High-speed
rail jobs may give priority to down-on-luck workers [Fresno Bee]
Job-creation
advocates in Fresno said they moved a step closer Wednesday to ensuring that
local workers who need a job can compete for one building California's
high-speed rail system. Their hopes were boosted during the California
High-Speed Rail Authority meeting in Sacramento, where bullet-train planners
also took their first step to reducing their system's footprint on agriculture
-- approving a $20 million effort to compensate for farmland lost to the
railroad right of way….The farmland-preservation action approved Wednesday
authorizes the rail agency to work with the state Department of Conservation to
put up at least $20 million to buy farmland conservation easements. For each
acre of agricultural land that would be lost to the railroad right of way in
the Valley -- an estimated 2,500 acres from Merced to Bakersfield -- at least
one acre of permanent easement would be secured. Farming advocates, however,
said the authority is underestimating the cost. Amanda Carvajal, executive
director of the Merced County Farm Bureau, told board members that "$20
million is inadequate."…Justin Fredrickson, an environmental policy expert
for the California Farm Bureau Federation, said his organization supports
easements "as part of a broader suite of mitigation measures to compensate
for effects on agriculture." But he agreed with Carvajal that "$20
million is very little money" to make up for lost farmland.
Lawsuit
could threaten SD water supplies [San Diego Union-Tribune]
A
Sacramento Superior Court judge heard final arguments Wednesday in a complex
lawsuit with far-reaching consequences for future water supplies and rates in
San Diego County. Imperial County supervisors and the Imperial County Air
Pollution District claim that Southern California water brokers skirted environmental
laws in a frantic push to secure a hard-fought and costly deal to reduce the
state’s dependency on an over-tapped Colorado River. That 2003 landmark
agreement also cleared the way for the transfer of water between Imperial
Valley farmers and the San Diego County Water Authority, a deal vital to
guaranteeing the region would have adequate supplies as the river allotments
dropped.
Water
transfer is subsidizing the IID water department and stabilizing water rate
[Imperial Valley Press]
The
transfer of water from the Imperial Valley to coastal urban areas will continue
to hold down water rates and subsidize the Imperial Irrigation District’s water
department over the next 35 years, according to the district’s financial
projections. The projections were delivered to the public at Tuesday’s IID
Board of Directors meeting by district Chief Financial Officer Greg
Broeking….“It’s acting as a rate-stabilization fund,” Broeking said, referring
to water transfer’s financial impact on the district and rate-payers.
Officials
seek source of E. coli outbreak [Salinas Californian]
Spinach
and leafy greens contaminated with the dangerous bacteria E. coli have sent
many people to the hospital in the Northeast but where the produce was grown
remains a mystery. As of Wednesday, there were at least 20 confirmed cases of
E. coli infection in New York state, with six people hospitalized, said Jeffrey
Hammond, spokesman for the New York State Department of Health. All have
recovered and been sent home….An organic spinach and spring mix, sold by
Wegmans Food Markets, has been linked to the flurry of E.coli illnesses,
according to a press release from the grocer. Wegmans has recalled the packaged
produce supplied by State Garden Inc., a packaging company based out of
Chelsea, Mass.…The Food and Drug Administration, the agency tasked with
investigating sources of food-borne bacteria like E. coli, could not be reached
for comment. But Bill Marler, a lawyer representing a New York woman who claims
to have been sickened by the bacteria, believes that the timing makes
California the most likely source.
Blue
Diamond hits $1 billion in annual sales [Sacramento Bee]
Over
more than a century, all those California-grown almonds have added up. Blue
Diamond President and CEO Mark Jansen, speaking Wednesday at the
Sacramento-based cooperative's 102nd annual members meeting in Modesto, said
Wednesday that Blue Diamond joined the $1 billion club with a record sales
revenue year that concluded Aug. 31. Blue Diamond also announced plans to add
100 jobs in Turlock by May next year as it completes the first phase of its new
manufacturing and processing plant in Stanislaus County.
Diamond
Foods' stock takes a dive [Associated Press]
Diamond
Foods Inc., the largest processor of Central Valley walnuts, effectively wiped
away $56.5 million in profit from its books Wednesday after it restated two
full years of results. Its battered stock fell an additional 20 percent in
after-hours trading on the news. The San-Francisco-based snack company is
restating its results for 2010 and 2011 after an internal investigation last
year found that it improperly accounted for payments to walnut growers, which
skewed its financial results.
Ag
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