In the world of science and health, there’s a long list of Stockton “kids” done good — people who were raised and educated here and went on to advance our understanding of the world around us and within us. Astronaut Jose Hernandez. Brain surgeon Alfredo Quinones. And how about Ashwin Vasavada, the No. 2 scientist on [...]
Some tidbits that didn’t make the cut in today’s story about the possible draining of Lake Tulloch, east of Stockton: • Here’s how it could help fish. Steelhead need cold water to spawn in the Stanislaus River. But Tulloch is shallow and warm. By draining Tulloch, cooler water from New Melones — which is about [...]
The head of the watchdog agency overseeing California water said he was “mistaken” last year when he approved emergency actions that harmed threatened fish. At a 12-hour hearing in Sacramento on Wednesday, Tom Howard, executive officer of the State Water Resources Control Board, made clear the impact of the severe drought on people. But he also [...]
“Write it for the plumber in Manteca,” an editor told me a few years back, late on a Friday afternoon, after a judge overturned one of the biological opinions protecting endangered fish in the Delta. Ever since then, I’ve had a vision of that poor plumber in my head when I sit down to write [...]
That didn’t take long. PG&E sued the Local Agency Formation Commission on Friday, less than 24 hours after LAFCo upheld its decision allowing a water district to take over retail electric service in south San Joaquin County. Here’s the story. And if you’re looking for some light weekend reading, here’s the complaint filed by PG&E.
A caller today complained that I didn’t include actual groundwater levels in today’s story on the ongoing decline in San Joaquin County. The best I can do at the moment is post a couple of photos I’ve taken of the hard-copy groundwater monitoring report, which is not yet posted to the county’s website. When it [...]
As a fisherman, I don’t have high standards. A satisfying catch to me is pulling a 12-inch brook trout out of a High Sierra lake, especially if I haven’t had a decent meal in a few days. So maybe I’m easily impressed, but whenever I see videos like this one, I marvel at the monsters [...]
As reported earlier this week, California met Gov. Jerry Brown’s 20 percent water conservation goal for the first time last December. Here’s a look at how San Joaquin and Calaveras counties did, in terms of gallons per person per day, and the percentage improvement in December 2014 compared with 2013: 1. City of Lathrop: 56 gallons (17 [...]
Like most other Americans, Stockton residents were warily watching the sky in the ’50s. Some interesting local incidents are revealed in newly released Air Force documents: • On Jan. 1, 1951, a red and green object crashed at the Stockton Naval Supply Depot, exploding and burning fiercely. Among the debris, investigators found a bamboo ring that [...]
That’s how Jeff Shields, general manager of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, described it to me the other day. The key reservoir east of Stockton is 23 percent full and 40 percent of normal. Last year at this time, with the drought already well underway, New Melones held more than a million acre-feet of [...]