Agriculture:
*Farming's parched future -- Unlike urban areas where drought-related losses have been minimal, some agricultural regions and farming towns are reeling from water cutbacks. State officials have blamed the drought for $245 million in economic losses – and rising. Agriculture is a powerful economic force in some parts of California, but food and animal production directly accounted for less than 2 percent of the state's economic output in 2006, according to the state Department of Finance. Last year, food and animal production generated 357,825 jobs, or 2.3 percent of overall employment. Growers in the Imperial Valley have sown virtually every acre of irrigable land. The biggest increase is in wheat, which has more than doubled in acreage there this year. San Diego Union Tribune 8/4/08
Water:
Desalination plan going back to coastal panel -- The long-running tug of war between a developer and the California Coastal Commission staff over the state's first large-scale ocean-water desalination plant continues this week as the two sides wrangle over environmental issues. Poseidon returns to the commission Wednesday with a plan to satisfy those conditions. If it goes well, the company hopes to get final approval to build the plant on the south shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon. The most significant conditions address how to compensate for fish and small marine organisms that will be killed in the desalination process, and how to neutralize carbon emissions that will result from plant operations. San Diego Union Tribune 8/4/08
*Sacramento's approach to water meter system faulty, some experts say -- Sacramento lacks a comprehensive plan and expert advice for its massive water-meter installation project, raising the risk, industry observers say, that expensive components won't be able to communicate with each other. A draft plan for the state-mandated $400 million project contains dozens of blank sections, including the one on equipment specifications, a Bee review found, and it takes an approach not recommended by experts in the field. Sacramento Bee 8/2/08
Health:
*Health insurance ambition narrows -- Seeking to salvage two years of efforts to completely remake California's health insurance system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators are nearing deals intended to rein in costly, meager medical insurance policies sold directly to individuals. In the final weeks of the legislative session, they are negotiating measures that would limit insurer profits on individual plans, require plans to provide a minimum set of benefits and restrict insurers' ability to cancel policies retroactively. LA Times 8/4/08
S.F. pushes legislation to promote good health -- San Francisco famously became the first city in the nation to attempt to provide universal health care to its residents and requires employers to provide paid sick leave, both of which are mostly popular ideas in this progressive city. But when it comes to legislating good habits, some San Franciscans have had enough. They say they can manage their health just fine without Newsom and the supervisors wagging their fingers at them. SF Chronicle 8/4/08
Lifting of travel ban a relief to HIV-positive immigrants and travelers -- On Wednesday, President Bush signed a $48 billion global AIDS relief bill that also repealed a ban on HIV-positive immigrants and tourists entering the country. Bush's repeal does not immediately end the restrictions for those with HIV and AIDS. Attached to his bill battling the global AIDS epidemic, the language takes away the congressional ban and returns authority to federal public health officials. Inside Bay Area 8/1/08
Budget, hundreds of bills await Calif. Lawmakers -- California lawmakers return from their summer break Monday to deal with hundreds of bills in four hectic, final weeks of their 2008 session. Lawmakers are required to wrap up their 2008 regular session by Aug. 31, but Schwarzenegger could call them into special session if they haven't approved a budget by then. Among bills awaiting final action is legislation dealing with sick leave, calorie count, and high-speed rail. SF Chronicle 8/3/08
*U.S. probe into salmonella outbreak criticized -- Two days of congressional hearings this week into the nation's largest salmonella outbreak in a decade revealed a Keystone Kops government investigation that spanned more than two months and stretched from a false alarm about U.S. tomatoes to suspicions about peppers from Mexico. State health officials and growers slammed federal officials for refusing to ask for help or use common sense. Growers in California and Florida, reeling from losses for a contamination they had nothing to do with, want an investigation of the investigation. SF Chronicle 8/2/08
Labor and immigration:
*S.F. fund aids teen felons who are illegals -- As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show. SF Chronicle 8/3/08
SF to lose millions for border billings -- San Francisco authorities have been able to justify the handling of just 127 border-prosecution cases out of the more than 2,300 that the city billed to the federal government under an anti-crime grant program. SF Chronicle 8/2/08
Bio-fuels:
Experts clash over viability of biofuels, alternative energy -- Pre-eminent UC Berkeley scholars clashed Saturday over whether biofuels will help solve the energy crisis - or whether biofuel supporters are duping themselves and everybody else with empty promises. The university's College of Natural Resources hosted a panel discussion called "The Future of Biofuels?" and it became clear early on why the question mark was tacked onto the title. SF Chronicle 8/3/08
Food:
Getting healthy foods to poor people a struggle -- Farmer's markets are growing more popular, with their numbers rising 18 percent to more than 4,300 between 2004 and 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Organizers, however, say many low-income people stay away for reasons including perception, price, location and problems such as the inability of some markets to accept electronic food stamp cards. In east Oakland, Calif. - a low-income, often violent area of the Bay Area city - David Roach started a farmer's market run by some of the state's black farmers. It has grown from six farmers to more than 30, but the operation is struggling. Seattle Post Intelligencer 7/23/08
How now, Brown Cow? Just fine, thank you -- Brown Cow Farm in Antioch produces about 95,000 cases of yogurt per week and is the nation's top-selling all-natural yogurt brand, according to SPINS — a national market research and consulting firm for natural products. CC Times 8/2/08
*Region shows prodigious appetite for takeout -- The Sacramento fast food industry is growing almost as fast as local waistlines. From 2001 to 2006, the number of takeout establishments in the Sacramento metro area jumped 28 percent – more than twice the increase in the region's population, according to newly released U.S. census data. Sacramento Bee 8/3/08
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