Orange Cove News

While Fresno County leaders have been mired in bad news this year, the chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors tried to accentuate the positive Wednesday in her annual State of the County speech.

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Published online on Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009
By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee

Fresno County sheriff's deputies this morning were searching the home of Victor Lopez Jr., the son of Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez, the Sheriff's Office said today.

Sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice would not say why the deputies were searching the home. He said he will release more information later today.

Selma Police Chief Myron Dyck said that the Sheriff's Office borrowed a narcotics-sniffing dog from his department for the search.

Curtice said deputies were searching both Victor Lopez Jr.'s home at 1070 Eighth Street in Orange Cove and another home on the 900 block of Eighth St.

Mayor Lopez said the deputies are searching the house because of a miscommunication over who owned some property in his son's home. He said that his brother, Miguel Lopez, had left two security systems in Victor Lopez Jr.'s home that belonged to a South Korean company. The mayor said Miguel Lopez had intended to pick up the equipment later and ship it to the company.

SOURCE .. The Fresno Bee

The Fresno Bee Reader Comment:

lovnlife wrote on November, 4 1:20 PM:
there they go again....the Lopez's of Orange Cove....always in the news and it is never their fault....ironic isn't it?????

Additional pictures in “Orange Cove Photos” – Main Page of this web site

U-P-D-A-T-E -- 9:10 p.m. - Nov 4

Orange Cove mayor's son arrested on drug charges .. ABC-30-TV (text & video)

Orange Cove mayor's son arrested on drug charges .. San Jose Mercury News

The son of Orange Cove Mayor, Victor Lopez is behind bars tonight .. KSEE-24-TV (text & video)

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By Denis C. Theriault and Mike Taugher
Bay Area News Group
Tuesday .. 11/03/2009

SACRAMENTO — Bucking the history of an issue that has long flummoxed state leaders, the California Legislature finally began taking up the most sweeping overhaul of the state's aging water system in a generation, with the Senate late Monday approving a series of policy reforms and even a multibillion-dollar bond measure.

But final approval of the landmark water effort — designed to shore up the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and create a stable supply of water for the central and southern portions of the state — ultimately proved too elusive for lawmakers as Monday night ticked over into Tuesday morning.

Partisan politics, regional squabbles — led especially by lawmakers from Delta districts — and technical hurdles wound up slowing debate to a crawl. Instead, just after midnight, lawmakers adjourned for the night hoping to finish their work this morning.

Only the Senate actually got around to debating any bills Monday night, and even then senators started later than anticipated. Just after 10 p.m., they narrowly approved one of the more controversial pieces of the reform effort — a $9.9 billion bond bill that would build new dams, repair levees and finance other reforms.

Senators later approved a bill that would force city and suburban residents to use 20 percent less water by the end of 2020. And they approved a measure that appropriates nearly $500 million from a 2006 bond measure for work on fixing the Delta.

MORE .. San Jose Mercury-News

MORE Resources:

Senate APPROVES $9.9 Billion Water Bond Bill .. Contra Costa Times

Senate APPROVES $9.9 Billion Water Bond Bill .. San Francisco Chronicle

Legislators Water Action Comes in Dribbles .. Riverside Press-Enterprise

By Matt Weiser .. mweiser@sacbee.com
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Facing an array of criticism from Northern California interests about controversial water legislation, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg defended the measures Friday, saying they include plenty of protections – and money – for Sacramento and Delta interests.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, spoke as part of a panel at the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce's annual "State of the County" luncheon. The panel focused on statewide water issues and the effects on Northern California and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Joining him on the panel were Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli, Yolo County Supervisor Mike McGowan and prominent water lawyer Stuart Somach.

The three said the bills don't do enough to protect Northern California water rights, don't provide enough money to local governments to compensate for the loss of farmland to habitat restoration, and don't provide enough local representation on a new Delta Stewardship Council proposed to govern the estuary.

MORE .. Sacramento Bee

More Resources:

A Water Way? .. Sacramento Bee

Bill To Require Legislative O.K. of Peripheral Canal Introduced .. CapitalAlert

State Politicos Sideling Delta Area Legislators in $9.4 Billion Repair Plan .. Contra Costa Times

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Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009
By Eddie Jimenez / The Fresno Bee

Orange Cove taxpayers won't pay for Mayor Victor Lopez's trips to Sacramento and Washington, D.C., on behalf of the California Latino Water Coalition after this year.

Council members say they think Lopez has become a respected advocate for an important issue. But they say it's somebody else's turn to pick up the mayor's travel tab.

"We feel as a council that the city has paid enough," said Council Member Gilbert Garcia. Garcia and Council Members Glenda Hill and Esther Gonzalez voted Tuesday night to stop paying for Lopez's travel for the coalition after Dec. 31; Lopez and Council Member Bertha Del Bosque voted to continue the payments.

For the past 2 1/2 years, Lopez has made about four or five trips to Washington to educate federal officials about the Valley's water problems, said Alan Bengyel, Orange Cove's city manager.

The most recent trip about a month ago cost the city more than $5,000, Bengyel said.

Hill and Gonzalez said the shortage of water for cities and agriculture is a statewide issue. But budgets are becoming tighter for cities and tough decisions have to be made.

"We believe very much in what the coalition is doing," Gonzalez said. "[But] the burden shouldn't fall on Orange Cove by itself."

The water coalition includes politicians, farmers and water district officials.

MORE .. The Fresno Bee

MORE Resources:

KMJ Radio

Fresno Bee Reader comment;

jyfarms wrote on October, 29 2:58 AM:

Victor P. Lopez would like to run with special interest groups like Sandridge Partners, the development firm based in Sunnyvale. Yes, that's the same westside farming interest selling $77 million of its allotment of water to The Mojave Water Agency in San Bernardino. Orange Cove farming gets most of its water from the Friant Water Users Authority and not the Delta. Why are Orange Cove tax payers bank rolling these out of area special interest groups? One of these days, a Federal Grand Jury will look into some of Mr. Lopez's deals and see what is really happening in Orange Cove.

Local police officers warn cell-phone-wielding drivers to beware

By Brett Wilkison • bwilkison@visalia.gannett.com

October 28, 2009

The drivers didn't seem to notice, but they were being watched.

From a patrol car parked behind a cactus hedge just off Demaree Street, Visalia police Officer Jacob Heaton scanned the driver's seat of each passing vehicle.

Within minutes Tuesday morning, Heaton saw what he was looking for: a driver passing by with his hand fixed to his ear, the telltale sign of a motorist flouting California's 16-month-old law prohibiting adult drivers from talking on cell phones without hands-free devices or text messaging. (See information at right for those exempt from the hands-free law.)

A block north of Mineral King Avenue, where Heaton pulled him over, the 67-year-old driver immediately confessed his offense.

"I hadn't even said anything," Heaton said, describing his approach to the man's Ford pickup. "He said, 'I was on my cell phone.' "

Violations widespread

Who hasn't been stopped at a traffic light or been cruising along the highway in the last year and not seen some other driver talking away on a mobile phone, hands-free device nowhere to be seen? Who hasn't been that driver?

MORE .. Visalia Times-Delta

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Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

(10-27) 04:00 PDT Sacramento --

Strict conservation, new dams and a peripheral canal are all on the table after six weeks of closed-door negotiations to solve the state's water crisis and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem.

Leaders in the state Senate and Assembly are still discussing how to pay for the plan, which could cost $9.4 billion.

The Legislature could vote on the plan as soon as the end of the week.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said that he did not want the proposal to "linger" and that the overhaul that has been decades in the making has a "momentum that did not exist before."

"There is no question the status quo is unacceptable, and there is no other ... package in our respective houses that would allow us to move forward in a comprehensive way," Steinberg said.

Water for 24 million people in California - about two-thirds of the state's population - flows through the delta system, which has a series of levees and canals at great risk of failing in a natural disaster such as an earthquake.

MORE .. San Francisco Chronicle

MORE Resources:

Read the Water Bill Language .. CapitalALERT

Republicans Balk at Water Bill Language .. Sacramento Bee

Califoria Water Bill emerges for public consumption .. San Jose Mercury News

Water Plan Seen as prelude to canal .. CAPITOL WEEKLY

A Central California burglary suspect is behind bars after investigators say he dropped his cell phone outside a home that had been broken into.

Delta Representatives/Community Leaders Barred From Preview

By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
Campaign Director
Restore the Delta

When Governor Schwarzenegger began his role in office, he was quite proud of being California's premiere salesman - selling the California economy, geography, and lifestyle to court corporations throughout the world. Many Californians responded positively to the Governor's ongoing overtures made to the international business community.

Unfortunately what they did not foresee, is that today in 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger would be leading a failed economy while cutting deal after to deal to create a water package that will sell off the Delta - the Pacific Coast's largest estuary - to the Westlands Water District and the Metropolitan Water District. This package which would place junior water rights holders on coequal footing with upstream water rights holders, all at the expense of Delta farmers and fisheries, would transform the Westlands Water District and the Metropolitan Water District into California's permanent water brokers, who will have the rights to purchase and resell water to Southern California's urban communities at will through a new conveyance system - aka the peripheral canal.

With the aid of his sidekick, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Governor Schwarzenegger's Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy has brought in one-by-one individual water agencies and other organizations, all from outside of the Delta, to negotiate what each individual groups wants to see in the water package. And by bringing in corporate environmental organizations into the negotiations process, such the Nature Conservancy, NRDC, and the Environmental Defense Fund, which all stand to benefit financially either from the bond package itself or from continued funding from pro-peripheral canal foundations or corporations like Bechtel, the Governor and Senate President have given themselves green cover for policies that will turn the Delta into a stagnant saltwater marsh.

MORE .. California Progress Report

ADDITONAL Info:

Restore The Delta

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Obama Says U.S. Banks Must Lend More to Small Businesses to Boost Recovery

By Catherine Dodge and Julianna Goldman

Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama called small businesses the “engine” of the U.S. economy and said too many are still struggling to get the credit they need to operate.

In his weekly address on the radio and Internet, Obama said the nation’s banks, supported by taxpayers in the economic crisis, now need “to stand by the creditworthy small businesses.”

“It’s time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery,” Obama said. “We’re going to take every appropriate step to encourage them to meet those responsibilities.” The president this week announced measures to open up credit for small business, such as capital injections for community banks to spur lending. Obama also asked Congress to raise the limits for Small Business Administration loans from $2 million to $5 million and as much as $5.5 million for manufacturing.

“The goal here is to get credit where it’s needed most -- to businesses that support families, sustain communities, and create the jobs that power our economy,” Obama said.

MORE .. Bloomberg.com

POTUS Obama Radio Address (audio)

The White House web site re: Radio Address

By John Howard | 10/23/09 12:00 AM PST.

Negotiators hoped by the end of the day Friday to introduce legislation to overhaul California's aging water system. The 120-plus page bill is expected to contain stringent conservation and groundwater management programs, environmental reforms for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and several billion dollars for new storage.

The bill, however, does not reflect an agreement on an omnibus water package - the goal of months of negotiations. But it does give lawmakers, for the first time, a printed description of the details of the proposal facing the Legislature next week in a special session called by the governor. The text of the bill was expected to be posted on the Senate's Web site late Friday or Saturday.

The legislation, SB 71x, by Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, also does not contain what are perhaps the most controversial proposals in the debate over water. One is whether a canal should be built to skirt the periphery of the Delta. The second is whether new reservoirs should be built. The capital projects are separate issues - indeed, the canal could be authorized under existing law - and will be negotiated separately.

MORE .. CAPITOL WEEKLY

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission worked out water-rights language that had been a bone of contention between the agency and the state, sources said. The East Bay Municipal Utilities District, involved in similar negotiations, apparently was close to an agreement but no final accord had been reached.

The Sierra Club of California posted a copy of that language here.

Agreement appears to have been reached on a tricky legal issue involving the definition of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco, the fragile estuary through which most of California's drinking water flows...

Yearlong California water talks nearly done. But what might a deal look like? .. MercuryNews.com

By Michael Gardner .. U-T Sacramento Bureau
October 20, 2009

WHAT'S NEXT

Hearings: The first Assembly-Senate informational meeting on key elements is expected tomorrow.

Governor: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers will continue to negotiate the policy and spending package over the coming weeks.

Voters: If a compromise is struck in the Capitol, voters must approve a bond measure to raise money for new projects. The election would be in June or November of next year

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers are laboring over an ambitious package of policy and spending initiatives that could transform — from dam to tap — how California uses its limited water supply. If the changes happen, most residents and businesses probably would have to pay more and consume less.

For the first time, statewide law would require farmers to pay a premium if they draw too much water. Among the dozens of potential directives is a proposal for urban customers, including those in the San Diego region, to wring at least 5 percent more in water conservation.

Longer term, the area's water agencies might be able to compete for billions in state grants to build more storage facilities, invigorate conservation and extend alternative supplies, such as desalination.

In return, the state expects to make progress toward rebuilding a crumbling and undersized water supply system that's overly strained even during normal periods of rain and snow.

Carrying out the full set of measures is estimated to cost billions of dollars, but no firm price tag has been established.

The outlook for overcoming years of deadlock isn't promising, even after three straight years of drought. Lawmakers, farmers, environmentalists and water agencies are being challenged to bridge long-standing divisions over new reservoirs, fish and wildlife protection, conservation mandates and whether the state should take on more debt amid financially trying times.

“Water has been considered the most unsolvable issue in this state,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. “We believe we are on the verge of breaking that barrier.”

MORE ... San Diego Union Tribune

Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, October 19, 2009

California Republicans are seeing political gold in California's water problems, hoping to steal the issue from Democrats and win support from one of that party's key constituencies - Latinos.

GOP leaders have put water atop their agenda for next year's statewide campaigns. They are expanding voter-registration efforts in the drought-stricken Central Valley, where unemployment is high and food banks are busy, and encouraging candidates to reach out to Latino voters hit hard by the recession.

The strategy was distilled on a 5-foot-high banner at the Republican voter registration table in front of a Walmart store in Dinuba (Tulare County) in August: "Stop the radical environmentalists. Save your water. Save your jobs. Vote Republican."

"When I saw the (registration) numbers from that weekend, I fell off my chair," said Johnny Amaral, chief of staff for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Alpaugh (Tulare County). "I've never seen something work like this."

The cause drew national attention last month when highly rated Fox News commentator Sean Hannity broadcast his show from Fresno, where the unemployment rate in the area is twice the county's 14.4 percent.

To Hannity, the answer to the 3-year-old drought could be solved if Washington bureaucrats released water from reservoirs.

"Mr. President," Hannity said, looking into the camera, "turn the water on now." The live audience roared its approval.

California's crisis over water, complicated by court rulings that delayed water deliveries to farms to protect threatened fish, has become a major issue, with state and federal officials seeking ways to aid struggling farmers.

MORE .. San Francisco Chronicle

The latest on California politics and government

October 14, 2009

Pelosi, Waxman and Panetta are among most powerful in D.C.

From Rob Hotakainen in Washington

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the eighth-most powerful person in Washington. Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman is the 11th. And CIA Director Leon Panetta is the 17th.

They're three Californians on GQ's new list of the 50 most powerful people in Washington.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the president's gatekeeper, ranked No. 1, followed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

The magazine assembled the list based on interviews with journalists, members of Congress, lobbyists and others.

Here's what the magazine said about Pelosi:

"She will go down as one of the more skilled legislative leaders in history," says Ezra Klein of The American Prospect. Even though her approval ratings have plummeted to 19 percent, Pelosi ably corralled her majority on health care (which moved swiftly through three House committees) and cap and trade. Perhaps the greatest testament to her ability is to unite House Democrats: The Senate is struggling mightily to keep up. The difference, says Klein, is that "Pelosi doesn't lose." Waxman was touted as a master legislator who produced bills tackling climate change and health care.

And Panetta was praised as being "the most respected `cleaner' in Washington."

To see the entire list, go here ... http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/200911/50-most-powerful-people-in-dc

Posted by Dan Smith

SOURCE .. CapitolALERT

UPDATED at 4:15 p.m.

The Dow closed above 10,000 moments ago, pushing above a psychological barrier it has not recorded in more than a year.

The Dow briefly crossed 10,000 at about 1:15 p.m. today, then retreated, then punched above 10,000 after 3 p.m. and held on until closing.

The Dow staged a strong rally today, closing up 144 points, or 1.5 percent, at 10,015.

The last time the Dow closed above 10,000 was Oct. 3, 2008, and that was on the way down from its all-time high of more than 14,000 in October 2007. The first time the Dow hit 10,000 was on March 29, 1999.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange passed out "Dow 10,000 2.0" ballcaps.

The broader S&P 500 closed up 1.8 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed up 1.5 percent.

The markets were being pushed higher by earnings. Intel's third-quarter numbers came in this morning with both revenue and earnings gains.

MORE .. Washington Post

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BY VALERIE GIBBONS .. vgibbons@visalia.gannett.com
October 13, 2009

Eighteen-year-old tank gunner Ray R. Moreno had been in Vietnam just three weeks when the firefight began.

It was the Orosi native's first day of combat as a replacement soldier with the 11th Armored Cavalry Division. And from his exposed position manning the tank's gun, he would play a vital role in a battle that kept more than 100 soldiers from being captured.

Back in Orosi, Moreno's daughter had been born four days earlier.

"It was one of those moments of, 'What am I doing here? What did I get myself into?" Moreno remembers.

But the episode would earn him a Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism. A White House ceremony to award the citation — nearly 40 years after the battle — will be Oct. 20.

The rescue mission took place on March 26, 1970. The battle would bring Moreno and his fellow soldiers into close-range combat with a deeply entrenched enemy that outnumbered them 3-to-1.

Earlier, soldiers with C Company's 1st Cavalry had stumbled upon a Viet Cong bunker complex in Tay Ninh Province along the Cambodian border. Pinned down, with ammunition low and nightfall coming, the 1st Cavalry Division's commanders called for help.

Problem was, the rugged terrain and dense canopy made air rescue almost impossible. So Moreno's unit — Alpha Troop — volunteered for the mission.

MORE .. Visalia Times-Delta

--------- Water flowing south in the California Aquaduct is seen near Gustine, Calif.

By Denis C. Theriault .. dtheriault@mercurynews.com

10/10/2009

SACRAMENTO — Come Monday morning, California lawmakers could be congratulating themselves and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for finally solving an issue that's eluded them for decades: an overhaul of the state's aging water system.

Or, they could be settling in for what one political observer called "a nuclear war." Those are the stakes as the Capitol braces for a drama-filled weekend that may well drag out until the wee hours Sunday.

But with hopes dimming late Friday that Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders would reach a water accord, a string of threatened vetoes from the governor could come as soon as today.

Only a handful of high-priority legislation — whose rejection would cost the state federal stimulus money or damage its still-fragile finances — would be safe, sources in the governor's office said Friday. The vast majority of the 700-plus bills passed this fall will be on the chopping block depending on how water negotiations progress.

"If we're close enough to a water agreement," said Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's spokesman, "the governor will weigh every bill on its own merits."

Already Friday, legislative aides were pondering ways they might respond to mass vetoes from Schwarzenegger. Rumors around the Capitol had some Assembly members mentioning impeachment if the worst were to come to pass.

MORE .. San Jose Mercury News

MORE Resources:

State Leaders Fail to Reach Accord .. Los Angeles Times

Politics of Water brings California ... Wall Street Journal

East Bay Legislators Dubious .. Weblog

October 9, 2009

Sen. Darrell Steinberg has more than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bearing down on him when it comes to California water.

Supervisors of the five Delta-region counties have been meeting with the senate president pro tem to air worries, and firing off missives that outline their concerns that the Delta will get the short end of a deal now being negotiated at the Capitol.

The governor has threatened to veto many bills if a deal isn't hatched this weekend.

On Thursday, the Delta supervisors sent a letter to Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, collectively complaining that water proposals on the table have "serious gaps" in policy and financial protection for the counties.

The letter, which you can read here, was signed by the supes of Sacramento, Solano, Yolo, San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties. It praises Steinberg's "clear sensitivity" and dedication to the interests of the Delta region.

But Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho told The Bee she questions whether Steinberg can effectively defend the Delta's interests while he's trying to broker a deal with other legislative leaders.

"He does not have his sole focus on the Delta," Piepho said. "He's representing everybody. And that's his role as a leader."

Piepho wondered whether Sen. Lois Wolk, the Democrat of Yolo County, couldn't be let in on the negotiating action at this point.

Steinberg didn't appoint Wolk to the joint conference committee that hashed over water bills. That disappointed her, Wolk said.

MORE .. CapitalALERT .. Sacramento Bee

ORANGE COVE, Calif. a " Central California citrus growers are getting ready to fight for their livelihoods, after a pest that can carry a disease fatal to lemon and orange trees was spotted closer than ever before to their crops.The feared infestation of the fruit-fly-sized Asian citrus psyllid has farmers putting screens around their ...

CAPITOL WEEKLY

By Malcolm Maclachlan | 10/08/09 12:00 AM PST.


The California Latino Water Coalition, often described as a grassroots group representing the Latino community, was born in a closed-door meeting of Gov. Schwarzenegger and local officials at Selma City Hall on March 21, 2007—and was “suggested” by the governor himself, according to a coalition brochure.

Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez said the Coalition was his own idea. He acknowledged that city funds were used to help people travel to the Coalition launch event at the state Capitol on April 23, 2007.

“When we went to Sacramento, we went as citizens of the community,” Lopez said. “The city of Orange Cove provided a bus to take our citizens who wanted to speak.”

The origins and financing of the Coalition are important because the group has become an influential voice in water development during the past two years. Generally, it supports the construction of dams, reservoirs and a potential Delta canal – projects sought by the governor, many members of the Legislature, powerful agribusiness interests and numerous public water agencies.

The Coalition produced a four-page promotional brochure this summer, “California Latino Water Coalition: A New Voice in California’s Water Wars,” that detailed the group’s role.

During the last two and half years since the Selma meeting, the Coalition has become one of the most visible players in the battles over California’s water resources. The group has pushed the issue into headlines with rallies and marches featuring thousands of Latino farm workers. Its critics have called it an “astroturf” group that tries to put a working-class Latino face on the demands of rich farmers.

MORE .. Capitol Weekly

MORE Resources:

CA Latino Water Coalition

George Soares .. Kahn, Soares & Conway, LLP .. Partial List of Clients

Friant Water Authority