Water:
*Water use cuts fall short of goals in East Bay -- The East Bay Municipal Utility District in mid-May ordered its 1.3 million customers to slash water use by 15 percent overall. But less than a month before new drought rates are supposed to go into effect, few are. Water use across the district, which includes parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has only dropped 4 percent, or 183 acre-feet (an acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons). SF Chronicle 6/19/08 New DWR Drought Report
*Keeping the Water Pure Is Suddenly in Demand -- Drought conditions, not to mention worries about continued supplies of clean water, are turning water into a growth industry in California and elsewhere. Many small companies are finding niches and doing well these days. Puretec Industrial Water, of Oxnard, Calif., for example, "grew 34 percent last year," said Jim Harris, the owner and president. Mr. Harris, now 69, said he decided to go into purifying water for industry because he saw the rising semiconductor companies were demanding purer water for their processes and electric power plants were imposing stricter water standards. NY Times 6/19/08
Water coalition soliciting farmers -- Farmers and ranchers are again being encouraged to join local water coalitions to comply with state clean-water rules, and those who apply by June 30 will avoid an application fee being proposed by regulators, officials said. Owners with land where irrigation or stormwater runs off and reaches streams, rivers or lakes are required to regularly test the runoff for pesticides, fertilizer and other contaminants, and file extensive reports with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. They can do that individually - a very expensive and time-consuming process - or join a water coalition to share the costs with a larger group. Stockton Record Net 6/19/08
Sewage spill hampers oil-cleanup effort -- Efforts to clean the oil that washed up at Robert Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda were hampered Wednesday by a sewage spill, postponing the reopening of the beach until today, according to a park spokeswoman. The oil-spill cleanup in Alameda County was completed by midday Wednesday. But as crews were wrapping up the work, the sewage spill occurred on Kittyhawk Road, a residential street that connects with Shore Line Drive, which borders the beach. The origin of the oil - which caused a sheen on the water surface - also is expected to be known today. SJ Mercury 6/19/08
Falling lake level will empty Folsom marina early -- With Folsom Lake draining every day, boaters have an early deadline to remove their watercraft from slips in Brown Ravine. Boats must be taken to high ground by July 2, said Ken Christensen, manager of Folsom Lake Marina. About 600 boats are floating in the marina's 675 slips, but a decreasing water level caused by drought conditions require them to be pulled from the lake. Last year, required boat removal wasn't until Aug. 1, and in 2006, the lake remained full enough to keep the marina open until Dec. 1. Sacramento Bee 6/19/08
*Bee Exclusive: Capital gushes wasted water -- The Sacramento metropolitan region has so neglected water conservation that it now ranks as one of the world's most extravagant consumers of water, a Bee review has found. Throughout California, urban water agencies have generally failed to make good on conservation promises made during the state's last major water fight. No concentration of residents and businesses, however, uses as much as Sacramento: 25 percent more per capita on a daily basis than Las Vegas, and nearly 50 percent more than Los Angeles. Sacramento Bee 6/19/08
3 forums to discuss Delta ecology -- State water officials host three "town hall" meetings on Delta issues next week, aiming to help the public understand the many programs under way to correct ecological and water problems in the estuary, the largest on the West Coast of the Americas. Programs involving the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta include the governor's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, emergency response planning, habitat restoration, and levee improvements. Sacramento Bee 6/19/08
*Schwarzenegger to fight offshore drilling -- The nation's anger over $4-plus gasoline is producing political theatrics at the White House, in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail. Republicans are demanding new drilling off the nation's beaches. Democrats want to tax oil company profits. But the politically charged proposals have little chance of becoming law - and even if they did, motorists would not see any relief. SF Chronicle 6/19/08
Schwarzenegger says drilling ban not to blame for high gas prices -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday he opposes lifting a ban on new oil drilling in coastal waters, breaking with President Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. He called California's coastline "an international treasure" that must be protected by a federal oil-drilling moratorium that has been in place for 27 years. LA Times 6/19/08
Delta trustees charged with wasting millions in bond funds -- San Joaquin Delta College trustees wasted millions of dollars of voter-approved bond money by ignoring advice from staff and pursuing a campus at Mountain House - the cost of which has soared to $94 million from $55 million, the San Joaquin County civil grand jury charged in a report released Wednesday. Stockton Record 6/19/08
Health:
Sacramento County's 'grim' budget saves three health clinics -- Three health clinics slated to close under a draft Sacramento County budget will limp on under the $2.1 billion budget finally adopted Wednesday by the Board of Supervisors. The saved programs were the exception to the rule, though, as the county made nearly $68 million in budget cuts. Sacramento Bee 6/19/08
*After health-care plan splinters, pieces are being reconstructed -- Although the governor's health-care reform plan died this year in the Capitol's political crossfire, critical pieces have been resurrected and are quietly moving through the Legislature. One of the most important--already approved in the Senate and opposed by HMOs--would force health insurers to give consumers uniform, clear and accurate descriptions of their policies to aid comparative shopping. Capitol Weekly 6/19/08
Calif. Court Considers Medical Rights -- On the heels of its ruling on same-sex marriage, California's highest court will decide another potentially landmark civil rights case: whether doctors can refuse to treat certain patients for religious reasons. Washington Post 6/19/08
S.F. restores $9 million to city programs -- Mayor Gavin Newsom's administration has announced that it will put $9 million back into health and human services programs after finding miscalculations in his proposed budget. Most of the money - $6.8 million - comes from funds that the administration believed were needed for a new helipad for San Francisco General Hospital. But instead of using general city funds, the helipad could instead be built with money from a bond voters will be asked to approve in November. SF Chronicle 6/19/08
Agriculture:
*UCD study links farm productivity slowdown to research cuts -- Reduced spending on agricultural research is likely one reason the rate of growth in the productivity of California's farms has dropped since 1990, according to a new study led by an economist at the University of California, Davis. In the last year, tight global supplies of basic agricultural commodities such as corn, wheat and rice have driven increases in food prices around the world, prompting calls for rejuvenating agricultural research. Sacramento Bee 6/19/08
Farmworker's family sues over California heat-related death -- Lawyers for the family of a teenage girl who died last month after working hours in a hot vineyard filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Merced Superior Court on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges Merced Farm Labor and West Coast Grape Farming Inc. – the company that hired Merced to provide workers – are responsible for the death of María Isavel Vásquez Jiménez, who died in Lodi two days after collapsing in a vineyard on May 14. Sacramento Bee 6/19/08
Immigration and labor:
Supreme Court strikes down California law on unions -- The U.S. Supreme Court struck down on Thursday a California law that prohibits employers from using state money to influence employees' views on unions in their workplace. By a 7-2 vote, the high court sided with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group and with the Bush administration. The law prohibits employers who receive state funds and grants from using the money to "assist, promote or deter union organizing." Reuters 6/19/08
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