Water and fish:
*Bill would allow agencies to ban water softeners if salt threatens recycling efforts -- The Culligan Man could soon join the Maytag repairman in California, as regional water agencies seek more authority to remove home water softeners if they threaten local water supplies. Assembly Bill 2270, by Assemblymen John Laird and Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, would allow cities, counties and special districts – whichever entity oversees wastewater – to ban water softeners. Sacramento Bee 8/11/08
Proposal to harness wind power off Mendocino coast worries fishing industry -- The Electric Power Research Institute estimates enough wave power can be extracted from coastal waters to account for about 15 percent of California's electricity production. Offshore wind and wave technologies are promising, but they're untried. They also raise concerns about potential damage to the coast's prized vistas and fish industry. Sacrament Bee 8/11/08
Navy studies radiation at Weapons Station -- As the U.S. Navy gets ready to start studying radiation levels at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, old questions and theories inevitably come up — some would call them conspiracy theories — about the July 1944 explosion there and what it really was.. CC Times 8/11/08
*Kern County agency buys public water low, sells high -- Delta fish suffered a crippling decline while taxpayers paid nearly $100 million to a Kern County water wholesaler for an environmental protection program that was largely ineffective, a Contra Costa Times investigation has found. In the process, the wholesaler sold water to the state for as much as $200 an acre-foot and last year bought water from the state for as little as $28 an acre-foot. CC Times 8/9/08
Sewage spill closes beach in Sausalito -- Environmental officials will be testing the water quality today near Sausalito after a sewage spill dumped raw sewage into San Francisco Bay. The spill was first reported just after noon Sunday. It forced the closure of Swede's Beach, a popular waterfront stretch south of Richardson Bay. CC Times 8/11/08
State-of-the-art water recycling system fuels campus facilities -- The water crisis will continue to have little impact on UCLA because of the effective methods in recycling water along with campus conservation strategies for sanitation and water usage. UCLA has conserved and recycled water through the cogeneration plant, located in the Facilities Management Building near the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. This facility burns fuel and reuses the heat gained to make electricity, steam and chilled water. Daily Bruin 8/11/08
State Senate Decision Could Begin the Restoration of Delta Salmon and Other Fisheries -- Sometime in the next week to ten days, AB 1806, the Delta restoration and mitigation bill, will encounter its last hurdle when it is heard on the floor of the State Senate. The bill has already cleared the Assembly, and if passed by the Senate, will go to the Governor’s desk for his signature. Here is today's press release about the bill from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. Indy Bay 8/11/08
*Signs point to monster return for salmon -- The story of the decline in salmon populations on the Pacific Coast is well documented, but there's a surprise twist this summer. Scientists blamed the fall of salmon stocks primarily on a lack of marine food production, which has also affected the population of some marine birds. This was the result of a change in wind patterns across the ocean that caused poor upwelling and lack of plankton and krill. With plenty of food again in the ocean, yet far fewer adult salmon this summer, the fish that are out there are gorging and getting huge. SF Chronicle 8/11/08
Food and nutrition:
*Whole Foods ground beef in Northern California stores safe to eat -- Whole Foods Market is voluntarily recalling more than 1 million pounds of ground beef because of a possible E. coli outbreak. But Bay Area residents can rest easy: beef sold in the store's 24 Northern California locations is not involved, said spokeswoman Vanessa Cornish. SJ Mercury 8/10/08
Wood-Fired -- Rizzolo and her husband, the chef Philip Wojtowicz, quit their Los Angeles kitchen jobs in 2001 to come to Big Sur and make the Big Sur Baker. The bakery served as the meeting point for the community and firefighters, who insisted the place remain open in order to maintain a sense of normalcy. One day, Rizzolo started getting calls from evacuated patrons, who saw the bakery on the news. “One customer called, sobbing, saying: ‘We can’t lose the bakery! It’s a symbol of Big Sur.’ ” NY Times 8/10/08
Cal Citrus joins Sunkist, closes marketing office -- After more than four decades of marketing its own fruit, Cal Citrus Packing Co. Inc., Lindsay, Calif., is becoming a member of the grower-owned cooperative, Sunkist Growers Inc., Sherman Oaks, Calif. The Packer 8/11/08
Immigration and labor:
Mexico smugglers ply sea route to California -- Mexican smugglers are cramming illegal immigrants and drugs into boats and ferrying them to California by sea to try to beat the tightened security on the U.S. land border, authorities say. U.S. Coast Guard and police officers have nabbed 24 vessels packed with contraband in Pacific coastal waters off southern California since October 1 2007, more than twice the number stopped during the same period of the previous year. Reuters 8/11/08
*Study finds 11 percent drop in illegal immigration -- According to a report released last week by the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigration overall is decreasing nationwide, but some states such as California and Texas have increasing numbers of illegal immigrants. More relaxed policies in border states make them more attractive to undocumented workers living in states with stricter enforcement. Daily Texan 8/11/08
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