Agriculture Daily News 1/16

The prices that California hospitals charge private insurers and patients vary dramatically - even after factors like the number of uninsured and the severity of illnesses are considered, according to a study released Tuesday. The study's sponsors said that the gap between operation costs and fees hospitals charge clearly demonstrates private payers are subsidizing hospitals for low payments made by government programs like Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California. SF Chroncile 1/16/08

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would place Sacramento's fast-growing Natomas in a flood hazard zone Tuesday, essentially halting construction of homes, offices and stores until the levees are improved. The FEMA announcement sets a long-awaited deadline for homeowners to buy flood insurance before rates rise. Sacramento Bee 1/16/08

 

The zebra mussel that has wreaked havoc in waterways around the nation has been found in California. The discovery in San Benito County is the first time the mussels have been seen in California. LA Times 1/16/08

 

Saying California's two raw milk dairies "got rolled by a state agency," a state assemblywoman is taking steps to repeal a strict new standard that the dairies say will put them out of business and deprive 40,000 consumers of unpasteurized milk. On Wednesday afternoon, Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures and Ron and Collette Garthwaite of Claravale plan to bring a cadre of scientists, doctors and raw milk consumers to present their case for raw milk to a hearing of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, where the limit originated. SF Chronicle 1/16/08

 

Three weeks after the founders of the Gap said they would invest $200 million in a plan to buy the Pacific Lumber Co. out of bankruptcy, a coalition of environmental groups led by the Nature Conservancy is today announcing a rival plan to take the redwood logging firm away from its current owner, Houston financier Charles Hurwitz and his Maxxam Corp. The case is being heard in Corpus Christi, Texas , where a federal judge will decide who gets to own roughly 210,000 acres of redwood and Douglas fir forests, and the company town of Scotia that is about 250 miles north of San Francisco. SF Chronicle 1/16/08

 

After more than three years of negotiations, a collection of long-quarreling Klamath Basin farmers, fishermen and tribes announced a breakthrough agreement Tuesday that they said could lead to the nation's most extensive dam-removal project. Two environmental groups and a Northern California tribe balked at the blueprint, calling it a Bush administration sellout to agribusiness allies. LA Times 1/16/08

 

A story on NPR highlights some of the similarities between an impending flooding crisis in the San Jaoquin Delta and the Netherlands, arguing that California could learn from a nation that maintains a constant battle against flooding. The Dutch federal government has concluded that it can no longer keep up with sea-level rise by building higher dikes. So it's considering innovative alternatives, such as building barrier islands in the North Sea. 1/14/08