SACRAMENTO — The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Wednesday bumped its overall cost estimate for completing the rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles to $80.3 billion, blaming inflationary increases and better cost projections for a $1.3 billion boost that still is smaller than in previous years. After years...
LA Times' Steve Lopez Is All Wet. Finish High-Speed Rail in Valley.
A recent Steve Lopez column titled “Let’s shift stalled bullet train funds to L.A. and San Francisco, where they’ll do some good” in the Los Angeles Times is once again a narrowminded view that perpetuates the decades-old problem of overlooking, and underestimating the value of California’s Central Valley. Even with...
Costa Gets Feisty on Election Challenge While Home for Holiday
Jim Costa kept his calm while discussing his recent votes on issues that have gripped the country of late. He voted for impeachment, sharing his reasoning in a speech on the House floor. He celebrated legislative victories in his agricultural wheelhouse: the USMCA, and the Farm Worker Modernization Act. But, when...
Three Valley Prisons Hit with Mumps Outbreak
SACRAMENTO — Authorities are trying to deal with an outbreak of mumps at four California prisons, including three in the Central Valley. Six confirmed cases and 22 suspected cases of mumps have been found at Wasco State Prison in Central California since Dec. 12, the California Department of Corrections and...
Valley County Puts Big Fines on Illegal Pot Grows
MODESTO — A Central Valley county will try to deter illegal marijuana cultivation by imposing hefty administrative penalties. The Modesto Bee reports the fines taking effect Dec. 19 in Stanislaus County are $1,000 per day per plant and will be assessed between the time a citation is issued and the growers...
Will Cox's Bill Bring Clean Drinking Water to Valley Towns?
Congressman TJ Cox wants more rural communities in his district to be eligible for federal funding to provide clean drinking water. On Monday, he announced the Disadvantaged Community Drinking Water Assistance Act in Parlier. Listen to this article: The act would expand the criteria for rural communities to have access...
California Halts Fracking Permits in Oil Producer Crackdown
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom cracked down on oil producers Tuesday, halting approval of hundreds of fracking permits until independent scientists can review them and temporarily banning another drilling method that regulators believe is linked to one of the largest spills in state history. Listen to this article: The state...
Valley City in Turmoil as 3 Top Officials Put on Leave, Another Fired
Four top officials in the city of Manteca have been fired or put on leave, raising concerns among residents who say officials haven’t explained why. The city's police chief, Jodie Estarziau, was placed on paid administrative leave on Wednesday. Hers was the latest in a string of abrupt personnel moves...
California Families Are Hungry While a Third of Crops Rot in Fields
Maximina Molina Sanchez is worried about going hungry this winter. She depends on a food bank in Huron to feed her husband and two kids. But with most agricultural workers out of jobs during the winter, demand is bound to increase, so she worries there won’t be enough food to...
Opinion: Valley Should Not Be Held Captive to PG&E Failures
The residents of the Central Valley are faced with a utility service company that, in the past two decades, has become a tax collector forced to be under the protection of the federal bankruptcy court for the second time. In this situation, debtors and sophisticated investors seek to game the...