Agriculture Daily News 2/29

Alameda County residents will soon be voting by mail on a request to increase the amount they shell out to battle mosquitoes. A March ballot measure will ask voters to raise an Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District special tax, which currently costs homeowners $1.74 per year, to a maximum of $5 per year. The Hayward-based agency and its 13 employees seek and eliminate mosquitoes from breeding sites. They test and monitor for diseases carried by mosquitoes, including West Nile virus. CC Times 2/29/08

 

A coalition of business and farming groups said Thursday it is dropping plans to put a water bond initiative before voters on the November ballot. The group said it instead will work with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to negotiate a compromise that can be passed this year by the state Legislature. CC Times 2/29/08

 

The Humane Society of the United States says caged chickens suffer – and it's gathering signatures to put a measure on the November 2008 ballot that would make California the first state to ban barns outfitted like this one. The proposal, which would take effect in 2015, rides an international wave of opposition to farm-animal confinement. The European Union is already in the process of phasing cages out altogether by 2012, and in the past two years dozens of food-industry trendsetters, from Ben & Jerry's to Burger King, have pledged to buy some or even all of their eggs from hens raised cage-free. Sacramento Bee 2/29/08

 

The agriculture secretary on Thursday resisted calls from Democratic senators for a complete ban on so-called downer cattle -- those unable to walk -- from entering the food supply. In the wake of the largest beef recall in U.S. history, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced new steps to ensure the safety of the country's meat supply, including more random inspections of slaughterhouses and immediate audits of the 23 plants that supply meat for federal programs, primarily school lunches. CC Times 2/29/08

 

Tourists sipping their way up the 30-mile valley from the city of Napa to Calistoga may never see this other Napa Valley. But the celebrated Wine Country is proof that there are few places in the nation left unsmacked by the housing crisis. Beautiful Napa is experiencing foreclosures, plunging housing prices, unheard of drops in home sales and the nervous sense of foreboding that has spread across the country. CC Times 2/29/08

 

Despite stalled negotiations with Democrats on a comprehensive water plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to move forward on studies of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including a controversial canal, as well as call for a 20 percent per capita reduction in statewide water use, according to a letter he sent Thursday to Senate Democrats. Sacramento Bee 2/29/08

 

San Francisco diners are renowned for their discerning culinary tastes. Now people in the city could get to know their food even better. A Board of Supervisors committee has forwarded to the full board an ordinance that would require chain restaurants to post nutritional information in their menus and on menu boards. The board is expected to pass the proposal. SF Chronicle 2/29/08

 

Officials warned Thursday that a total closure of commercial and recreational salmon fishing may be needed this year to protect dwindling Sacramento River fall-run chinook populations. In a preseason report, the Pacific Fishery Management Council offered data showing the 2007 Sacramento fall run reached its lowest level in 37 years of recordkeeping. The report largely confirms data leaked to the media last month. Sacramento Bee 2/29/08

 

Recent storms have boosted southern Sierra Nevada snowpacks, raising hopes for many farmers who saw their water deliveries slashed last year. Fresno Bee 2/29/08

 

California sued the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday over plans that would open more than 500,000 acres to roads and oil drilling in the state's largest national forests. The four Southern California forests -- Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland -- comprise more than 3.5 million acres that stretch from Big Sur to the Mexican border. LA Times 2/29/08

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/29

East Bay lawmakers predict a gruesome fight this spring over both the gaping state budget deficit and the rules under which California makes its financial decisions. California's projected $8 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year will force some tough choices because less painful options have been exhausted. The Legislature is on a partisan collision course between unpopular cuts and less popular tax increases, including the vehicle license fee. CC Times 2/29/08

 

In something of a butterfly effect from the subprime mortgage crisis, the Bay Area's transportation agency is paying an extra $1 million a month because companies that insured $2.9 billion of its bonds had also underwritten subprime mortgage-linked investments. Despite spending an extra $3 million so far, the Bay Area Toll Authority can handle it without delaying the Bay Bridge project or raising the $4 toll on the area's seven state-owned bridges, said Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, whose members govern the authority. CC Times 2/29/08

 

The Port of Oakland offers monthly free harbor tours of its watery turf, terminals and vessels from May to October. It seems an unlikely attraction -- the daily hustle and bustle of the nation's fourth-busiest port -- but a port spokesperson said that demand for the tours has grown so much since they began in 2001 that port officials are considering adding more. CC Times 2/29/08

 

Scientists from the Bodega Marine Lab are helping assess the environmental damage caused when a cargo ship spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel oil in San Francisco Bay. They are tracking the development of Pacific herring, the last commercial fishery in San Francisco Bay. "It's the canary in the coal mine," said Gary Cherr, acting director of the Bodega Marine Lab, which is part of UC Davis. "If we see effects on the herring, we can expect to see other impacts without having to survey all organisms out there." Press Democrat 2/29/08

 

A show of solidarity by Central Valley politicians on Thursday failed to increase the region's share of an unprecedented $1 billion in air quality funding. The Valley will see no more than the California Air Resources Board first proposed last month: $250 million, or one-quarter of the total, the board voted. Valley officials had asked for $370 million. Record Net 2/29/08

 

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/28

A federal appeals court agreed Wednesday that state air pollution regulators cannot tell oceangoing ships arriving at California ports to cut their toxic contributions to local smog. At the beginning of 2007, the California Air Resources Board imposed emission rules for large container ships, cruise vessels and tankers that continually call at ports such as those in Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach, which are among the busiest in the nation. The ships would have to switch their auxiliary engines, which generate onboard electric power, from extremely dirty, sulfur-laden bunker fuel oil to low-sulfur fuel within 24 miles of California ports. CC Times 2/28/08

 

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency refused to say Wednesday whether the White House sought to influence his decision to deny California a waiver needed to implement a tailpipe emissions reduction law. Appearing before the U.S. Senate's environment committee, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson deflected repeated questions from Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., about any White House role in the controversial decision last December blocking California and at least 16 other states from implementing the reductions. CC Times 2/28/08

 

Three weeks after United Airlines said it will begin charging passengers $50 to check in a second bag on round-trip flights, US Airways jumped on board Tuesday and adopted the same policy. Travelers can expect the other big carriers to follow. CC Times 2/28/08

 

With Sonoma County diesel prices hitting a record $3.80 a gallon Wednesday, businesses that operate trucks and machinery are passing some of the cost on to customers. Absorbing rising diesel prices is increasingly difficult for businesses, with prices up 72 cents a gallon from a year ago.  Press Democrat 2/28/08

 

Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson was scolded by senators Wednesday for ignoring his own staff's advice in denying California's tough limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, whose state is one of 18 seeking to join California's efforts, pointed to a memo released this week by a top EPA deputy who said Johnson should resign if he rejected the state's request because he would lose his credibility. SF Chronicle 2/28/08

 

The Los Angeles City Council backed the first phase of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's clean-truck program Wednesday, imposing a cargo fee that will raise roughly $800 million to buy new and alternative-fuel trucks for haulers operating at the Port of Los Angeles. The council unanimously endorsed a Board of Harbor Commissioners ban on all diesel trucks built before 1989 from the port starting Oct. 1. LA Times 2/28/08

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/28

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request for a new team to plan rerouting of water away from the Delta -- a peripheral canal -- has ignited opposition in the Legislature. Three key lawmakers on Wednesday angrily accused the governor of enflaming rivalries and threatened to halt negotiations over a multibillion-dollar water bond. A letter was signed by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland; his successor as Senate leader, Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden. The showdown comes as lawmakers and the administration face off over whether the Department of Water Resources already has the legal authority to build the canal. CC Times 2/28/08

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats met behind closed doors on a plan to raise taxes and cut food stamp money to protect billions of dollars for agribusiness, a sector of the economy that is booming. The negotiators agreed Tuesday to find $10 billion in extra money in a last-ditch effort to save the farm bill, once seen as an opportunity to reform commodity programs and divert scarce funds to conservation, nutrition, organic research and California fruit and vegetable growers who are locked out of the Depression-era programs. SF Chronicle 2/28/07

 

Conservation groups this week made good on their vow to vigorously challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to close 48 state parks to help narrow a $3.3 billion budget shortfall this year. On Tuesday, the California State Parks Foundation officially launched its "Save Our State Parks" campaign. Dozens of organizations statewide, including Audubon California, the California League of Conservation Voters, Greenbelt Alliance and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, joined the campaign. CC Times 2/28/08

 

California's secretary of agriculture tried to sell a program of aerial spraying for an invasive moth to the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday night, but the council instead put him on notice that a lawsuit is brewing. The council heard from A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, and a doctor from the California Department of Public Health who said he could not be certain there would be no ill health effects from the spraying for the light-brown apple moth. It then voted 8-1 to oppose the spraying and explore its legal options to stop it. CC Times 2/28/08

 

With health care reform dead in California -- at least on the grand scale that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had envisioned -- lawmakers are stepping in with a series of measures that they say would help consumers and ban some egregious practices by insurance companies. The bills fall far short of the governor's vision of sweeping reform, which collapsed last month under the weight of a nearly $15 billion price tag. And they would do little, if anything, to reduce the ranks of the roughly 6.5 million uninsured. CC Times 2/28/08

 

The Humane Society sued the federal government Wednesday over what it said is a legal loophole that allows sick or crippled cattle, called "downers," into the food supply. A U.S. Department of Agriculture rule change made in July allows some downer cows into the food supply, the Humane Society of the United States alleges in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Yahoo News 2/28/08

 

A NY Times series that explores new restaurants of acclaim have ranked Coi (San Francisco) and Ubuntu (Napa) as among ‘Ten New Restaurants that Count.’ 2/27/08

 

Bags made from tightly woven bamboo fiber that come in two designs meant for artisanal breads are coming out of Berkeley. They claim to keep bread fresher. NY Times 2/27/08

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/27

City officials unveiled plans Tuesday for a major overhaul of San Francisco's Municipal Railway transit system that, if enacted, would eliminate some bus lines and truncate, expand or reroute many others. The changes - aimed at improving reliability, speeding travel times and providing more frequent service - are based on an 18-month analysis of transit ridership trends and traffic patterns in San Francisco. The plan would be the first significant restructuring of Muni routes in two decades and comes amid high public frustration with the system. SF Chronicle 2/27/08

 

For nearly two decades, the main plan in the works was the futuristic MagLev train that would zip riders between Las Vegas and Los Angeles in well under two hours, hurtling across the wide-open desert at up to 300 mph.But a delay in federal funds needed for planning the public-private venture has suddenly given traction to a cheaper diesel-electric alternative dubbed DesertXpress. The dueling plans are competing for a big piece of the tourism industry: Ten million Southern Californians make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. The vast majority take an increasingly clogged Interstate 15 that can slow to a crawl and make the drive an ordeal of five hours or more. AP 2/25/08

 

BART's top fiscal watchdog wants Bay Area transit officials to sever ties with the company struggling to develop the TransLink system - a regional effort to allow riders to use one fare card on more than two dozen transit systems. It was revealed this week that yet another deadline to get TransLink running on BART, San Francisco's Municipal Railway and Caltrain has been pushed back.Scott Schroeder, BART's controller-treasurer, made his plea to abandon the deal with ERG Ltd. - the company in charge of designing and implementing TransLink - after the city of Sydney canceled a similar contract with the company last month. SF Chronicle 2/27/08

 

The Port of Oakland is developing two truck-related emission reduction regulations, which it plans to consider this spring. The Maritime Air Quality Improvement Plan has the goal of reducing 85 percent of port-related emissions by 2020. Many of the plan's proposals call for highly restrictive truck measures such as requiring all trucks entering the port to be compliant with 2007 diesel truck emission standards by 2011. Landline Magazine 2/25/08

 

Northern California airports faired well and poorly in a survey of misery conducted by US News and World Reports, released February 11. SFO was one of the worst airports rated, with over 24% of flights leaving late, but San Jose International was ranked best airport (least 'miserable') by the report. Triangle Business Journal 2/26/08  

 

A Environmental Protection Agency official warned her boss, EPA chief Stephen Johnson, that if he denied California's bid to enforce its own tailpipe emissions rules, the agency's credibility "will be irreparably damaged" and Johnson would have to think about resigning. Margot Oge, the head of EPA's office of transportation and air quality, also told Johnson in an Oct. 17 memo that "there is no legal or technical justification for denying this," despite "alternative interpretations that have been suggested by the automakers." CC Times 2/27/08

 

Some officials at the Environmental Protection Agency were so worried their boss would deny California permission to implement its own global-warming law that they worked with a former EPA chief to try to persuade the current administrator to grant the state's request.  That unusual effort was revealed by documents released Tuesday by congressional investigators probing whether EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson was swayed by political pressure when he decided not to allow California to enact vehicle emission standards stricter than the federal government's. LA Times 2/27/08

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/27

It's now the law, pet owners who live in Los Angeles must have their dogs and cats sterilized by the time the animals are 4 months old. CC Times 2/27/08

 

Many prominent figures of the Tokyo food world are saying to Michelin, thanks for all the attention (which we deserve), but you still do not know us or our cuisine. Food critics, magazines and even the governor of Tokyo have questioned the guide’s choice of restaurants and ratings. A handful of chefs proudly proclaimed that they had turned down chances to be listed. One, Toshiya Kadowaki, said his nouveau Japonais dishes, including a French-inspired rice with truffles, did not need a Gallic seal of approval. “Japanese food was created here, and only Japanese know it,” Mr. Kadowaki said in an interview. “How can a bunch of foreigners show up and tell us what is good or bad?” NY Times 2/24/08

 

California could become the first state in the nation to require paid sick leave for all workers under a bill introduced last week by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco. Ma, who is running for the position of Assembly Speaker, plans to showcase the bill at a San Francisco press conference today. Its political prospects are iffy, and even Ma concedes the bill will be difficult to pass. SJ Mercury 2/27/08

 

An autumn ritual for tens of millions of adults and senior citizens could become routine for kids as well if federal health advisers recommend yearly flu vaccination today for the nation's 60 million school-age children. A nod from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices won't mandate flu shots for children, but it will smooth the way for both private insurers and publicly funded vaccination programs to pay for the immunizations. SF Chronicle 2/27/08

 

There have been more large, environmentally damaging sewage spills in the San Francisco Bay Area in the first two months of 2008 than in the last 7 1/2 months of last year, a Chronicle analysis has found. There have been 276 sewage spills this year that either flowed into Bay Area waterways or contained at least 1,000 gallons of effluent, according to the analysis of State Water Resources Control Board statistics. SF Chronicle 2/27/08

 

A garbage-to-energy plant that produces clean fuel, reduces global warming gases and leaves nary a toxic trace. Yet "plasma gasification" is a real, albeit emerging, technology being considered by Sacramento as an alternative to its daily trans-Sierra hauling of waste to a Nevada landfill. Sacramento Bee 2/26/08

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/26

More on-ramp metering lights and roving tow trucks would come to Bay Area freeways under a proposal to raise vehicle-registration fees by a buck. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is expected to vote this week on whether to support a legislative effort to raise vehicle-license fees by $1 in the nine Bay Area counties to pay for the improvements, which also include installing more traffic-monitoring devices. SF Chronicle 2/26/08

 

The experiment sounded so grand three years ago: The Valley Transportation Authority and SamTrans would test three buses that run on hydrogen fuel cells, emit no smog-inducing pollutants and help keep Silicon Valley's air clean. Green, yes. But a new report from the VTA says the $18 million state-mandated pilot project costs too much green -- and raises troubling questions about whether the program should continue. CC Times 2/26/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told Bush administration officials Monday that he is tired of the Pentagon treating the California National Guard like a stepchild by using its equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan without returning or replacing it. The Republican governor, in a visit to Washington for the annual meeting of the National Governors' Association, said the California National Guard is missing about half of its equipment - from humvees to radios. That could leave California at risk in an earthquake, fire or other emergency, Schwarzenegger said.

 

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners unanimously agreed Monday to spend $2.2 million to look at the effect of airport pollution on communities around LAX. LA Times 2/26/08

 

The chief executive of one of the nation's biggest railroads spent Monday promoting a plan to build a $300-million rail yard close to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where cargo containers would be loaded directly onto trains instead of being trucked up the Long Beach Freeway. LA Times 2/26/08

 

More on-ramp metering lights and roving tow trucks would come to Bay Area freeways under a proposal to raise vehicle-registration fees by a buck. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is expected to vote this week on whether to support a legislative effort to raise vehicle-license fees by $1 in the nine Bay Area counties to pay for the improvements, which also include installing more traffic-monitoring devices. SF Chronicle 2/26/08

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/26

This is the fifth year since 2000, Black says, that resident killer whales have been spotted in the Monterey Bay, and the sixth year they've been seen in California, a migratory behavior some researchers think the whales have adopted because they're not finding enough salmon, their food of choice, in their native waters. CC Times 2/26/08

 

Immigrants in California are far less likely to land in prison than their U.S.-born counterparts, a finding that defies the perception that immigration and crime are connected, according to a study released Monday. Foreign-born residents make up 35 percent of the state's overall population, but only 17 percent of the adult prison population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which conducted the research. SF Chronicle 2/26/08

 

California has adopted ambitious new goals for alternative fuels and cutting greenhouse gas emissions -- and it can no longer afford to leave the public out of the mix. For starters, the state is going to increase the use of ethanol as a fuel additive to all gasoline sold here. For years, California's gasoline has contained 5.7% ethanol to boost octane and comply with federal emissions rules; starting in 2010, that will rise to 10% ethanol. For a state that consumes about 43 million gallons of gas each day, that change alone represents a huge jump in ethanol consumption. LA Times 2/26/08

 

A plan to double the city's flood protection could add $5,000 to the price of an average new home in Sacramento. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency proposes a development fee to pay for a host of projects to achieve greater flood protection throughout the city. The fee was first discussed last year as a companion to a property tax increase adopted by voters for flood control projects. Details were unveiled at a meeting of the SAFCA board last week.  Sacramento Bee 2/26/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may issue an executive order jump-starting a controversial plan to build a canal around the Delta, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. Doing so would bypass the Legislature, which is divided over whether such a canal should be built. Record Net 2/26/08

 

Dino Cortopassi, whose company farms on an islad in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta, is suing the state for not adequately dredging its waterways. He says years of sediment accumulation has made the channels too shallow to handle water runoff, posing the threat of flooding.The suit, filed Monday in San Joaquin County Superior Court, seeks an order forcing the Department of Water Resources to scoop out the sediment from channel beds. Central Valley Business Times 2/26/08

 

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/25

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan group of governors called Sunday on President Bush, Congress and the presidential candidates to back a major spending program to repair the nation's roads, bridges, rail lines and water systems. The effort could come with a steep price tag: Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said the group will urge Congress to approve a new economic stimulus package that could include $25 billion to $30 billion for infrastructure projects. SF Chronicle 2/25/08

 

The Capitol Corridor and California's two other intercity rail lines, the San Joaquins from Oakland to Bakersfield and the Pacific Surfliner trains from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, carry 20 percent of Amtrak's nationwide passengers. While ridership on those California routes has grown 43 percent to 5 million annual trips in 2007, vehicle miles in the state have gone up only 8 percent and the population has risen 11 percent. State funding for this fast-growing sector has not kept pace, however. SJ Mercury 2/25/08

 

Seeking to improve public safety on the high seas, a state senator introduced a bill Friday that would require cruise ships sailing from California ports to have a peace officer on board.
If the measure passes, California would have the most stringent state regulations on the $35.7-billion industry, which has come under congressional and public scrutiny after several high-profile cases of missing people, passengers overboard and sexual assault in recent years. LA Times 2/23/08

 

Red blinking lights embedded on the runways of the San Diego and Dallas/Fort Worth international airports are substantially reducing the number of potential ground collisions between aircraft flying in and out. The red lights warns other planes to keep away from the area. The lights go off when it is safe to approach the runway. All Headline News 2/25/08

 

The Pittsburg-Bay Point BART station on the East County BART line -- through which about 5,000 people travel each weekday -- will be one of the first places in the country to carry an automated book-borrowing machine. It resembles an ATM, except it holds 400 popular paperback titles instead of cash. Others will be added later at a shopping center in Discovery Bay, a transit village near the Pleasant Hill BART station and a site in West County not yet chosen. SJ Mercury 2/18/08

 

California Air Resources Board staff on Friday unveiled proposed modifications to the shoreside power regulation approved by the Board in December. The regulation requires that vessel operators whose container, reefer or passenger ships call at least 25 times a year at six identified California ports will have to turn off their auxiliary engines at dock and plug into shoreside power.The proposed modifications - which include exceptions to the rule, vessel operational requirements and violation details - were discussed at a workgroup meeting in Sacramento. The new language was added in response to public comments the staff has received since last year, as well as directions from the board. Cunningham Report 2/24/08

 

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/25

A rare dolphin died on the beach of the Navy's San Nicolas Island, about 60 miles west of Los Angeles, in late January during the final days of Navy exercises using a type of sonar that has been linked to fatal injuries in whales and dolphins. Although researchers have yet to determine a cause of death, a dissection of the right whale dolphin's head revealed blood and other fluid in the ears and ear canals. The same symptoms were found in deep-diving whales that washed ashore in the Canary Islands and the Bahamas after military sonar exercises. CC Times 2/22/08

 

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed San Francisco on Thursday to continue requiring employers to pay part of the cost of providing health care to uninsured residents while a group of restaurant owners tries to overturn the program. Justice Anthony Kennedy denied a request by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association to suspend the employer contributions while the case awaits an April 17 hearing before an appellate panel. SF Chronicle 2/22/08

 

The cost of San Francisco's ballooning budget deficit became clearer at City Hall Thursday, as the body that oversees city parks approved spending cuts that would eliminate open positions for hiring 20 gardeners, along with those to have been filled by other maintenance and administrative workers. SF Chronicle 2/22/08

 

Lawmakers called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday to delay plans this summer to repeatedly drop aerial spray on Oakland, San Francisco and perhaps nearby cities to eradicate the apple moth infestation that threatens virtually all greenery. CC Times 2/23/08

 

Aerial spraying will begin in the East Bay this summer to combat the light brown apple moth, but already residents and city leaders are protesting the potentially harmful move because of concerns about health effects. Spraying of the pesticide, called Checkmate, is expected to begin in the Bay Area in August and could continue for five years over San Francisco, parts of San Mateo and Marin counties, and Oakland, Piedmont, Albany, Emeryville, Richmond, Berkeley, El Cerrito, and El Sobrante. CC Times 2/23/08

 

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said Friday he wants to wait to see the results of an investigation into the nation's largest beef recall before making any policy changes, but he acknowledged that the debacle has delayed negotiations to ship U.S. beef to Japan and South Korea. Speaking before meat packers and processors, Schafer said the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. recall announced earlier this week had already prompted diplomats to ask why the U.S. can't produce safe meat. CC Times 2/23/08

 

The Bush administration said Friday that it planned to raise fines significantly for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, part of a broader effort that includes improved border security after Congress failed to pass immigration-related legislation in 2007. CC Times 2/23/08

 

The state agency responsible for doling out water rights, it turns out, has a massive backlog of pending applications for Delta water at the same time experts are coming to the conclusion that the system is already maxed out. This puts the state Water Resources Control Board in a difficult position: how to satisfy historic assurances for the north at a time when the amount of water available for other parts of the state is already being cut? The pending applications, which total more than all of the Delta water delivered each year to Southern California, would, to the extent they are granted, take water directly from the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. CC Times 2/24/08

 

After nearly seven years in office, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey still has a long to-do list. Near the top: Persuade a federal judge to keep him out of jail. Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist who has directed U.S. forest policy since 2001, also wants to set up state rules making it easier to build roads in remote national forests and to restore overgrown, unhealthy forests by clearing them of small trees and debris that can stoke wildfires. A Montana judge, accusing Rey of deliberately skirting the law so the Forest Service can keep fighting wildfires with a flame retardant that kills fish, has threatened to put him behind bars. CC Times 2/24/08

 

A McDonald’s restaurant in Hacienda Heights has been redesigned using the principles of feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging objects and numbers to promote health, harmony and prosperity.The makeover is part of the attempt by McDonald's Corp. in recent years to remodel hundreds of its restaurants to attract more patrons with decor and amenities that might entice them stay a while.  CC Times 2/25/08

 

Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., one of the biggest suppliers of beef to the national school-lunch program before videos showing animal cruelty at the plant helped trigger the biggest meat recall in U.S. history, probably will shut down permanently, according to the company's general manager, Anthony Magidow. WSJ 2/25/08

 

Restoration of long-dead salmon runs in the San Joaquin River near Fresno can easily be achieved, and it might help solve other California water problems, says an authority on native fish. Biologist Peter Moyle, a University of California at Davis researcher who is known as an expert court witness on fish issues, will discuss the river at the Salmonid Restoration Conference March 5 to 8 in Lodi. Moyle said the salmon revival might give a shot of fresh water to the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where the San Joaquin River empties. Fresno Bee 2/24/08

 

The governor would have to call a state of emergency before any pesticides could be sprayed over California cities under one of several bills introduced Friday amid growing concern over a plan to eradicate a pest moth in the Bay Area. The legislation, if passed, wouldn't take effect until next year - not soon enough to stop the planned spraying this summer. But backers say the four bills will protect cities from any future pesticide programs. SF Chronicle 2/23/08

 

Transporation Daily News 2/22

The Port of Oakland must show it won't worsen diesel air pollution before getting nearly $445 million in state bond money for railroad and trucking improvements, East Bay residents and environmentalists told transportation officials Thursday. The port and railroad companies are asking the California Transportation Commission for a big slice of a 2006 state transportation ballot measure. Monterey Herald 2/22/08

 

Ridership on Amtrak'sCalifornia routes has grown 43 percent to 5 million annual trips in 2007, vehicle miles in the state have gone up 8 percent, and the population has risen 11 percent. State funding for this fast-growing sector has not kept pace, however. Since a voter-approved bond jump-started the Capitol Corridor in 1990, the line has received only sporadic capital funding from state coffers, averaging about $578,000 a year. CC Times 2/22/08

 

A California lawmaker is expected to introduce a bill today that would require better fuel efficiency and lower emissions from mid-sized and heavy-duty vehicles driven by state employees. The bill would expand the scope of a law that the Legislature passed last year requiring the state to rank passenger vehicles in its fleet based on a set of economic and environmental standards, and then purchase cars and trucks at the top of that list. CC Times 2/22/08

 

Tolls on the Golden Gate Bridge would rise and fall depending on the amount of traffic congestion, under a proposal likely to be considered next month by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The move to adopt so-called congestion-based tolls is an effort to save $158 million in federal transportation funding. That money is needed in part to help rebuild Doyle Drive, the structurally unstable approach to the landmark bridge. SF Chronicle 2/22/08

 

Bay Area visitors soon may find it easier to wine, dine, sleep and spend in Palo Alto.  The city moved a step closer to establishing a visitors' bureau this week when its Finance Committee unanimously supported a proposal to seek professional help in forming a marketing and tourism program. Palo Alto Daily News 2/22/08

 

San Francisco hotels will be pushing an 80 percent occupancy rate this year and the thinking within the bullish tourism industry is that we will dodge a recession, but unless additional exhibition space is created at the Moscone Center, the city will begin losing lucrative convention business, the city's chief of tourism and conventions said Thursday. SF Chronicle 2/22/08

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/22

Days after the largest meat recall in U.S. history, the head of the Agriculture Department said officials are reviewing why a California plant processed unfit cattle, and that it was too early to determine whether it was an incident specific to the facility. "We are reviewing our procedures, how we work with the plant, how our inspectors work, our staffing needs," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters at the USDA's annual Outlook Forum. "And until we find out, we can't assess other plants, and we can't say ... this is an isolated incident or an ongoing practice." Reuters 2/22/08

 

Federal officials say that more than one-third of the 143 million pounds of California beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs. AP 2/20/08

 

Restaurant menus in California are marrying the broader commercial movement of "functional" foods — those stuffed with heavy doses of vitamins and antioxidants — and a national fixation on immunity boosting. Typical of the new trend, Crustacean, a modern Vietnamese restaurant, has attached an icon to the left side of several menu items letting diners know that those dishes supposedly boost immunity. International Herald Tribune 2/21/08

 

A federal judge has thrown out half of the charges against five Makah tribe members accused of harpooning and killing a gray whale last September. An attorney argued, among other things, that the charges were unconstitutional breach of equal protection rights because Alaska Native Americans can conduct whale hunts without restrictions by the MMPA. News 5 Seattle 2/19/08

 

Patricia Unterman calls the food at Hime “an uninhibited mix of Japanese ingredients and California invention” in a review in the Examiner. 2/20/08

 

Normalized relations with Cuba could means millions in export dollars for Arkansas rice growers and others, a possibility heightened by Fidel Castro's resignation Tuesday as the island nation's president. Though federal officials downplayed the possibility Tuesday of lifting the U.S. embargo on Cuba in place since the 1960s, members of Arkansas' congressional delegation routinely float bills that would expand trade with the communist nation. With Cuba now importing Asian rice, Arkansas' proximity to the island and plentiful rice harvest could be alluring for a nation with a cuisine that emphasizes the grain. CNN 2/19/08

 

Sponsored by the California Association of Winegrape Growers and co-authored bystate Sen. Patricia Wiggins, Assembly Bill (AB) 2090 creates a new special temporary on-sale wine license for wine grape commissions, regional wine grape grower associations and professional organizations in the field of enology and viticulture. The license allows these organizations to sell wine at wine-tasting events designed to promote a particular agricultural region or as part of a class, seminar or other educational event. Times Herald 2/21/08

 

The running saga over California health insurers canceling policies rolls on. Now, the Los Angeles City Attorney is suing an insurer called Health Net for allegedly rescinding coverage when members submit claims for costly treatments. WSJ 2/21/08

 

In the past five years, cotton acreage across California has shrunk by almost half, according to the federal Department of Agriculture. Farmers are turning to alfalfa hay, corn and wheat, commodities that require less irrigation and have been dipped in gold by the competing demands for biofuel and cattle feed. NY Times 2/19/08

 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met privately with state lawmakers Thursday in an effort to jump-start stalled negotiations on a state water bond. There were no major breakthroughs and significant hurdles remain. But legislative leaders from both parties agreed to meet again in two weeks, the governor said. Sacramento Bee 2/22/08

 

Bipartisan Consensus Builds for California Water Bond Environmental News Service 2/21/08

Industries operating in California reduced toxic releases by 2.8 percent in 2006 compared to 2005, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is the third year in a row for overall reductions in toxic releases, the EPA says. Central Valley Business Times 2/21/08

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/21

Caltrain will expand evening weekday service with two additional trains between San Francisco and San Jose, effective March 3, the railroad said Tuesday. SF Chronicle 2/20/08

 

California's budget gap is expected to grow by $1.5 billion more than was projected a month ago, the nonpartisan legislative analyst said Wednesday, as deteriorating revenues worsen the state's fiscal crisis. The deepening deficit is a result of lower-than-expected tax receipts in the state's three major revenue areas - personal income tax, sales tax and taxable corporate profits, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said. SF Chronicle 2/21/08

 

Nevada is going to need $450 million more a year in revenue by 2016, or $6 billion in highway projects may have to be scuttled, state Transportation Director Susan Martinovich told lawmakers. AP 2/20/08

 

The bus of the future has arrived in San Francisco, and while it doesn't drive itself, fly over crowded intersections or necessarily even arrive on time, it does offer free Wi-Fi access, touch-screen maps on the walls and connecting transit information. Muni passengers will get their chance to ride the bus beginning Monday and continuing for the next year or so. The bus will begin regular service on the 10-Townsend line. SF Chronicle 2/21/08

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/21

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's plans to designate Sacramento's fast-growing Natomas sector, north of the Sacramento and American rivers, as a Special Flood Hazard Area AE Zone in December is stirring up widespread concern that the new requirements could amount to a building moratorium for the city during a time of budget constraints. Insurance Journal 2/21/08

 

Unless California curtails its appetite for sprawl development, it will pave over 2.1 million acres of farmland in the next four decades and jeopardize the state's role as one of the nation's top food-growers, according to an American Farmland Trust study. The new report, "Paving Paradise: A New Perspective on California Farmland Conversion," calls for the state to shift growth away from valuable agricultural lands, eschew land-gobbling ranchette development and accommodate new homes and businesses in higher densities. CC Times 2/21/08

 

Concern for the state of honey bees and its potential impact on the food industry led the premium ice-cream maker, Haagen Dazs, to launch a campaign intended to raise $250,000 for research into what's ailing the honey bees, said Katty Pien, brand director of Haagen-Dazs in the United States. Money raised through the sales of honey bee-dependent flavors will be donated to researchers at UC Davis. CC Times 2/21/08

 

Last June, laboratory tests showed high levels of mercury in dolphin and pilot whale, a small whale that resembles a dolphin, that were caught and sold in Taiji, Japan. A scare has divided the community. Most local officials and the fishermen’s union insist that the mercury danger is overblown, while some others have begun to question a tradition. NY Times 2/21/08

 

On Wednesday the U.S. government said the Consumer Price Index rose a greater-than-expected 0.4 percent in January, the result of steep jumps in food and energy prices. Food alone rose 0.7 percent, the biggest one-month jump since February 2007.  Scores of grocery items have become pricier. Sacramento Bee 2/21/08

 

Modern efforts to help endangered fish coexist with two dams on the Yuba Riverhave not gone well, according to environmental groups who last week sued the federal government and the Yuba County Water Agency. Sacramento Bee 2/21/08

 

Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both California Democrats, have asked for investigations of a Southern California slaughter facility, the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., a supplier to federal food and nutrition programs, into possible violations of laws intended to prevent animal cruelty and preserve food safety.  SF Chronicle 2/21/08

 

Amid growing concerns of Bay Area residents, a state legislator is pushing for a moratorium on aerial spraying of a moth pesticide over San Francisco and Marin counties. Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, will ask representatives of the 10 other counties where the moth has been found to join her resolution, she said. The resolution, if passed, would delay the application of a synthetic pheromone that disrupts the mating of the light brown apple moth. SF Chronicle 2/20/08