Agriculture Daily News 1/14

A Los Angeles lawmaker will move ahead -- once again -- with a bill allowing illegal immigrants in California to obtain driver's licenses, after the Department of Homeland Security's release Friday of security regulations for the REAL ID Act. Such legislation has been vetoed repeatedly in past years, with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arguing that the state should wait until the federal government adopted the new security standards to make licenses more tamper-proof. CC Times 1/12/08

 

Today, what once was the rural agricultural town of Fernley, Nevada is now a growing bedroom community of about 20,000 residents that has been declared a disaster area after storm-swollen water tore a hole in the 50-foot-wide and 9-foot-deep canal and inundated hundreds of homes. As cleanup operations continued, Gov. Jim Gibbons put initial damage estimates at $4 million and growing. The area was declared a disaster area by state and federal officials. CC Times 1/13/08

 

A Bush administration initiative, the National Animal Identification System is meant to provide a modern tool for tracking disease outbreaks within 48 hours, whether natural or the work of a bioterrorist. But family farmers see it as an assault on their way of life by a federal bureaucracy with close ties to industrial agriculture. LA Times 1/14/08

 

Last week, a Peet's Coffee & Tea opened next to a rival Starbucks in Sacramento, and the Sac Bee took the opportunity to do a story on the two chains, which share a great deal of history. Peet’s has 11 stores in Sacramento, mostly because many former Bay Area residents live in Sacramento and expressed the need for it. Sacramento Bee 1/14/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to close 48 state parks to help balance California's budget may be easier said than done. Parks experts predicted a patrolling nightmare if the Democratic-controlled Legislature agrees to the closings. It's not possible to "close" thousands of acres of forests, meadows and beaches, they said, even if you padlock the parking lots. SJ Mercury 1/12/08

 

In late December, a study two years in the making, revealed for the first time exactly where the fecal coliform bacteria has been coming from around San Pedro Creek. Funded by a grant by the state Water Quality Control Board, the study found a direct link between urban activities and the types of fecal materials scientists tracked back to their sources. The biggest single source of fecal pollution — 44 percent — was bird droppings washing into the water, both in urban and rural areas. San Mateo County Times 1/12/08

 

In a ceremony with U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the start of a construction project that will double flood protection in most areas of the Sacramento region.  The $683 million project will be paid for with a combination of federal, state and local funding, including $167 million from Proposition 1E, a major component of the Governor's Strategic Growth Plan. The project includes improvements to Folsom Dam, including a spillway channel to increase reserve capacity and regulate water flows.  It will help increase the flood protection from 100 years to 200 years in most areas of the Sacramento region. Imperial Valley News 1/11/08