Agriculture Daily News 2/26

This is the fifth year since 2000, Black says, that resident killer whales have been spotted in the Monterey Bay, and the sixth year they've been seen in California, a migratory behavior some researchers think the whales have adopted because they're not finding enough salmon, their food of choice, in their native waters. CC Times 2/26/08

 

Immigrants in California are far less likely to land in prison than their U.S.-born counterparts, a finding that defies the perception that immigration and crime are connected, according to a study released Monday. Foreign-born residents make up 35 percent of the state's overall population, but only 17 percent of the adult prison population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which conducted the research. SF Chronicle 2/26/08

 

California has adopted ambitious new goals for alternative fuels and cutting greenhouse gas emissions -- and it can no longer afford to leave the public out of the mix. For starters, the state is going to increase the use of ethanol as a fuel additive to all gasoline sold here. For years, California's gasoline has contained 5.7% ethanol to boost octane and comply with federal emissions rules; starting in 2010, that will rise to 10% ethanol. For a state that consumes about 43 million gallons of gas each day, that change alone represents a huge jump in ethanol consumption. LA Times 2/26/08

 

A plan to double the city's flood protection could add $5,000 to the price of an average new home in Sacramento. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency proposes a development fee to pay for a host of projects to achieve greater flood protection throughout the city. The fee was first discussed last year as a companion to a property tax increase adopted by voters for flood control projects. Details were unveiled at a meeting of the SAFCA board last week.  Sacramento Bee 2/26/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may issue an executive order jump-starting a controversial plan to build a canal around the Delta, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. Doing so would bypass the Legislature, which is divided over whether such a canal should be built. Record Net 2/26/08

 

Dino Cortopassi, whose company farms on an islad in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta, is suing the state for not adequately dredging its waterways. He says years of sediment accumulation has made the channels too shallow to handle water runoff, posing the threat of flooding.The suit, filed Monday in San Joaquin County Superior Court, seeks an order forcing the Department of Water Resources to scoop out the sediment from channel beds. Central Valley Business Times 2/26/08