Agricultural Daily News August 12

Water and fishing:

 

Can cattails combat climate change? -- About 2-1/2 years ago, scientists noticed that their “big garden” of cattails in the Delta , was removing carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. That revelation persuaded state and federal officials to expand the project. They are now trying to determine whether the tules and cattails could be used to combat global warming through what they call “carbon-capture” farming. AP 8/11/08

 

Graywater systems recycle bath, laundry water -- Gray and her husband, Larry, know their water provider, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, called for water rationing in May because of drought, but the Grays' yard will be green all summer and for years to come. When the Grays built their new two-story home, they invested in a graywater system that catches water from sinks and showers and redirects it for landscaping and gardening. Every possible drop of water the couple use — except for water from the toilets and kitchen sink water — is reused on their landscape. CC Times 8/9/08

 

*Recycled water project officially on tap -- Officials from Delta Diablo Sanitation District, state water agencies and the federal government joined city leaders in dedicating a project that will use recycled water on Delta View Golf Course and some city landscaping. Officials gushed that the water reuse project allows the city to maintain grassy areas in case of drought, while saving money and usable water for residents. SJ Mercury 8/11/08

 

*California Water War Enters New Front with the 'Battle of the Reports -- The Public Policy Institute of California released a report advocating the construction of a peripheral canal on the California Delta, while two environmental groups, EDF and NRDC, released two separate reports recommending ways to provide enough water to both restore salmon and serve California's water needs. Indy Bay 8/11/08

 

Fire retardant discovered in wastewater plants that discharge into the Bay -- A new fire retardant product with unknown long-term impacts on human health and the environment has been discovered in two wastewater treatment plants that discharge into San Francisco Bay, according to a scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute who made the find. Inside Bay Area 8/12/08

 

EPA Agrees to Set Beach Water Criteria By 2012 -- The association representing most of the country's municipal sewerage agencies says it is satisfied with an settlement reached Friday that ensures its members will be represented as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency develops new criteria for beach water quality.  The head of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies said today he is pleased with the agreement the association reached Friday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Los Angeles County in litigation over new recreational water quality criteria.  Environmental News Service 8/11/08

 

Health:

 

Health care costs seen rising 10 percent in 2009 -- Health care costs are expected to rise more than 10 percent into next year, according to a survey of insurers by Aon Consulting Worldwide. But that increase is the smallest Aon has seen in six years. Experts say it shows that efforts to tame costs, such as employee wellness or disease management programs, may be paying off. AP 8/11/08

 

Labor and immigration:

 

*Study looks at health of farmworkers – A MICASA study is being conducted by the University of California at Davis documenting health trends in California immigrant communities. MICASA is an acronym for "Mexican Immigration to California: Agricultural Safety and Acculturation." Such a project is vital because of the role farmworkers play in the Valley's farming economy, study coordinators and health experts say. Fresno Bee 8/11/08

 

Agriculture:

 

*Global California almond shipments soar -- Exports of California almonds soared for the marketing year just closed, according to the Almond Board of California, Modesto, Calif. Almonds soared to new all-time records, indicating continued strong global demand. Record shipments accompany the industry’s largest crop ever. 1.38 billion pounds of almonds, 24 percent more than the previous year, were harvested during 2007. Western Farm Press 8/12/08

 

New study cites continued regulatory cost explosion -- The California Institute for the Study of Specialty Crops has published a new study which details the continuing explosion of regulatory costs on California agriculture and specifically citrus. Since a 2006 study by the Institute an additional $12.4 million in regulatory impacts have been shouldered by citrus producers throughout California. Western Farm Press 8/12/08

 

Jump on agritourism wave and stay on a farm -- Call them haycations: It's a chance to spend a night or two on a working farm or ranch and enjoy the comforts of an inn or guest home while you learn about your hosts' approach to agriculture. Traditionally, they're known as farm stays. SJ Mercury 8/12/08

 

*Inland growers moving quickly to prepare for Asian citrus psyllid -- A tiny pest just south of the U.S. border with a taste for budding citrus trees has state agriculture officials and growers on high alert. Its arrival could mean doomsday for an industry that was worth $1.8 billion in California last year, they say. In recent weeks, the Asian citrus psyllid, an insect the size of a pea that can carry a rapidly spreading disease dubbed "greening," inched closer to California's southern border. Freshplaza 8/12/08

 

*Sacramento area plays big role in tomato products -- As harvests peak this summer and fall, we'll tell you about what's ripe in the Sacramento region, from farmers market favorites to food staples shipped across the globe. Nearly all are specially bred for the food industry, which churns them into everything from ketchup to pizza sauce. Around a third of the state's processing tomatoes grow within 75 miles of Sacramento, mainly in Yolo and San Joaquin counties. Our area produces 30 percent of the nation's supply. There's a bumper crop this year, around 10 percent above average. Sacramento Bee 8/12/08

 

Leafy greens agreement passes 500 inspections -- The California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement has reached a milestone, completing 500 food safety inspections of its members’ growing operations in its first year. The Packer 8/12/08

 

Transportation Daily News August 11

Transit and infrastructure:

 

Fuel costs changing the way school buses run in districts -- Fremont may double its bus fees, to $700 a kid. In Gilroy, elementary students must now live a mile away from school before they can board a school bus. And transportation directors everywhere are working the phones to find the best price on diesel fuel. SJ Mercury 8/11/08

 

*Suit filed over state high-speed rail project -- A coalition of transportation and planning groups and two Peninsula cities filed suit Friday, seeking to invalidate the environmental study - and the choice of the Pacheco Pass alignment - for the state's high-speed rail project. The suit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, contends that the California High Speed Rail Authority intentionally slanted a legally required study on the impact of building the fast rail line to steer the authority's board into selecting a route through the Pacheco Pass in Santa Clara County over one through the Altamont Pass in Alameda County. SF Chronicle 8/9/08

 

*Santa Clara voters to consider BART extension -- Santa Clara County voters will be asked in November to raise the sales tax to help fund the long-envisioned plan to extend BART to the Silicon Valley. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority governing board voted Thursday to place a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot to raise the sales tax in the county by one-eighth of a cent. The tax is now 8.25 percent.  SF Chronicle 8/9/08

 

BART has commuters all a-Twitter -- Since Aug. 1, Bay Area Rapid Transit riders have been providing dispatches from the trenches to BART officials and other passengers through twitter.com. The free microblogging and social-networking site, developed by San Francisco start-up Obvious and launched two years ago, allows users to exchange real-time updates of what they’re doing with their friends — so long as the descriptions are under 140 characters. Examiner 8/11/08

 

Coast Guard:

 

*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

 

Air travel:

 

*Sacramento Airport flight reductions could hurt local businesses -- The reduction in flights at Sacramento International Airport is more than an inconvenience to vacationers. It could be harming the area's business climate. While tourists lament the loss of nonstop flights to locales like Maui and Puerto Vallarta, business leaders are anxious about the cancellation of Sacramento's only nonstop service to bread-and-butter destinations such as Charlotte, N.C., one of America's banking centers. Sacramento's diminishing air service, they say, could make it harder to do business here and recruit corporations. Sacramento Bee 8/9/08

 

 

Agricultural Daily News August 11

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

 

 

Agricultural Daily News August 7

Parks and forests:

 

Tragic crash of firefighting chopper raises questions about Shasta-Trinity forest policy -- But unlike some national forests, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest has no plan in place to allow fires to burn unchecked in some conditions. This approach, dubbed "wildland fire use" by the Forest Service, has been embraced in many other forests and national parks. It can be a cheap and effective means to thin overgrown forests and restore more natural conditions. Such a policy risks exposing firefighters to more dangerous situations. Sacramento Bee 8/8/09

 

Immigration and labor:

 

Workers' compensation enforcers widen focus on employers -- For a decade, California employers and their advocates in Sacramento complained about the high cost of workers' compensation insurance and condemned abuses of the system by employees, who they said fake claims, exaggerate medical conditions and collect fat disability benefits. But some data suggest that employers -- not workers -- are the bigger workers' compensation cheaters. And the state is stepping up enforcement against businesses suspected of ignoring the law and endangering workers. LA Times 8/8/08

 

*The U Visa Arrives -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued the first handful of U visas for immigrant victims of crime and domestic violence, almost eight years after Congress enacted the legislation meant to help law enforcement. Women's and immigrant advocates around the country said the news of the first U visas signaled a hopeful, if belated, development in the national effort to implement the 2000 Crime Victims Act. SJ Mercury 8/8/08

 

Health:

 

250,000 Americans don't know they're HIV-positive, CDC says -- Some 250,000 Americans are HIV positive but unaware of it, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday, and most of them are not in high-risk groups. Officials said that efforts to test people who are in high-risk groups for HIV had been successful. To reach the remaining 25 percent of Americans who are HIV positive but don't suspect it, however, efforts have to be broadened, and quickly. McClatchy 8/8/08

 

Water and fishing:

 

*Plan aims to rebuild delta islands -- Only a system of increasingly pressured levees keeps them from being flooded. A collapse of the levees would bring in salt water from San Francisco Bay, damaging delta ecosystems and jeopardizing the state and federal programs that pump fresh water out of the delta for farms and cities to the south. The Geological Survey project started 15 years ago as a small experiment on two, 30 foot-by- 30 foot plots to see if growing mostly tules and cattails would help rebuild the islands' soil.  The Reporter 8/8/08

 

Agriculture:

 

*Sign-up begins for $54 million in California EQIP funds -- Conservation cost share applications for the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) are being accepted for funding consideration in fiscal year 2009 from now through Nov. 2 at USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offices throughout California. The program, providing financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers for natural resource improvements, received a record $53,959,920 in funding in California for 2008. Western Farm Press 8/8/08

 

Agriculture production costs on the rise, according to new Rabobank report -- Much attention has focused lately on the run-up in the production of agricultural commodities and its effect on food prices. Additionally, key crop input prices are also rising and show no sign of slowing, according to a new Rabobank report, "U.S. Crop Inputs." Western Farm Press a8/8/08

 

 

 

Transportation Daily News August 8

Transit and infrastructure:

 

*Bill fine-tuning rail bonds sent to Assembly -- Legislation designed to give the $10 billion high-speed rail bond measure a better chance of winning voter approval in November easily passed the state Senate Thursday, and is expected to be approved by the Assembly and land on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk next week. SF Chronicle 8/8/08

 

*Bullet train bill backed by governor could derail his veto vow -- High-speed rail legislation – which beefs up oversight and makes rail funding more flexible – must be signed by the end of the day Monday to make the Nov. 4 ballot, according to a deadline given by Secretary of State Debra Bowen. But to sign it, he will have to break his recent pledge to veto all bills until lawmakers agree on a state budget, now 39 days late. Sacramento Bee 8/8/08

 

AB 3034 Passes the Senate -- The Senate amended the bill yesterday to provide more oversight, including a "peer review" committee (see the bill text for details) and mandating that a revised business plan be produced by September 1 - not October 1 as previously suggested. CA High-speed Rail Blog 8/8/08

 

Air travel:

 

Virgin America Celebrates a Successful Virgin Year -- Virgin America, the California-based airline that is making flying good again, today is marking its first year of flying with birthday celebrations for guests and teammates at its home base of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and across all of its destination city airports. Market Watch 8/8/08

 

Water and ports:

 

*Bill would charge fees at ports for cleaner air -- Cargo shipping companies that send goods through ports in Oakland, Long Beach and Los Angeles would be charged new fees to fund efforts to reduce pollution under a bill approved Tuesday by the state Senate and sent to the governor. SF Chronicle 8/8/08

 

*California Led Nation in Boating Accidents in 2007 -- Accidents happen -- and California’s 964,881 recreational vessels competing for space on the state’s crowded waterways managed to rack up 804 accidents in 2007. That earned the state the dubious honor of ranking first among all the states in the total number of reported accidents for the year. The Log 8/8/08

 

New Underwater Anti-Terrorism Technology to Patrol San Francisco Bay -- Coda Octopus Group, Inc. (OTCBB: CDOC) said today the Company’s Underwater Inspection System™ (UIS), developed in cooperation with the US Coast Guard, has been purchased by the Sheriff’s Office of Contra Costa County, CA. Contra Costa County will be the first on the West Coast to permanently deploy the UIS, developed after the 9/11 attacks to address the need for a new generation of port security technology to respond to underwater threats. IStockAnalyst 8/8/08

 

Bush Signs Clean Boating Act -- In a significant victory for the nation’s 13 million registered recreational boat owners, President George W. Bush on July 29 signed into law the Clean Boating Act of 2008, which permanently restores the long-standing exemption for recreational boats from permitting requirements under the federal Clean Water Act. The Log 8/7/08

 

Agricultural Daily News August 7

Water and fishing:

 

*California forestry officials reject rules to protect salmon -- California forestry officials Wednesday rejected an emergency petition to protect coho salmon in coastal streams, even though federal fisheries regulators said it would help the imperiled fish. The request came from California Trout, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Protection Information Center. It targeted coho salmon in coastal streams between Santa Cruz and Humboldt counties. The forestry board regulates logging on private land. Last year it required new stream protections if the state Department Fish and Game ruled that a logging plan will kill salmon. But Fish and Game has never made such a ruling. The petitioners want the stream protections required without such a finding. Sacramento Bee 8/7/08

 

Desalination plant plans OK'd -- A private company's proposal to build the nation's largest drinking water desalination plant at Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad cleared its final hurdles yesterday before the California Coastal Commission. San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre testified in opposition to the project, arguing that it was the wrong approach to solving the region's water shortage. San Diego Union Tribune 8/7/08

 

US investigates impacts of drugs in drinking water -- American environmental regulators are looking into the effects of low level residues of drugs in drinking water and working with healthcare professionals to see how levels might be reduced.  The Environmental Protection Agency has asked the National Academy of Science to advise on potential risks to human health and draw up a list prioritising the particular pharmaceuticals for which urgent action is needed. Edie 8/7/08

 

Health:

 

*Insured patients using ER for primary care -- Hospital emergency departments, typically the medical providers of last resort, are becoming the only option for insured as well as uninsured people who are unable to get care elsewhere, leading to a record rise in emergency room visits over the past decade, a federal government report found. Emergency room visits jumped more than 32 percent from 90.3 million in 1996 to 119 million in 2006, the most recent year statistics are available, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California has the lowest percentage of emergency departments per capita - 6.12 per 1 million people. SF Chronicle 8/7/08

 

Biofuels:

 

Cal Poly project aims to make biofuels from algae -- For almost a year now, student researchers have been growing this aquatic plant at the San Luis Obispo County Wastewater Treatment Facility. As the algae is harvested, it is then dried and extracted for its oil. The algae will serving a dual purpose: one purpose is to turn it into fuel, but plans are also in the works to bring algae ponds to Cal Poly so it can treat the wastewater on campus.    KSBY  8/7/08

 

Agriculture:

 

*UCD shares $12.3 million grant for large-scale 'carbon farm' in Delta -- UC Davis is joining federal and state agencies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for expanded research into "carbon-capture" farming - a process of trapping carbon dioxide and rebuilding the soil base. UC Davis' participation is made possible by a three-year, $12.3 million grant from the state Department of Water Resources. UC Davis and the U.S. Geological Survey are sharing the grant, which was announced July 23. Daily Democrat 8/7/08

 

California Company Recalls Beef After E. Coli Outbreak -- A California company is voluntarily recalling 153,630 pounds of frozen ground beef, some of which has been linked to an outbreak of E. coli bacteria that shut down a Boy Scout camp in Goshen, Va., this week, federal officials said. S&S Foods, of Azusa, Calif., is recalling 30-pound boxes of ground beef that went to distribution centers in Milwaukee, Wisc. and Allentown, Penn., on the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Washington Post 8/7/08

 

California strawberries clear Olympic hurdle -- With one food preference survey, China's Olympic athletes accomplished something the California Strawberry Commission and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had been trying to achieve for years: getting U.S.-grown supplies of the fruit into communist China. The first 450-pound supply of American strawberries ever exported legally to China arrived in Beijing on Wednesday after members of the Chinese Olympic team listed strawberries as the No. 3 fruit they would like to eat during the Summer Games starting Friday. AP 8/7/08

 

The Peninsula fights a big battle against a little moth -- So far, the moth — which immigrated to California from Australia, New Zealand or Hawaii in 2007 — has not caused any crop damage, according to CDFA spokesman Steve Lyle. Traps in San Mateo County have caught 359 moths, compared with nearly 8,500 in neighboring San Francisco and nearly 18,000 in Santa Cruz County. Examiner 8/7/08

 

*Secretary Kawamura and USDA Secretary Schafer celebrate the benefits of farmers markets -- Secretary A.G. Kawamura today joined U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer in proclaiming Aug. 3-9 “National Farmers Market Week.” This proclamation celebrates the thousands of farmers across the state who set up their tents, ready their scales, roll out their new products, and invite multitudes of people to sample farm fresh, locally grown products.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports over 4,500 farmers markets currently operate throughout the nation. Of those markets, approximately 520 are in California. Western Farm Press 8/6/08

 

California sweet potato harvest begins -- After surviving a couple of spring weather hurdles, the California sweet potato crop is back on schedule. Harvest began in late July, and grower-shippers said production will meet demand through the holidays and into the new year. A mid-April frost, followed by two days of extremely high winds in May, killed thousands of young plantings, also known as slips. As many as 3,000 acres had to be replanted. The state’s sweet potato acreage this year is more than 14,000 acres, Stoddard said, up from 13,000 acres in 2007. The Packer 8/7/08

 

*Doha Round trade talks collapse -- The Doha Round negotiations of the World Trade Organization collapsed in late July after the U.S. refused to accept a demand by China and India that any new agreement should allow them to raise tariffs and put in place special safeguards on agricultural goods. Now, nearly seven years after launch, trade observers said the Doha round of global trade talks is probably on hold for the rest of the year. The Packer 8/6/08

 

Food and nutrition:

 

Dining Update: Coi's sophisticated menu earns Patterson four stars -- Few chefs have such a meticulous focus on both product and technique. Unlike many chef-owners, it is rare to see Patterson chatting in the dining room; he prefers to stay in the background and let the food speak in his stead. And his subtle, intricate and cerebral food speaks volumes. SF Chronicle 8/6/08

 

Jamba Inc.: Juicing up its expansion strategy -- Jamba, which operates a chain of Jamba Juice smoothie cafes, has been working on a major expansion beyond its core California market since it became a public company last November. It was founded in 1990 by Kirk Perron, a cycling enthusiast in San Luis Obispo, Calif., who craved healthy smoothies after a hard day of cycling. Small Cap Investor 8/7/08

 

Transportation Daily News August 7

Budget:

 

Governor won't sign bills until he gets budget -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his latest attempt to pressure lawmakers into breaking the state's budget impasse, on Wednesday said he will not sign any bills until the Legislature agrees on a budget, which is more than a month overdue. SF Chronicle 8/7/08

 

Transit and infrastructure:

 

*S.F.'s road map for reinventing Muni revised -- San Francisco transportation planners said Wednesday they want to replace low-ridership bus lines with cheaper-to-operate van service as part of an ambitious plan to overhaul Municipal Railway's decades-old route structure aimed at improving service along the busiest corridors.  Muni officials outlined their latest ideas to remake the system in a revised version of the Transit Effectiveness Project plan, a data-driven document that took a line-by-line look at ridership on each bus and rail route to see which should be eliminated, rerouted or kept the same based on demand. The plan also recommends schedule changes. SF Chronicle 8/7/08

 

Muni fine-tunes transformation -- San Franciscans lamenting the elimination of neighborhood bus lines marked for destruction may see those routes resurrected with vans. The initial recommendations, released in February, include beefing up Muni’s main transit lines in The City’s main corridors and eliminating some of its lesser-used routes. Examiner 8/7/08

 

*Support builds for sweeping growth bill -- Builders and environmentalists, often adversaries, are aligning behind sweeping legislation that could fundamentally change how California grows and where.  The measure would use a mix of rewards – such as priority for transportation funds and better-defined environmental reviews – to reduce sprawl, provide affordable housing, shorten commutes and curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming.  San Diego Union Tribune 8/7/08

 

*Deal reached on bill that would give state a voice over local land-use plans -- As a legislative committee reviewed the Air Resources Board’s plan to reduce greenhouse gasses, a deal was announced on a new bill that will implement a key piece of the plan, and give the state a voice in limiting urban sprawl. A broad coalition, including environmentalists, builders and local governments, crowded into a Capitol hearing room Wednesday to announce an agreement on a bill, SB 375 by Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. It would give new regional councils, and the state Air Resources Board, new authority over local land-use and transportation planning decisions. Capitol Weekly 8/7/08

 

San Francisco is a pedestrian's paradise -- Matching the eye-popping scenery is a dense cityscape that allows residents and visitors easy access to amenities such as shops, markets and parks — a primary reason San Francisco recently was anointed the “most walkable” city in the nation by walkscore.com, on online organization based in Seattle that collects data on pedestrian activities in every major U.S. city. SF Examiner 8/7/08

 

Water:

 

Coast Guard issues safety reminders for Delta boaters -- Coast Guard personnel warned Wednesday that BUI – boating under the influence – and not wearing a life jacket are ingredients for a watery disaster. Last year, 55 boating fatalities occurred in the state. Of those, 7 percent happened in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region. Seventy-one percent of the state's boating fatality victims drowned – and of that group an overwhelming majority, 87 percent, were not wearing life jackets. Sacramento Bee 8/7/08

 

Emissions:

 

Settlement on school bus fixes to cut fumes -- The state's largest school bus operator has agreed to renovate more than 2,000 buses in California to run cleaner, settling a lawsuit that accused it of exposing children to diesel exhaust in leaky passenger cabins. The settlement was announced Wednesday by Laidlaw Transit and three environmental groups that sued the company in 2006. Without admitting any wrongdoing, Laidlaw agreed to spend $4.7 million over five years to retrofit buses that are more than five years old, and $23.6 million more to continue renovating those buses or buy new ones. SF Chronicle 8/7/08