Poll: Voters back water bond, reduced sentences [UT San Diego]
A
$7.5 billion California water bond on the Nov. 4 ballot continues to garner
strong support from likely voters while a measure that would boost the state’s
reserve funds is growing in favor, according to a survey released Wednesday….It
found that 56 percent of likely voters favor Proposition 1, down slightly from
58 percent who said they supported it in the institute’s September poll….Mark
Baldassare, the institute’s president and CEO, said both Propositions 1 and 2
are benefitting from the governor’s 54 percent approval rating. The drought is
also a huge driver of support for the water bond, he said. “There’s a lot of
concern over water, a lot of desire to do something,” Baldassare said.
“Proposition 1 is seen by the voters as something that can be done now.”
Dozens
of dams found to put fish in danger [Sacramento Bee]
A
screening of California’s more than 1,400 dams has found that 181 dams are
potentially imperiling native fish downstream. The study of the dams and
rivers, conducted with tools developed at the Center for Watershed Sciences at
UC Davis, seeks to identify where native fish and fish species are most
endangered because of low or inconsistent river flows. A total of 753 large
dams in California were evaluated in the study, whose results were published
last week in the journal BioScience….About a quarter of the dams were
identified as problematic, including Folsom, Trinity, New Melones and Pine
Flat.
Sacramento
Valley water transfer idea leaves locals fuming [Chico Enterprise Record]
There's
a plan for water transfers could move up to 511,000 acre-feet of water each
year for the next 10 years from the Sacramento Valley to the San Joaquin Valley
and the Bay Area. The Bureau of Reclamation received a very clear message
Tuesday night that people in the Sacramento Valley don't like that. Speakers
said water transfers rob the livelihood of Northern California residents, will
make more wells go dry and are caused by greed….Carrie Buckman, a consultant
for the proposal, said the 511,000-acre-foot figure is the maximum amount each
year, and the actual water transferred is likely to be far less….Two other
meetings were held in areas where the water would be purchased. In Las Banos,
six people attended the meeting for comments, and three in Sacramento, said
Louis Moore of the Bureau.
Fresh
produce battles fast food for America’s stomachs [Salinas Californian]
Putting
fresh fruits and vegetables in front of school children during lunch is a fight
– not with the kids, rather with the makers of the other stuff on their plates.
“We’re fighting pizzas and French fries – those guys don’t want to get tossed
off a lucrative place at the table,” said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, on Wednesday
during the Greater Vision 2014: The Business of Healthy Eating forum at
California State University, Monterey Bay. The forum looked at the challenges
and opportunities of public health joining forces with agriculture. One of the
challenges is getting Congress to put healthier choices on the plates of school
children. But with the lobbying power of fast food, as well as the canned and
frozen food industries, getting fresh fruits and vegetables on kids plates is
an uphill battle, a number of the experts at the forum said.
Opinion: Law needs to weed
out fraud at farmers’ markets [San Francisco Chronicle]
AB1871,
legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last month, is arguably the most
important piece of legislation affecting California farmers’ markets since they
were authorized in 1977. AB1871 imposes a fee per vendor to raise $1 million
for the Farmers’ Market Program of the California Department of Food and
Agriculture to help protect farmers and consumers from fraud….In addition to
new funding, and perhaps most importantly, the department has a new and
improved model for enforcing these regulations….New rules and new funding won’t
do it all. There is a critical role for farmers’ market customers to play in
making sure that the system is working. Shoppers should feel free to ask
questions of farmers selling their produce and to get to know them. Direct
connections and evolving relationships between shoppers and the people who grow
their food are part of what make farmers’ markets special.
L.A.
City Council backs union contract for Fresno farmworkers [Los Angeles Times]
Hundreds
march on L.A. City Hall to demand that a Fresno fruit grower recognize a union
contract
L.A.
lawmakers approve resolution calling on Fresno grower to immediately put union
contract in place
Hundreds
of labor activists, farmworkers and their allies marched on Los Angeles
City Hall on Wednesday demanding that a Fresno fruit grower recognize a union
contract -- the latest turn in a long-standing dispute over whether the United
Farm Workers should represent the company's employees. The marchers crowded
into a City Council meeting, where lawmakers unanimously approved a resolution
that calls on Gerawan Farming to immediately put a union contract in
place….Wednesday's L.A. City Council vote has no binding effect on the Fresno
grower. But UFW spokesman Marc Grossman said winning support from Los Angeles
officials was important and took “a page out of Cesar Chavez’s playbook.”…After
the vote, Gerawan co-owner Dan Gerawan said the L.A. council had been “used …
for a PR stunt by UFW.” He contended their workers were the highest-paid in the
industry and were being forced into a labor contract that stripped them of
rights against their will.
Ag
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