Obama plan may allow millions of immigrants to stay and work in U.S. [New York Times]
President
Obama will ignore angry protests from Republicans and announce as soon as next
week a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration enforcement system that will
protect up to five million unauthorized immigrants from the threat of
deportation and provide many of them with work permits, according to
administration officials who have direct knowledge of the plan. Asserting his
authority as president to enforce the nation’s laws with discretion, Mr. Obama
intends to order changes that will significantly refocus the activities of the
government’s 12,000 immigration agents….Extending protections to more
undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, and to their
parents, could affect an additional one million or more if they are included in
the final plan that the president announces. White House officials are also
still debating whether to include protections for farm workers who have entered
the country illegally but have been employed for years in the agriculture
industry, a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of people.
Governors
team up to tackle drought crisis [Associated Press]
The
governors of California and Nevada met Thursday at a forum aimed at coming up
with the best ways to cope with the unprecedented drought affecting the western
U.S., now in its third year. "I think the drought will test our
imagination and our science, our technology and our political capacity to
collaborate," California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, said in opening
remarks. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, chairman of the Western Governors'
Association, initiated the yearlong series of meetings that include senior
water, energy and agriculture policy leaders from government and the private
sector. The meetings will lead to a report of best practices to be released
next June. This week's meeting in Sacramento is focused on how to manage the
drought's effect on agriculture. "These farmers ... they come to me and
they feel really helpless. They don't know what to do. And their livelihood is
at stake," said Sandoval, a Republican.
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/drought/Governors-team-up-to-tackle-drought-crisis-282641261.html
With
drought the new normal, Calif. farmers find they have to change [National
Public Radio]
Ask
Northern California sheep rancher Dan Macon what this drought is doing to his
pocketbook and he'll break it down for you real quick. "It's like if you
woke up one morning and lost 40 percent of the equity in your house," he
says….Three years of severe drought in California is making a lot of farmers
and ranchers like Macon make some tough choices, and in some cases rethink
everything about their business. If the conditions persist – and many
forecasters predict they will – this could have far-reaching impacts on our
food system. By some estimates, California produces more than half of all the
fresh food we eat in the U.S. Yet producers in California are finding some
opportunity in these tough times.
Well
owners face decision [Stockton Record]
Already
missing out on state money to address the drought, San Joaquin County officials
will soon ask property owners if they're willing to disclose to the state what
some feel are sensitive details about their wells. Earlier this fall, the state
Department of Water Resources determined that the county was ineligible for
millions of dollars in drought assistance because not enough information about
local wells had been provided. The county has monitored groundwater levels on
its own for more than 40 years. But the county cannot comply with a new
statewide groundwater program unless the county turns over certain construction
details that are confidential under state law….Landowners have "valid
concerns" that confidential information disclosed to the state will
ultimately be disclosed to the general public, said Julianne Phillips, program
manager for the San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation.
IID
on-farm water efficiency on target [Imperial Valley Press]
Imperial
Irrigation District officials say that they are on target to meet their on-farm
efficiency water conservation requirements. At a board meeting last December,
IID staff said it expected 6,500 to 10,000 acre-feet of water will have been
been conserved through the on-farm water conservation program that year, well
below the goal of 20,000 acre-feet. Yet, the IID conserved about 24,000
acre-feet of water in 2013, said assistant water manager Vince Brooke on
Wednesday. And this year’s conservation level is expected to top 40,000
acre-feet, he said….The IID currently relies on fallowing to conserve most of
its water.
Tainted
celery linked to Gonzales farm [Salinas Californian]
An
outbreak of E. coli in Minnesota has been linked to celery grown in Gonzales,
but the attorney representing many of the sickened people said Thursday that he
is not, yet, targeting the grower. According to a recently released report by
the Minnesota Department of Health, 57 people were sickened and nine were
hospitalized….The two distributors worked together to identify the “field of
interest,” and the celery was traced back to Martignoni Ranch block 5c outside
of Gonzales. Aerial views of the field show it butting up against a dairy
operation, which Bill Marler, the attorney for several of the victims, described
as “defunct.” But a call placed to the dairy, M and M Dairy Inc., and to Rocci
Martignoni, who is listed as president of M and M, was not immediately returned
Thursday. But inspectors for the California Department of Public Health took
water and soil samples from the field and did not find the pathogen. Michael
Needham, chief of the Emergency Response Unit for the California Health
Department, said Thursday that his understanding was that no E.coli was
discovered on the farm, but added that his report is not yet complete.
Ag
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