shoppers downtown
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "For the second year in a row, San Francisco spent more than $2 million in police overtime in Union Square to deter retail theft during the holiday shopping season and make an emptier downtown feel safer.
For the first month of Mayor London Breed’s Safe Shopper Initiative in 2022 — from the pay period ending Nov. 25 (Black Friday) to Dec. 23 — the city paid out $2.2 million in police overtime."
Man’s death after tasing reignites debate over LAPD’s role in traffic enforcement
LA Times, LIBOR JANY: "Police say that Keenan Anderson caused the minor traffic collision in Venice that ended with several officers piling onto him and shocking him with a Taser.
His family disagrees. They say Anderson, who died a few hours later, was a victim of the crash and that what he needed in that moment of distress was medical care, not police intervention.
Activists and some City Council members say that Anderson’s death lends even greater urgency to efforts to remove armed police officers from traffic enforcement — a tenet of a nationwide movement to radically transform the criminal justice system that took hold after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly three years ago."
‘An iconic moment’: In Warriors’ return to White House, Biden takes a knee
The Chronicle, C.J. HOLMES: "As President Biden and the Golden State Warriors lined up for the traditional White House championship photo, the president took a knee.
Stephen Curry felt the weight of the moment. About six years earlier, the day before then-President Donald Trump “disinvited” Curry and the NBA champion Warriors from the White House, he told NFL owners to fire players who don’t stand for the national anthem.
“Very symbolic,” Curry said. “I think it was an iconic moment in the sense of what that image means. But the fact that he would do it there, I don’t know how he’d put words to it, but he’s just a humble server, man. That’s how you want anybody to approach the position that he’s in. … That picture is going to be one to keep.”"
Helicopter crash near Kyiv kills 18, including Ukraine’s interior minister
AP: "A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday killed 17 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children, Ukrainian authorities said.
There was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or a result of the war with Russia. No fighting has been reported recently in the Kyiv area.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy, Yevhen Yenin, and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were among those killed, according to Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s National Police."
