5-17-09

 
5-17-09
Modesto Bee
Elated UC Merced crowd welcomes first lady...Michelle Hatfield
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/706711.html
Obama acknowledged that many people wondered why she chose UC Merced to give her first commencement address as first lady and her only one this season.
"The answer is simple: You inspired me, you touched me," she said to the overjoyed crowd referring to a letter-writing campaign requesting her attendance at graduation. "You know, there are few things that are more rewarding than to watch young people recognize that they have the power to make their dreams come true."
In her 20-minute speech, Obama touched on the students' pioneering spirit, commending them for helping transform the former golf course northeast of Merced into a growing place for learning and research.
"It is this kind of commitment that we're going to need in this nation to put this country back on a path where every child expects to succeed and where every child has the tools that they need to achieve their dreams. That's what we're aiming for," she said. "And we're going to need all of you graduates, this generation, we need you to lead the way."
Obama noted the obstacles graduates face in today's faltering economy, encouraged the soon-to-be alumni to inspire others to chase after their college dream and talked about giving back to the community, something dear to her and President Barack Obama.
"When times get tough and fear sets in, think of those people who paved the way for you and those who are counting on you to pave the way for them. Never let setbacks or fear dictate the course of your life," Obama said.
"Hold on to the possibilityand push beyond the fear. Hold on to the hope that brought you here today, the hope of laborers and immigrants, settlers and slaves, whose blood and sweat built this community and made it possible for you to sit in these seats."
The crowd of 12,000 watched Obama's address with the aid of four Jumbotron screens. A slight breeze carried the smell of sunscreen across the Bowl, a sunken area west of the quad bordered by the campus's canal and lake. About 40 VIPs joined Obama on stage, overlooking golden and brown hills with grazing cows just south of campus.
During Obama's speech, there were no bouncing beach balls among graduates or side conversations among friends and family in the audience. But many fanned themselves or made hats for shade out of cardboard boxes, brown paper bags and commencement programs.
Nearly 90 people were treated by medical personnel because of the heat; eight were taken to Mercy Merced Medical Center.
'Best' of the UC system
Also at the ceremony, student speaker Jason Castillo reminded the crowd of UC Merced's early days taking a bus to labs in Atwater. He commended students and staff for their part in becoming a major piece of the university's foundation.
"While we do not have an ocean view like many of our sister campuses, this area does have a strong sense of family, community, character, ethnic diversity and support. UC Merced represents the best of what the UC system has to offer," said Castillo, a biological sciences graduate, who won auditions to speak Saturday.
Chancellor Steve Kang quoted Mahatma Gandhi, adding his take to the Indian spiritual leader's proverbs.
"Gandhi admonished against science without humanity; to which I would add, may humanity's well- being be the ultimate goal of your scientific discovery," Kang said.
When Obama arrived on campus at about 12:45 p.m., she met with the two dozen graduates responsible for bringing her to campus with hundreds of handwritten letters and Valentine's Day cards.
Erika Amesi and Jessica Julian were in that small group that took a picture with and received hugs from Obama.
"I'm still numb. Today's my birthday and it's the most amazing birthday ever. It was so emotional -- I started getting teary eyed," said Julian, who helped stamp and address the Valentine's Day cards.
Both graduates said Obama's speech exceeded their expectations.
"After, I was ready to go into the world and I'm ready to do this," Julian said. "I can't believe it happened."
A crowning achievement
Hosting a high-profile speaker in Obama was the crowning achievement for graduates, Kang said, but it required special arrangements, including metal detectors for Saturday's guests and moving the ceremony from the evening to the afternoon. Those who attended the event said the sacrifices were worth it to get to hear Obama speak.
"It was completely and utterly miserable. It was the hottest two or three hours of my life," said Diana Kniazewycz, 17. "It was worth melting in the sun. I liked how (Obama) talked about Merced as a whole and its community."
After Obama finished speaking, many community members who had only come to hear her cleared out of the Bowl. Others sought shade outside the Bowl, not straying so far away that they couldn't hear graduates' names being called.
Marc and Carolyn Boler traveled three hours from Dixon to see Obama's speech and see their employee's daughter graduate. Before the event started, Carolyn Boler purchased a T-shirt with Obama's image on it.
She said she thinks Obama chose to address UC Merced's graduation because she relates to the university's students.
"I think she's coming because of the students and who they are and what they represent. It's what she stands for. It's a good match," she said.
Calif. condor deaths shows lead still a problem...TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/706104.html
PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif. -- No. 286 was the old man of this park's California condor restoration program. Hatched in a zoo seven years ago, he learned to live in the wild, a hopeful sign the majestic birds' population could rise again.
But recently somewhere on his journey above Pinnacles' rocky spires to neighboring cattle ranches and beyond, the endangered vulture got lead poisoning. Then on May 11, condor No. 286 died at the Los Angeles Zoo.
"It's sad, and it indicates the uphill battle we have," said Jim Petterson, a wildlife biologist at Pinnacles.
Nearly a year after the California Legislature banned lead bullets in the 15 counties covering condor country, lead poisoning remains the No. 1 condor killer. But biologists and game wardens say there are some encouraging signs of progress despite lack of compliance with the July 1 ban by some defiant hunters.
Federal information the California fish and game commission will consider next month shows that 59 percent of condors and two of five nestlings sampled in California tested high for lead from January to June 2008, compared with 45 percent from July to December.
In March, the National Park Service prohibited lead in bullets and fishing tackle, and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to force a lead ban on land it manages near the Grand Canyon.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department gives hunters non-lead bullets hoping voluntary efforts work.
Chris Stoots, a California game warden, said about 90 percent of hunters he checked in San Benito County parking areas during summer deer season used steel and copper shot, encouraging scientists that lead-free areas could eventually be a reality.
"It's important to credit the hunting community for moving the needle in the right direction," said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the nonprofit Ventana Wildlife Society, which monitors 20 or so birds released at Big Sur on California's central coast.
But beyond the parking lots are oak-studded ranches, where thousands of ground squirrels and wild pigs are considered vermin and are shot by ranchers, who often are reluctant to switch to more expensive non-lead ammo.
Many landowners, some fourth and fifth generation, also believe the ban forcing them to use more expensive ammo violates their property rights. Gun lobbyists say the measure is too strict and legislators ignored other potential sources of lead, including garbage, or employing voluntary measures.
"They see it as a backdoor attempt to ban guns and hunting," said Jake Theyerl, hired by the nonprofit Institute of Wildlife Studies to persuade rural San Benito County gun owners to switch to copper and steel shot.
They also remember when duck hunters were forced in 1991 to change and the alternatives available then didn't perform as well.
"Hunters feel this was forced on them," adds Jason Bumann, manager of the RS Bar Ranch, a private hunting ranch southeast of Pinnacles that required hunters to use lead-free ammo even before the law.
"The automatic first response when someone wants to take something from you, regardless of the reason, the first response is 'no,'" Bumann said. "It's such a slippery slope. Once they take one thing it's just the next and the next."
A nesting pair has taken up residence on Bumann's ranch, and reaction has given him insight into his neighbors' feelings.
"I'm not a popular guy," said Bumann. "People say you'll lose your ranch ... Hopefully we can change people's attitudes and change their way of thinking."
But if blogs are to be believed, some ranchers are incensed. A recent posting by a hunter on an ammo blog said when he dies he hopes his family will shoot him full of lead bullets then leave his body "where a condor may find it."
Condors had last been seen in California in 1982, when biologists rounded up the remaining 22 for a captive breeding program.
There are about 171 condors living in the wild at sites in California, Arizona and Baja California. There are 150 condors in zoo breeding programs.
No. 286's death was the second fatal lead poisoning of a Pinnacles condor in just over six months, and lead poisoning is suspected in a third. A fourth bird was recently treated and released. Since 1992, 14 condors have died from lead poisoning in California.
In Arizona, where 71 condors live near the Grand Canyon, 95 percent have been exposed since 1996. Nearly 70 percent required lifesaving treatment and about a dozen died.
Biologists say condors and hunters can coexist, and in fact condors eventually will depend on them for survival. When lead is no longer a threat, biologists will stop leaving the "clean" carcasses of stillborn calves at release sites. That day will come when annual blood tests performed on all the wild condors reveal nothing more than background levels.
Meanwhile, they are hoping to avoid another death.
As the dominant male, other condors deferred to No. 286, who was the last of the original cohort of six brave enough to soar out of the park as a fledgling. In February 2008, his annual blood test showed him lead free. Last fall as he neared sexual maturity - a milestone marked as his bald gray head turned bright red - he began making overtures toward a Big Sur female.
He seemed destined to be the Pinnacles' first sire.
But by late January biologists noticed younger birds asserting themselves toward No. 286. As the weeks passed he seemed unsteady. He held back as others ate. His weight dropped. Then a younger condor stole his girlfriend.
The drastic behavioral and physical changes were signs his nervous system had been impaired - classic symptoms of lead poisoning, said Sorenson.
He was half his 22-pound weight in March, when scientists lured him into a holding pen. The needle peaked on lead tests. X-rays were taken but by that time could not detect a lead bullet in his gut. Scientists did find at least 15 birdshot pellets embedded in his 10-foot wingspan and torso, which would have hurt but not poisoned him.
Veterinarians at the L.A. zoo performed blood transfusions and fed him through tubes. A few days later, a female condor was caught with lead poisoning and birdshot wounds. She survived and was released May 1.
"In our 12 years releasing condors on the Central Coast, one had never been shot. To find two in such a short period was alarming," Sorenson said.
As No. 286 huddled for weeks near a heat lamp in pain, there was bittersweet news. On April 17, biologists descended a cliff to a nest made by two birds, one his ex-girlfriend who, too, had been treated a day earlier for lead toxicity.
Worried the wild egg may have been thinned by toxins, it was replaced with a healthy one laid at the zoo. The next day the first condor chick to hatch in 70 years in San Benito County emerged from its shell.
Fresno Bee
Costa, Cardoza snubs first lady speech at UC Merced, but don't have the guts to say why...Jim Boren
http://fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2009/05/costa_cardoa_wont_
attend_first.html
It's no secret that the San Joaquin Valley's congressional delegation is among the weakest in the nation. But you can add the wimp label to the lackluster records of Democratic Congressmen Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza.
Both are snubbing first lady Michelle Obama's appearance at today's UC Merced commencement ceremonies because they are upset with President Barack Obama not solving the Valley's farm water problem. But then these valiant protesters don't have the guts to say they are actually protesting the president. Very childish. They might as well tattoo "Kick Me" on their foreheads.
So these are our strong-willed representatives? No wonder no one pays attention to Costa and Cardoza. If they want to send a message to the president, don't stand mute.
It is no wonder that Costa represents the poorest congressional district in the nation. He not only can't get anything done for his district, he doesn't have the gumption to stand up for what he thinks is right.
This is what a Costa aide said about today's Michelle Obama snub by the congressman: Bret Rumbeck, a spokesman , said Congress has votes scheduled on Friday, so Costa won't be able to attend. And even if those votes are canceled and Costa does come back home, he has events he must attend on the Valley's west side.
Oh, please, congressman.
And this is what Cardoza's aide said: Cardoza spokesman Mike Jensen said his boss is not making a political statement. Jensen said Cardoza was asked to be part of the graduation program several months ago, but had to decline for "personal and professional reasons" that he declined to detail.
Costa and Crdoza do everyting in tandem -- even their faux protests.
The Republicans also snubbed the first lady's speech, but that's about party politics. But Costa and Cardoza are Democrats. . . They finally get a Democratic president and they roll into the fetal position.
I long for the good old days of effective Democrats like B.F. Sisk and Tony Coelho.
First lady's message hits home in Valley town
Struggling Merced needs help from grads, she says...Scott Jason, Merced Sun-star
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/v-print/story/1409448.html

First lady Michelle Obama's call for UC Merced's graduates to give back to their community echoed through downtown Merced -- a city that represents just about all of America's woes.
Her commencement speech was broadcast on a JumboTron at Main and Canal streets. Her message of hope "will buoy the community for a while," said Frank Quintero, Merced's economic development manager. "In a nutshell, she branded us a university town."
Many believe hope and pride are desperately needed in the community, which has seen its share of bad news and has struggled to remind outsiders that there is a 4-year-old university in town.
According to data released last month by the U.S. Department of Labor, Merced had the second-highest unemployment rate in the country -- 20.4% -- among 372 metropolitan areas.
The city of about 80,000 people also has been in the news for its high home foreclosure rate. There were nearly 6,000 foreclosures in Merced in 2008.
Obama mentioned Merced's unemployment rate and foreclosure problem as reasons that students might be tempted to pursue their dreams elsewhere.
"And with jobs scarce, many of you may be considering leaving town with your diploma in hand. And it wouldn't be unreasonable," Obama said.
But she urged them not to -- or at least to apply their skills in areas where help is needed. The message of small-town investment resonated with city officials, who believe it's what is needed to help the city prosper.
"We want to keep the students here, and what they learn here, with the hope that they're the next innovators," Quintero said.
Residents huddled in the shade and flapped paper fans to keep cool as they watched her speech. Some brought chairs and staked out their seats early.
Alleashia Thomas of Merced sat with her biracial grandchildren on the street corner while she waited for the commencement to begin. She wanted to be among a crowd while she witnessed history.
The election of Barack Obama to the presidency motivated her daughter to re-enroll in college, Thomas said. The Obama family embodies the notion that anyone can succeed if they try, she said.
Michelle Obama "is just an average person who made it to the White House," Thomas said.
Resident Staci Santa thinks Obama's message resonated with some graduates.
"Anything coming from her will have more importance than coming from a mom or aunt," said Santa, who was wearing an Obama T-shirt and sat beneath an umbrella.
Obama arrived at Castle Airport just before noon, greeted by a crowd of a few dozen who had figured out that she would arrive there.
Tonja Davis of Atwater went with her daughter, Desiree, to the former Air Force Base at 7 a.m. to wait for Obama's plane.
"I'm just glad being on the same road she's driving down," Davis said.
Out of nowhere, four hours later, the jet whooshed in to cheers. Within minutes a motorcade whizzed by. One woman wept. Others shouted her name.
After the flash of excitement, one woman left angry that no one even caught a glimpse of the first lady.
"That's a stinking rotten bummer. Look at all the people here," she shouted. "I'm glad I didn't vote for her."
Merced resident Jim Minnear came with his wife and kids to watch the plane land.
"Dislike her or like her, she's still the first lady," he said. "You still need to respect her."
First lady to UC Merced: 'You inspired me'
Michelle Obama praises pioneering graduates, urges them to give back...Cyndee Fontana
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/v-print/story/1409454.html
MERCED -- During a commencement speech Saturday to the inaugural class of the University of California at Merced, first lady Michelle Obama urged graduates to "dream big and think broadly" about life.
Obama -- in her first commencement address as first lady and first visit to the region -- paid tribute to the pioneering spirit of the Class of 2009, and also asked them to make giving back a priority in their lives.
"Think of the millions of kids living all over this world who will never come close to having the chance to stand in your shoes," she said in a 20-minute address delivered in unforgiving heat to about 12,000 people.
"Remember that you are blessed," Obama said. "Remember that in exchange for those blessings, you must give something back."
Obama's appearance dominated the commencement at the UC's youngest of 10 campuses, where trailblazing students arrived in 2005 to find only a few buildings, and trees too small to cast shade. The campus now has about 2,700 students.
Videotaped messages from students and speakers at the commencement recalled the university's humble beginnings on an old golf course. Here, they said, students would dodge rabbits on the way to class, and there were few nonacademic distractions for parents to worry about.
One student told his mother: "The only thing they have up here is cows."
Four years later, the university hit the big time with its keynote address. Obama's appearance ratcheted up the commencement cost -- from $100,000 to $700,000 -- but also lured more than 50 media outlets to cover a graduation that otherwise may have interested only the local press.
The ceremony ran smoothly, but "the one thing we couldn't control was the weather," said Jane Lawrence, vice chancellor for student affairs.
Temperatures ranged into the 90s. Ushers handed out thousands of bottles of water -- roughly 48,000 bottles were purchased or donated by local grocery stores and bottled-water companies.
Campus officials said eight people were sent to the hospital with heat-related problems. Close to 80 people sought help at first aid tents.
The stage was shaded, however, and Obama seemed unaffected by the heat.
Obama, clad in black academic robe, drew parallels between the nearly 20-year-old postcard campaign that helped Merced land the campus and the letter-writing effort that persuaded her to sign on as the keynote speaker.
Obama was won over by a high-energy but low-budget campaign, which included handwritten Valentine cards, letters, a Facebook page and YouTube video.
"You inspired me, you touched me," she said. Obama quoted several letters, including one that read: "We could really use the publicity."
Eighteen students who led the "Dear Michelle" campaign met briefly with Obama in a classroom before the ceremony Saturday. They said they were struck by how tall, warm and humble she was. She gave each of them a hug.
"It was the longest five minutes of my life," said Megan Machado, 21, of San Francisco, who graduated with a degree in biological sciences. She said she meant that in the best possible way.
Several students said Obama's private words and public speech cemented their dedication to giving back and helping Merced, an area hit hard by foreclosures and high unemployment.
"Her words make it more concrete that I want to be in Merced," said David Do, the son of Vietnamese immigrants and the first member of his family to graduate from college. Do, 21, of San Jose said he plans to attend law school and return to Merced as a prosecutor.
Obama compared Merced to her hard-working community on Chicago's south side, where she and her brother were the first in their immediate family to graduate from college.
She encouraged graduates to "call upon the same hope and hard work that brought you to this day. Call upon that optimism and tenacity that built the University of California at Merced to invest in the future of Merced in your own hometowns all across this country.
"By using what you have learned here, you can shorten the path perhaps for kids who may not see a path at all." Obama also urged graduates to look at careers that uplift communities, such as helping transform troubled schools, training workers for green jobs or creating after-school programs.
"Solutions to our nation's most challenging social problems are not going to come from Washington alone," she said. "Real innovation often starts with the individuals who apply themselves to solve a problem right in their own community."
But graduates will face obstacles and may be tempted to fold, she said. When that happens, "think of the people who paved the way for you, and those who are counting on you to pave the way for them. Never let setbacks or fear dictate the course of your life."
Obama called the graduates "the hope of Merced and of this nation. ... Be the realization of our dreams and the hope for the next generation. We believe in you."
Saturday's ceremony was light years away from UC Merced's first commencement in 2006, which honored three students who had transferred in before graduating. This year, more than 500 students took part.
UC Merced lacks an arena or stadium to hold such a large event. Organizers rented thousands of chairs, an audiovisual system and shuttle buses, then rolled out acres of new sod in an outdoor area known as "the bowl."
Officials have raised more than $160,000 toward commencement costs but still are looking for money to help pay the tab. They believe the extraordinary publicity for the campus and region is worth the cost, which has been criticized as excessive.
Chancellor Steve Kang said roughly $1 million is expected to be generated for the community. The city of Merced sponsored a street fair and festival. As many as 25,000 people were expected to hit town for commencement.
Obama certainly helped drive greater recognition for Merced. Many students said they didn't know where it was when they signed up to attend, including Sarah Knysz, 23, of Camarillo, who earned a biology degree.
John Knysz, her father, said the family only knew it as a spot in the San Joaquin Valley. That's about what Rodney Nickens Sr. knew when he sent his son, Rodney Jr., off to UC Merced from Southern California.
Nickens now figures Obama has put Merced on the map in more ways than one. He praised her speech, saying: "I really think she motivated the young people to shoot for higher levels than they think they can."

Sacramento Bee
Klondike: Committee will study options for the lake...Jim Sloan
http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/v-print/story/1867850.html
BISHOP – Klondike Lake in Owens Valley is not much to look at. The shoreline is gooey, and the murky water has an unappealing greenish hue.
Even the people who like Klondike Lake don't have much good to say about it.
"It's just a mud puddle in the valley here," said Greg Foote, a biologist in Bishop who likes to take his Yamaha Waverunner out to Klondike.
But make no mistake: In a desert valley where summer temperatures routinely hit 100 degrees and where most of the water tumbling out of the towering Sierra Nevada to the east is siphoned into an aqueduct and carried to Los Angeles, Klondike Lake is a beautiful thing.
"It's 10 minutes from my house, so when it gets hot, which it is a lot, that's the first place we go," said Troy Senn, parts manager at Golden State Cycles in Bishop. "It's not a place with a lot of nice beaches, but it's a great place to take your boat out and do some water-skiing or wakeboarding and cool off for a while."
But boaters and jet skiers in Bishop and other sun-baked hamlets of Owens Valley are facing the prospects of a long, hot summer without their beloved Klondike.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns hundreds of thousands of acres in Owens Valley and controls the lion's share of its water, closed the lake Friday to motorized watercraft for fear the boats would inadvertently bring in quagga mussels.
If it gets a toehold in Klondike, the fast-spreading shellfish could clog up the flow of water to Los Angeles.
"The mussel would completely devastate everything – the fishery as well as the water system," said Clarence Martin, the assistant aqueduct manager for LADWP. "The Owens River is only a half-mile away. Once it got established, it could move freely up and down the waterway and we would have a permanent, costly problem."
The irony of the situation isn't lost on the residents of the Owens Valley. The same outfit that turned Owens Lake into a dust bowl is now exhibiting an acute environmental awareness. But for valley residents, the result is the same: Los Angeles is once again depriving them of their water.
The draining of Owens Valley has a long and contentious water history.
LADWP bought out many valley ranchers and farmers in the early 1900s and completed its first aqueduct to the growing coastal city in 1913. By 1924, Owens Lake, fed by runoff from the Sierra coursing down the Owens River, was dry, and 50 miles of the lower Owens River was an empty bed.
Many remaining farmers abandoned their withering crops and orchards and sold their water rights to LADWP.
According to the Inyo County Water Department, set up to monitor the activities of the Los Angeles utility, LADWP by 1928 owned most of the southern Owens Valley – from Aberdeen to Lone Pine – and began buying up land in the northern valley from Bishop to Big Pine. By 1936, Los Angeles owned 95 percent of the farms and ranches in Owens Valley.
Los Angeles built a second aqueduct in 1970 and began pumping groundwater from Owens Valley and sending it south.
For the next two decades, as meadows, marshes, private wells and springs dried up and dust storms became a problem, local authorities and environmental groups – fortified by new environmental laws – went after LADWP in court.
Disagreements continue today, but the Los Angeles utility has in recent years undertaken a variety of mitigation projects, setting aside water for ponds and native pastures and pouring water back into a 60-mile stretch of the lower Owens River.
One of those 55 mitigation projects is Klondike Lake, which, according to the county water department, is guaranteed a certain amount of water each year to "improve waterfowl habitat and provide recreation."
The utility is quick to point out that it's not totally closing Klondike; the lake will remain open to kayakers and swimmers and board sailors. But motorboats, which often have water wells and ballast tanks that can carry water from one lake to another, are too big a risk.
That's because quagga mussels are not a benign threat. The shellfish hitched a ride to the United States on cargo ships from Eastern Europe in 1988 and quickly spread from the Great Lakes to 12 states in just 10 years.
LADWP officials say the shellfish, whose embryos can survive for weeks in the moist hull of a boat, has infiltrated 11 reservoirs in San Diego and Riverside counties. They clog up everything – motors, intake pipes, you name it. There is no known method for eradicating them from a water system.
"They're like cholesterol," Foote says.
They can also quickly overtake an aquatic ecosystem, sucking out huge quantities of nutrients used by other creatures; poisoning waterfowl; and destroying fish populations. Beaches are left littered with thick beds of sharp shells and a high stink.
So far, LADWP has been able to keep the mussels out of its own water system. The water department started inspecting boats at Crowley Lake 45 minutes north of Bishop in April 2008.
Boats showing any sign of mussels – or containing water or debris that might harbor tiny quagga embryos – have not been allowed to launch.
These are not cursory checks either; the typical examination takes about an hour, and boat owners are encouraged to power wash their crafts with hot water and use diluted chlorine solutions to sanitize areas of the boat where mussels might have smuggled themselves in.
But Klondike Lake is a different story. There is no central boat ramp or other amenities like there are at Crowley, and an inspection program would cost more than LADWP wants to spend on the 30- to 40-acre pond, Martin says.
"We're looking at options, but we're at an impasse right now," he said. "The citizens I've met with say they'll inspect the boats, but would they be able to keep it up all summer? And would you trust a multimillion asset like our aqueduct to volunteers?"
Naturally, many local boaters are not happy. There are other lakes in the area they could use, but most are farther away and too cold for water-skiing or tubing.
A group has collected more than 1,500 petition signatures and has met with Inyo County supervisors and LADWP officials to try to persuade them to find a way to set up an inspection program. They've printed bumper stickers that say, "Don't mussel us off Klondike."
"The locals have a vested interest in that lake," said Russ Markman, who runs a motor sports business in Bishop that rents out kayaks and mountain bikes as well as ATVs and snowmobiles. "Some of us have been going there for 25 years."
Last week, Inyo supervisors set up a committee to study the matter, and the petitioners are planning public workshops to get more people involved.
The water department is expected to have people on the supervisors' committee studying options for keeping the lake open, but so far they've remained firm on their contention that the lake will stay closed until a reliable inspection system that pays for itself is set up.
Foote, the biologist, can see both sides of the issue. He understands how voracious invaders like the quagga mussel can ruin a natural environment and give water companies a very expensive headache.
But he's been using Klondike since he was in high school and would like to continue taking his own family there.
"I don't know the answer," he said. "The quagga mussel has the potential to get in there and foul up DWP's operations. They have to take some action."
So, with temperatures inching toward 90 degrees last week before the lake was closed, he did what he's always done – took his boat out on Klondike.
"This might be our last chance," he said.
Environmentalists happy with Obama; industry less so...Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/v-print/story/68289.html
WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was defiant as an aide slipped him a note during his testimony before the House interior appropriations subcommittee. Led by two Republican senators upset by the Obama administration's decision to cancel oil and gas leases near two national parks in southern Utah's Red Rock Canyon region, the Senate had just blocked the White House nominee for the No. 2 slot at the Interior Department.
Dismissing the vote as "bitter obstructionism," Salazar said he wasn't about to second-guess his decision on the Utah leases. "I have no regrets," he told the subcommittee last week.
In the nearly four months since taking office, the Obama administration has moved quickly, relentlessly and without apology to roll back the natural resource and public lands policies of its predecessor. Though they have yet to lay out their own vision in detail, Salazar and other administration officials have left no doubt that they consider the Bush approach misguided and unfairly weighted toward timber, mining, oil and other interests.
"We have had some rough years," Forest Service chief Gail Kimbell, a holdover from the Bush administration and a "green suiter" who came up through the ranks of her agency, said in earlier testimony before the interior appropriations subcommittee.
During the past 120 days, the Obama administration has put on hold or reversed Bush administration plans for oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and for the northern spotted owl, endangered Pacific salmon and mountaintop mining in the Appalachians. It's signed a bill protecting 2 million acres of wilderness, moved to bolster the budgets of the major federal lands agencies, appointed scientists to top policy posts and provided another $55 million to speed the largest dam removal in U.S. history on Washington state's Elwha River.
The White House also shut down an end run around the Endangered Species Act that would have allowed the Forest Service to sell timber, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build levees and dredge rivers, and other federal agencies to take action without consulting those responsible for administering the act.
"There has been a remarkable shift in priorities by this administration," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., the chairman of the House interior appropriations subcommittee.
There also have been controversies for environmentalists.
The administration's plan to eliminate $80 million in funding for mostly small river and stream projects to restore salmon habitat stunned Dicks and others West Coast lawmakers. He and some other lawmakers also were uneasy over the administration's plan to reopen the Statute of Liberty despite safety and security concerns.
Environmentalists were unhappy with the decision to remove federal protections for wolves in the northern Rockies and to continue the Bush administration policy of barring the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change while developing a plan to protect endangered polar bears. The new administration also has yet to wade into the dispute over the fate of 60 million acres of federal lands that are de facto wilderness and free of roads.
"It's not that everything is perfect, but when you step back it's a pretty impressive start," said Bill Arthur, a deputy national field director for the Sierra Club who's based in Seattle.
Some in industry are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Others are already critical.
Given that the administration has extended the public comment period on offshore drilling for another six months, oil and gas industry officials are skeptical.
"They have said oil and gas is important in the future, but all the decisions have been delay, delay, delay," said Denise McCourt, the industry relations director for the American Petroleum Institute. "Because of their strong focus on alternative fuel, there is a sense of no more oil and gas. We are in a wait and see."
The number of catastrophic fires is growing and the fire season is now year-round, in part because of global warming. Nearly 50 percent of the Forest Service's budget has been spent on fighting fires, and the agency's accounts for such things as reforestation have been raided to help pay for it. The administration's recent budget plan would increase funding to fight fires by more than $400 million, to $1.4 billion. However, Dicks said funding remained flat for reducing hazardous fuels on federal lands and other so-called healthy forest initiatives.
Even so, Tom Partin of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland, Ore., said it remained to be seen where the administration would come down when it came to managing the forests.
"I think they understand there is a problem in the forests and they need to do something soon," Partin said. "We are cautiously optimistic."
One way to track what the administration's plans are is by following the money for such agencies as the Forest Service, the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. During the Bush administration, Dicks said, Forest Service funding was down 35 percent, EPA funding down 29 percent and Interior Department funding down 18 percent.
Under the budget Obama recently sent to Congress, Dicks said, funding for the Forest Service is up 3 percent, Interior is up 9 percent and the EPA is up 29 percent.
"We are still not back to where we should be had we received appropriate support from the previous administration," Dicks said. "Although there are some holes, the new budget requests are better than what we have been accustomed to."
Some environmentalists greeted Salazar's appointment as interior secretary with concern. Though he was from a Western state, Colorado, they considered him too close to business interests, and viewed his support for protecting public lands as suspect.
"The jury is still out on Salazar," said Bob Irvin, the senior vice president for conservation programs at Defenders of Wildlife. "We are certainly encouraged by some of the decisions, but let's see how they are doing in six months."
Environmentalists have praised other appointments as the administration seeks to restore science as a primary factor in making decisions on natural resources and public lands. The new head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees federal ocean and fisheries policies and will play a crucial role in developing climate change policies, is Jane Lubchenco, a marine ecologist and a professor at Oregon State University.
"The most fundamental thing he (Obama) has done is bring science out of the closet, or better yet out of jail and taken off the handcuffs," said Arthur, of the Sierra Club. "This guy has moved further and faster than any president I have seen."
Drought is the cause of economic suffering...Amarpreet S. and Robert Silva.  Dhaliwal is mayor of the city of San Joaquin. Robert Silva is mayor of Mendota.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/v-print/story/1866219.html
Central Valley farmworkers – a large share of whom are Latino – have worked with farmers and business people for decades to make California the world's major producer of fruits, vegetables, nuts and other commodities. The agriculture industry is a major producer of California jobs as well as food.
History and firsthand experience tell us that when there is water there also are jobs and prosperity.
However, this year we face devastating drought conditions and hyper-unemployment, greatly intensified by court-ordered water cutbacks. We have been vocal about the primary cause of our hardship: drought.
At the same time, we also are being attacked by those who would like nothing more than for us to just shut up, accept our terrible conditions and take our place quietly on the sidelines. Recently, an associate professor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton released an economic forecast that said high unemployment in the Central Valley was not caused by the drought. Incredibly, he went on to suggest that farm payrolls are somehow a jobs bonanza.
As mayors representing two cities in which farming is the dominant industry, we know this is not true. More important, we and tens of thousands of our constituents will not allow these so called "forecasts" to be unquestionably assumed to be credible while our towns are parched out of existence for lack of water.
It is a fact: We have been hit hard by terrible drought conditions and it is impacting our economy.
Unemployment in Fresno County is 17 percent, the highest in a decade and a full six percentage points higher than one year ago. In some towns – such as our cities of Mendota and San Joaquin – the unemployment rate is at least 40 percent and approaching 50 percent.
Reciting data does not adequately describe the hardship of unemployment caused by drought. Times are particularly difficult for those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder – those who do not have the means to withstand a prolonged downturn. Talking to real people in our cities makes it clear there is much firsthand, eyewitness evidence of the hardship caused by man-made drought.
It is overwhelming for many people to see, much less endure, such conditions. Recent food handouts in Mendota and nearby Firebaugh drew lines more than a half-mile long. Dozens of people recently camped out or arrived in the middle of the night to line up for a handful of short-term jobs. People wait for hours outside grocery stores, not to buy food but to accept produce that's thrown out because it is too old to sell. Ironically, many lawns are overgrown with weeds because it is the only vegetation that can grow without water.
Now add to this misery "economic forecasts" that suggest the unemployment rate, which has put a stranglehold on our state, has somehow skipped farming. And the business forecaster from the University of the Pacific was given 800 words in The Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee to say the impact of drought on employment was overblown.
To suggest that our jobless residents are not impacted by the drought conditions is an outrageous, outright fallacy. What's more, these reports are harmful to the people suffering most – unemployed farmworkers. It takes nothing more than a look at employment data for the whole state compared with farm communities in and around Fresno to completely discredit this argument.
So we invite those who believe the drought is not at the center of the remarkable hardship we are facing to come see firsthand. On your way, drive through thousands of fallowed acres and stumped fields. Pass by pumping stations that are locked up. Notice the ponds, streams and other water features that are bone-dry. Drive into towns that are becoming dust bowls.
Get out of your car and explain to local residents why they don't need any more water. Describe your statistical model that shows there are plenty of jobs even though they have been unable to find work. Explain why our family and friends aren't worth helping by building water infrastructure that would provide short-term employment and long-term environmental and farming benefit. Then, look children in the eye, and tell them that they are not really hungry.
This is the intense and very personal reality we face every day. While debates go on in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C., and academics write disparaging forecasts, fish are given 100 percent of their water allocation. Much of the San Joaquin Valley is receiving zero to 10 percent of its allocation because of man-made drought. Millions of federal dollars are doled out for projects that help fish; zero dollars go to protect California residents hit by this drought.
Claims that unemployment is not connected to drought are, in our opinion, a challenge to our honesty. That is why we have to stand up and describe the reality of the situation in defiance of those who would prefer that we just go away. We will not let someone unfairly label us because we are Latinos and are not from some privileged class. We will demand a seat at the table when it comes to water rights. We will travel to Sacramento or Washington to make our cases. We will continue to march for water.
San Francisco Chronicle
Michelle Obama urges graduates to give back...GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/16/state/n150041D42.DTL&type=printable
First lady Michelle Obama praised graduating students at California's smallest, youngest public university for their determination to succeed, urging them to give back to their communities with the same fervor they showed to bring her to campus.
In her debut as a commencement speaker on Saturday, Mrs. Obama evoked the struggles of California's founders — settlers and former slaves, trailblazers and immigrants — to encourage the 493 members of the school's senior class to use their newfound skills to lift up those around them.
"Many of you may be considering leaving town with your diploma in hand, and it wouldn't be unreasonable," Mrs. Obama said before a crowd of 12,000 wilting in the blazing afternoon sun. "By using what you've learned here you can shorten the path perhaps for kids who may not see a path at all. I was once one of those kids."
Clothed in a long black robe and academic regalia, Mrs. Obama spoke of her own drive to get ahead despite the odds, recounting the challenges her working-class family faced on Chicago's South Side.
"You will face tough times. You will certainly have doubts, and let me tell you because I know I did when I was your age," she said. "Remember that you are blessed. Remember that in exchange for those blessings, you must give something back. You must reach back and pull someone up. You must bend down and let someone else stand on your shoulders so that they can see a brighter future."
When students arrived at UC Merced four years ago, there were more cows in the surrounding pasture grass than there were academic buildings in the outer reaches of Merced, about 140 miles southeast of San Francisco.
Today the university boasts the highest percentage of first-generation college students and financially needy students, and one of the most ethnically diverse student bodies in the 10-campus public system.
Located miles from anything urban, officials scrambled to refashion unfinished facilities to accommodate their high-profile visitor. Still, with no structures to shade spectators from the sun, eight audience members were hospitalized Saturday for heat-related illness.
The first lady spoke to graduates for nearly 25 minutes, suggesting they should cement their legacy by starting after-school programs to help students stay engaged, working to reduce pollution or linking needy families to social services.
Many seniors were most touched by her recognition of their dogged efforts to bring her to the fledgling campus.
"There are few things that are more rewarding than to watch young people recognize that they have the power to make their dreams come true. And you did just that," she said. "Your perseverance and creativity were on full display in your efforts to bring me here to Merced."
Starting in February, students bombarded the first lady's office with letters, e-mails and hundreds of Valentine's cards.
One freshman holed up in his dorm room to make an animated video he would later post on YouTube called "We Believe in Michelle Obama."
In closing her speech Saturday, the first lady returned the favor, saying simply: "We believe in you."
That left Jessica Julian, a 22-year-old senior active in the effort, in tears. Saturday morning, she and 17 other students who organized "The 'Dear Michelle' Campaign" got an embrace from the first lady.
"My grandparents worked in the fields and my mother held down double jobs to help me get here," said Julian, a psychology and cognitive science major who is first in her family to go to college. "I made sure my little cousins came today so they could see the first lady and understand what they can do if they apply themselves."
Mrs. Obama's visit — her first to California since her husband became president — also has served as a weekend stimulus package for the recession-battered town, whose leaders expect a windfall of about $1.1 million from the 25,000 expected visitors.
Marshall Bishop, who runs an organic restaurant in Merced's four-block-long downtown, said he would bring in $30,000 on Saturday alone due to a huge spike in dinner reservations and a special package of sandwiches, wraps and burgers made for the Secret Service.
"We're annihilated. We're doing 400 percent more than we have done at this point last year," Bishop said, amid the clatter of the lunch crowd. "Merced is normally a slow town for restaurants, and this is doing wonders."
Michelle Obama inspires UC Merced graduates...Kevin Fagan
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/17/MN9Q17M1M0.DTL&type=printable
They loved her, she loved them, and in the admiration-fest between Michelle Obama and the graduating class of UC Merced, the first lady of the United States exhorted them to go out and use their newfound skills to help those most in need.
"Remember that you are blessed," Obama told the crowd seated before her on the only big field the fledgling campus can muster, a grassy plain set beneath a scorching midday sun. "You must bend down and let someone stand on your shoulders so they can see a better future."
Obama reminded them that, like half of the student body at this 4-year-old campus, she was the first in her family to attend college. And she urged the 500 graduates, who constitute the first class to go from freshman to senior year at UC Merced, to seek jobs where they help disadvantaged children in particular. Help those, she said, "who never go to college ... who can't get a break ... who have lost the ability to dream."
And if not that, she said, find work innovating green technology or doing other things to kick-start the nation's wobbling economy.
"We are going to need all of you graduates," Obama said. "Make your legacy a lasting one. Dream big."
Mindful that she was speaking in one of the most economically depressed cities in California, the first lady also warned the Class of 2009 that times are tough out there. Instead of a welcoming job market, she said, the graduates are likely to find low salaries, daunting loan repayment bills and "your share of setbacks."
"But in those moments, in those inevitable moments, I urge you to think about this day," she said. "Look around you. ... Never let setbacks or fear dictate the course of your life."
The first lady's 29-minute commencement speech, delivered to the parents, visitors and students with a forceful, building crescendo that hit climaxes akin to a preacher's sermon, couldn't have fallen on more receptive ears.
"Awesome. Everything she said about struggling and motivation applied to myself," said freshman Rogelio Grijalva of Fairfield. "Sometimes I think, 'Man, I'm not going to make it.' And now whenever I feel that way, I'll think about what she said.
"She relates, you can tell," he said, shaking his head almost reverently.
The student body had launched a full-court press last winter to lure Obama to UC Merced, sending her thousands of letters and Valentines and posting come-on-over videos online. Their message was that the 2,718 widely diverse, mostly modest-income students who attend UC's newest campus are fervent about public service, and that she and the president embody the feisty can-do attitude they believe they bring to their own pursuit to uplift themselves and those around them.
On Saturday, as her ascendance to the stage brought the class leaping to its feet, screaming and pumping fists in the air, Obama's beaming smile and wave indicated that she had taken their pleas fully to heart.
"All I can say is, 'Wow,' " Obama told them. "A few people may be wondering: Why did I choose the University of California in Merced to deliver my first commencement speech as first lady? Well, let me tell you something. The answer is simple: You inspired me. You touched me."
A tiny campus of just three main buildings, UC Merced glistened for its big moment with fresh paint and landscaping. The walkways were scrubbed to a shine, eager students set up booths on the quad to tout their favorite causes - for example, volunteering for local children's clubs - and a Mariachi band blared bouncy tunes into the quad.
The field where the gigantic stage was erected for Obama's speech is usually a haven called "The Bowl" where Frisbees and lounging lunch-takers rule. But with 12,000 people seated on it Saturday - 10,000 more than were expected before Obama was booked - the grass and everything around it took on a solemn, distinguished tone that students and faculty hope will carry through for years.
"Michelle Obama's speech here shows everyone, now and forever, that our hard work paid off," said graduating psychology major Alvina Bueno. "And it was hard work."
The day dawned hot and got hotter, and by the time the thermometer flirted with a bone-dry 100 degrees around noon, everyone was swigging water bottles like tipplers at a free bar.
The air-conditioned portable toilets on the sun-blasted commencement field, where people were confined by Secret Service agents for hours once they entered, were jammed with people looking not only for relief, but a few minutes of cool.
It was one day when Obama's much-touted tendency to wear sleeveless clothing would have come in handy - but alas, she had to wear a ceremonial robe for her speech.
"A lot of people from the Bay Area aren't used to this heat, but for us in the Central Valley this is nothing," said junior Elizabeth Kang, who helped hand out 1,000 water bottles by lunchtime. "We call this nice weather."
The same ebullience that greeted Obama on campus spilled into nearby Merced, a dusty cattle town hard hit by foreclosures and chiefly known for the gas stations you pull into en route to Yosemite Park on Highway 140. But this week, its overlooked charms of say-howdy friendliness and pride in its world-class UC campus have outshone all other attributes.
A downtown festival, dubbed Cap & Town, Friday and Saturday packed the streets with thousands of visitors who happily strapped themselves into round metal cages to become human bowling balls at one booth, gobbled Indian and Mexican food at other booths, and sat with toddlers in hand in the middle of Main Street to watch "Finding Nemo" on a JumboTron.
"This is going to give me material to paint forever," gushed local artist Becky Wilson, sipping beer at the Partisan bar while a rock group blared Badfinger cover songs on the street outside. "You remember Jackie O? Michelle's the same thing. There's never been anything bigger than this in Merced. Ever!"
Mercury News
California's broken system for water delivery...Mike Taugher, Contra Costa Times
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12267223
Near the end of a 117-mile canal that takes delta water to the heart of one of California's richest agricultural regions, thousands of farmworkers and their supporters gathered in mid-April to demand more water.
The main artery connecting the vast farms of the western San Joaquin Valley to the heart of California's water delivery system — the delta — is going dry, leaving the nation's largest irrigation district without much of its most unpredictable commodity, water.
For farmers and their employee, the effects are dramatic. Unemployment in Mendota, the southern terminus of the Delta-Mendota Canal, is at 40 percent. Fields are drying up and the possibility is real that some farms might go out of business.
But even among the thousands of protesters who were preparing for a four-day march, one was as likely to find employees of farms with plenty of water as not. Those who retain historic water rights on the San Joaquin River do not have to depend on delta pumps, and they have full shares.
Farmers with several water sources, those with their own reserves and those with older, more senior water rights will fare better than those who do not.
And so it is in a California drought. At stake are the survival of species, the fate of millions of acres of agricultural land and, some argue, the state's economy, not to mention the livelihoods of delta residents and the safety of drinking water in parts of the Bay Area.
In the Westlands Water District, the nation's largest irrigation district, things are bleak. It is heavily dependent on delta pumps, lacks its own storage and is a relative newcomer in its demand for water. The district is likely to get just 10 percent to 15 percent of the water in its contract amount this year, the worst supply in its history.
Endangered fish
The focus of marchers' ire was not the weather or drought, but new environmental regulations meant to prevent the dwindling population of delta smelt, which are threatened under the Endangered Species Act, from going extinct.
That anger was somewhat misdirected. The delta smelt rules, according to San Joaquin Valley farmers' own numbers, have cost water districts from here to Southern California 300,000 acre-feet this year. While that's enough water for about 2.4 million people, it is only 5 percent of the 6 million acre-feet that was pumped out of the delta in recent years.
The real reason for the shortages this year is a string of three dry years in a row and decisions, right or wrong, that have drawn reservoirs down to much lower than normal.
Still, the plight here is further evidence that the delta is broken, both as a water delivery system and as an ecosystem.
The largest estuary on the West Coast of North or South America is in a state of ecological collapse in which several fish species are in a nose-dive. For the second year in a row, regulators have banned salmon fishing in California because of extremely low salmon returns, a development that is largely a result in fluctuations in ocean conditions but which researchers say is also linked to the deterioration in the delta.
When normal weather returns, the new environmental rules will make it harder for regions that rely on the delta, particularly Southern California, to recover from the drought.
At least a couple of recent studies suggest California has, in recent years, bumped up against the upper limit of what it can take from the delta, and that the state's farms and cities may have to get by with less.
One solution, according to state government and many of the state's water agencies, is an initiative that seeks to revive the idea of building the peripheral canal, a highly controversial aqueduct around the delta that voters rejected in 1982. It would cost water users and taxpayers billions of dollars, and even then, it is possible cities and farms might not get more water, at least in dry years, as some experts contend.
Also, that course is controversial, particularly in the delta itself.
Even though the delta — a triangle roughly the size of Yosemite National Park with corners at Antioch, Sacramento and Stockton — supplies water to 23 million people and millions of acres of farmland, it remains a vague notion to millions of people who rely on it.
For those familiar with the delta, it is many things — water source, playground, ecosystem, enclave, home.
"This is a place where land and water are intertwined ... unlike any other place I've ever seen," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of Restore the Delta, a coalition of environmentalists, farmers and locals.
"It really feels endless and open and timeless," added Barrigan-Parrilla, who has lived in Stockton for five years. "I can still get lost on delta roads, which is part of the fun."
While most river deltas fan out off the beach, California's delta is inverted. The Coast Range does not let water flow out to sea except at the relatively narrow gap at the Golden Gate, so the transition from fresh water to brackish water takes place inland.
Humanity's impact
At the time of the Gold Rush, it was a vast marsh with sinewy rivulets, dense vegetation and birds, fish and other animals in abundance.
Settlers began pushing up berms of dirt to reclaim marshland they could farm. Behind those berms, the farmland was compacted, oxidized and eroded, and over time it began to sink. Farmers pushed the berms up higher.
Today, the delta is a vast complex of channels, levees and about 60 "islands" that are walled off from channels where the water is often 20 feet or more higher than the ground. And the old berms, now referred to as levees, are not sitting on engineered foundations, creating the potential for flooding from earthquakes or spontaneous failures.
It is in these channels between the levees that salmon migrate, smelt swim and water is delivered to the pumps near Tracy, a linchpin to two of the biggest water delivery systems in the country.
One set of pumps is part of the Central Valley Project, which is owned by the federal government and delivers water to Contra Costa Water District and to San Joaquin Valley farmers, especially the Westlands Water District.
The other set of pumps is part of the State Water Project, which delivers water to districts in the East Bay and Silicon Valley, Kern County, the central coast and Southern California.
Since about 2000, the state-owned project increased pumping rates out of the delta and about the same time the populations of several fish species plummeted, including delta smelt.
Scientists studying the environmental collapse in the delta say, in general, that high pumping rates contributed to the decline of fish populations but that other stressors, including invasive, fish-food-eating clams, ammonia from sewage plants and other sources, are probably also to blame.
Still, the link between pumping operations and fish set up a train wreck in which courts, responding to environmentalists' lawsuits, found that the government was not adequately protecting delta smelt and various runs of salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.
That forced water managers to cut back on their water deliveries, inflaming big water users and sending shivers up the spine of water managers across California.
"We've been working it too hard for way too long," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "It cannot be both your infrastructure and natural habitat at the same time."
Quinn supports a plan being put together by state government and many water agencies to revive the peripheral canal, a 43-mile aqueduct project that was proposed in 1980, at the end of a years-long drought, to route fresh Sierra runoff around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Statewide voters defeated the plan two years later.
The canal would take water from the Sacramento River before it reached the delta and deliver it in a new aqueduct to the Tracy pumps.
It would separate water delivery from the ecosystem and reduce the conflict between fish and water supplies, Quinn said.
Critics, however, say the delta could become saltier, more polluted and stagnant if too much freshwater is taken out from the Sacramento.
Several studies on the delta have concluded that, indeed, a new way of getting water through, or around, the delta is needed. But some of those also conclude that resuscitating the estuary will require water users to take less water from the region.
Today, there are at least a dozen active lawsuits on the delta winding through the courts.
That number is certain to climb.
First lady Michelle Obama tells UC-Merced grads: You inspired me...Dana Hull
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12386387
MERCED — First lady Michelle Obama urged the pioneering graduates of the University of California-Merced to give back to their communities in her debut commencement speech Saturday afternoon.
"Remember that you are blessed," she said, and in exchange for those blessings, "you must give something back."
More than 12,000 people braved hours of blistering heat and scant shade to hear Obama address 517 graduating students, over half of whom are the first in their families to go to college.
"Think of the millions of kids living all over this world who will never come close to having the chance to stand in your shoes — kids in New Orleans whose schools are still recovering from the ravages of Katrina; kids who will never go to school at all because they're forced to work in a sweatshop somewhere; kids in your very own communities who just can't get a break, who don't have anyone in their lives telling them that they're good enough and smart enough to do whatever they can imagine; kids who have lost the ability to dream," Obama said. "These kids are desperate to find someone or something to cling to. They are looking to you for some sign of hope."
She also spoke of the incredible contributions of the diverse ethnic groups that built the San Joaquin Valley, heralding early settlers who arrived with the Gold Rush and African-Americans who escaped the slavery and racism of the South to work on the railways and as truck drivers up and down Route 99.
When she spoke of Mexican-Americans who are "the backbone of our agricultural industry" the crowd burst into applause. About a third of UC-Merced's 2,700 students are Latino.
Tight security
Obama's appearance, her first trip to California as first lady, gives an enormous boost to the young campus, which has struggled to attract students. It is also huge for the city of Merced itself, a community typically known for having one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation.
Still, tight Secret Service security requirements meant that thousands of proud parents and scores of extended family members had to wait, and wilt, in the brutal Central Valley heat for hours before the ceremony even began.
With temperatures soaring above 95 degrees, one woman stripped down to a bikini. Others crouched under the tiniest slivers of shade they could find, including small shadows cast by potted plants and trash cans. Bottled water was handed out in an effort to make sure no one suffered heat stroke.
As graduates wearing caps and gowns began walking in to the familiar strains of "Pomp and Circumstance," parents waved and snapped photographs.
But suddenly, the crowd of more than 12,000 seemed to universally pivot to their right. Obama, whose snazzy black dress could not be seen under her ceremonial robe, was entering with university dignitaries.
"There she is!" shouted one woman.
Obama, whose approval ratings are even higher than her husband's, smiled and waved. The crowd went wild.
After brief remarks by Chancellor Steve Kang and UC President Mark Yudof, UC Board of Regents Chairman Richard Blum introduced the first lady.
'So honored
"I am so pleased, so thrilled, so honored to be here," Obama said.
She then told the now-familiar story of the student campaign that persuaded her to come to UC-Merced. She read aloud from several of the letters and Valentine's Day cards that bombarded her office earlier this year.
"Dear Mrs. Obama. Please come to UC-Merced's commencement. We could really use the publicity," she read. "That really touched me."
Indeed, Obama's presence on the scrappy campus has instantly elevated its stature. Saturday's graduation ceremony brought droves of national media and scores of local residents out to the campus, built on a former golf course and cow pastures.
Among those in attendance were members of the Merced High School football team, who volunteered by handing out water and escorting citizens who needed assistance. As many as eight people were taken to the hospital for heat-related problems.
'In person'
After the ceremony, many seemed stunned by what they had just witnessed: the first African-American first lady, speaking to the first full graduating class of UC-Merced, at the first new UC to be built in 40 years.
"It was pretty cool to see her in the town that I live in, in person," said Taj Brown, 16, a junior at Merced High.
He said not many local teenagers tend to stay close to home when it comes to going to college. But now there's a research institution in their backyard.
"Now that there's a UC-Merced, maybe I'll go there," Brown said. "It's new. I'd be sure to apply if they got a football team."
Obama met privately with Kang and 18 students who were active in the campaign to lure her here before the ceremony.
The less-than-10 minute encounter delighted the student leaders.
"Meeting her was awesome. She's so funny and down to earth," said Sam Fong of Fremont, a graduating senior who was the communications director of the "Dear Michelle" campaign. "We took a group picture with her. I'm so excited, I'm just on a high."
Los Angeles Times
Biodefense labs make bad neighbors, residents say
A series of state and federal lawsuits have blocked the opening of a lab complex in Boston. Neighbors are nervous that toxins could get out, and some scientists are likewise skeptical...Bob Drogin
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-biolabs17-2009may17,0,4276204,print.story
Reporting from Boston — Klare Allen, a once-homeless mother turned community activist, was stunned at a public meeting in 2002 when she and her friends learned that Boston University Medical Center officials planned to build a biological defense laboratory in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods.
"We heard anthrax and Roxbury-South End," she recalled. "Then we heard Ebola. The last thing we heard was bubonic plague. We looked at each other and said, 'No way are they bringing that . . . into our community.' "
Seven years later, the $198-million lab complex stands completed between an apartment building and a flower market. But state and federal lawsuits by anxious residents, backed by skeptical scientists, have blocked the opening until late next year at the earliest.
The battle marks the first major setback in the vast growth since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of labs authorized to research the world's most dangerous diseases. It also underscores a growing debate over the safety and security of such labs -- and whether so many are needed.
Federal officials and scientists say the labs will not secretly create germ weapons, which the United States renounced in 1969, but they are determined to stiffen America's defenses against pathogens that terrorists might use.
"There's nothing military about this operation," said Dr. Mark Klempner, a microbiologist who heads the Boston lab. "We are scientists who are interested in defending the nation, and the world, against infectious diseases."
Klempner said the facility would conduct no classified research for the government, and would bar any attempt to make an organism more virulent. "There's nothing nefarious or hidden about this," he said.
The high-containment lab is deep inside the building, a 13,000-square-foot vault behind foot-thick walls and blast-proof doors. Negative air pressure will keep germs inside if a leak occurs. Lab workers will wear fully enclosed, air-supplied moon suits.
But still opponents fear the accidental release of deadly toxins or organisms into a crowded urban area. They also warn that the supply of "hot" strains in a lab may attract terrorists, or push other nations into a biological arms race.
In theory, bioweapons are inexpensive to produce, difficult to detect and capable of killing millions. In practice, no terrorist group has launched a successful biological attack, and many U.S. experts believe the threat is vastly overstated.
"This lab is part of the biodefense enterprise," argued Dr. David Ozonoff, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. "It's not a public health enterprise. Its goal is to do research on biological weapons, even if it's defensive. I trust my colleagues. But no one knows how their research will be used."
Dan Goodenough, a biology professor at Harvard Medical School, worries that scientists may cut corners with safety rules. "Most of the time, it doesn't matter," he said. "In this case, it might."
A congressionally ordered, bipartisan study released in December provided ammunition to both sides.
It warned that the threat of bioterrorism, including the potential use of genetically modified viruses and germs, was rising. But it also noted that no single federal agency regulates the labs, and that their "rapid growth" had "created new safety and security risks."
Critics of the labs cite the 2001 anthrax attacks as proof that gates and guards cannot stop an insider who aims to do harm.
According to the FBI, a mentally unbalanced scientist at the U.S. Army's premier biodefense laboratory carried out the worst bioterrorist attack in U.S. history. The anthrax researcher, Dr. Bruce Ivins, committed suicide last year before he could be charged with mailing the spores that killed five people and sickened 17 others.
Less known is a record of recent accidents across the country.
In the most serious case, Texas A&M paid a $1-million federal fine last year after a citizens' group discovered that the university had failed to report that a researcher had been infected with the bacterium Brucella, which causes severe fever, and that others were exposed to Q fever, another infectious agent.
Most of the nation's high-security labs study diseases that are curable but could still be used in a terrorist attack, such as anthrax or tularemia. The federal government is unable to say how many such labs exist, however. A March report from the Congressional Research Service estimated the number to range from 386 to 630.
The Boston facility is in a smaller group categorized as "high-containment" labs. These handle only the most dangerous agents, such as Ebola and Marburg, for which no vaccines or treatments exist.
The United States operated five high-containment labs before 2001. It now has 15, and several have come under criticism.
The University of Texas Medical Branch, for example, built a $174-million facility similar in size and mission to the Boston lab. It opened last fall in Galveston, just weeks after Hurricane Ike had ravaged the barrier island. The lab suffered no apparent damage.
"I have trouble understanding why they put a dangerous facility in such a vulnerable place," said Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer in Houston. "I don't know that it's unsafe. But I do think it's unwise."
Officials at the National Institutes of Health, which provided most of the money to construct the Boston and Galveston labs, say they were designed to withstand hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters.
Not everyone is convinced. A group of Texas research facilities sued in federal court last month to block the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from building a $523-million high-containment lab in Manhattan, Kan. A tornado struck the town last year.
Citing the danger, the lawsuit seeks to move the proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to San Antonio. At stake are hundreds of jobs, as well as research on hoof-and-mouth disease and other threats to crops and animals.
In Boston, a black steel fence surrounds the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, as the complex is called. No sign yet identifies the site to pedestrians.
Training is scheduled to start this summer, lab officials said. But no work will begin unless U.S. District Judge Patti B. Sarris approves a risk assessment that the NIH has promised to deliver next year. Two safety reviews have been rejected as inadequate.
Allen, who first challenged the project, said her neighbors don't plan to gamble if the lab is allowed to open. "We want the spacesuits that the lab workers are going to have," she said firmly. "That's the only way we'll be safe."
Michelle Obama applauds UC Merced graduates' creativity and persistence
Addressing the first full graduating class at the four-year-old campus, the first lady urges them to solve problems with the same resourcefulness they showed in getting her to be commencement speaker...Larry Gordon
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-merced17-2009may17,0,703800,print.story
Reporting from Merced — First Lady Michelle Obama on Saturday urged the first full graduating class at UC Merced to help solve society's problems with the same creativity and persistence they showed in wooing her to be their commencement speaker and in pioneering the 4-year-old campus in the San Joaquin Valley.
"Why did I chose the University of California Merced to deliver my first commencement speech as first lady? Well, let me tell you something, the answer is simple. You inspired me. You touched me," Obama said, referring to the unusual campaign of valentines, letters and videos the students produced in inviting her to speak. "There are few things that are more rewarding than to watch young people recognize they have the power to make their dreams come true. And you did just that."
In her 22-minute speech, she told them to devote their energies to public service. "We need your ideas, graduates. We need your resourcefulness. We need your inventiveness. And as the students who helped build this school, I ask you, make your legacy a lasting one. Dream big, think broadly about your life, and please make giving back to your community a part of that vision."
Her speech to more than 12,000 people in the broiling Central California heat was celebrated as a high-profile coming-of-age party for a school that has had its share of challenges. The first new UC campus in 40 years, UC Merced enrolls 2,700 students and plans to ultimately grow to 25,000 if the state government provides enough funding.
The school's chancellor, Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang, likened his campus to "a little engine that could" and said Obama's visit was an affirmation for its future. "It's a great endorsement about how we can do a lot of great things for the nation, the state and the region," he said in an interview.
But Obama's presence also brought hassles and expenses. Because of security concerns, the audience had to show up hours before the ceremony in the campus' grassy outdoor amphitheater and sit without shade as temperatures reached the mid-90s. Eight people were hospitalized for heat-related problems, a campus spokesperson said. About 80 others were treated at the site.
The usually placid campus, which is surrounded by cow pastures, had an army of police and Secret Service agents, including snipers positioned on rooftops. The school, facing a $700,000 bill for such items as Jumbotron screens and extra guards, has raised about $160,000 in donations.
Her UC Merced speech will be Michelle Obama's only college commencement address this year. Adding to the unusual choice of Merced, she usually does not participate in Saturday public events because she tries to devote the day to her daughters, her aides said. So she returned to Washington before diplomas were awarded and granted no interviews.
President Obama has a more controversial address scheduled for today at the University of Notre Dame, a Catholic school where anti-abortion activists are planning to protest his presence and support of abortion rights.
About 450 UC Merced students from its first full freshman class and transfer students participated in Saturday's ceremony.
In her speech, Michelle Obama noted that like her, many of the graduates were among the first in their families to attend college.
Obama, who attended Chicago public schools and later graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law School, told them never to forget the sacrifices their families made for them and to acknowledge all the children who "don't have anyone in their lives telling them they are good enough and smart enough to do whatever they can imagine."
When the graduates experience their own hardships, she said, they should "think about all these people and remember you are blessed. Remember that in exchange for those blessings, you must give something back. You must reach back and pull someone up. You must bend down and let someone else stand on your shoulders so they can see a brighter future."
Other guests onstage with Obama made up a who's who of California politics and academia, including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, UC system President Mark G. Yudof and UC regents Chairman Richard Blum.
Many graduates said they felt inspired by Obama and vindicated by her acceptance of what seemed to be an unlikely invitation.
Yaasha Saabaghian, the former student body president who was among those who worked to invite the first lady, said her speech "was phenomenal. It was everything I expected from her." A biology major from San Mateo, he said he was particularly moved by her mention of students who are the first in their families to attend college.
David Lu, a bioengineering graduate from Palmdale, said her comments about not giving up when facing obstacles applied to UC Merced's history. His class arrived in 2005 before lecture halls were ready and attended courses in dorm lounges.
"Even though people doubted us in the beginning and we are a small campus, we bring a fight here," he said. "We are very passionate students, and we want to show that UC Merced is worthy of being a UC campus."
New York Times
First Lady Speaks to Graduates Who Inspired Her...JESSE McKINLEY
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/us/politics/17michelle.html?sq=uc merced&st=cse&scp=3&pagewanted=print
MERCED, Calif. — Michelle Obama on Saturday encouraged the first full graduating class at the University of California, Merced, to better their communities by using the same determination they had shown in bringing her to campus.
“A few people may be wondering why did I choose the University of California, Merced, to deliver my first commencement speech as first lady,” Mrs. Obama said. “The answer is simple: you inspired me, you touched me.
“There are few things that are more rewarding than to watch young people recognize that they have the power to make their dreams come true. And you did just that.”
Mrs. Obama was drafted to speak here at the smallest, newest campus in the University of California system through a lobbying effort by students and their families. They peppered the White House with letters, videos and hundreds of Valentine’s Day cards.
“And let me tell you, it worked,” she said. “Because I’m here.”
The speech capped weeks of anticipation at the university for an event that left some students star-struck on a blazingly bright and hot afternoon.
“I haven’t seen anyone of that magnitude in person,” said Daniel Titcher, 22, a senior. “Maybe a state senator or assemblyman or something, but nothing like this.”
The appearance also delighted university officials, who had been working to raise enough money to pay for a more elaborate commencement, attended by more than 10,000 people. The $700,000 price tag for the event included enhanced security, like dozens of metal detectors. Lookouts were on rooftops around the school’s quad, and Secret Service agents patrolled the campus, which sits surrounded by browning farmland outside Merced.
John Garamendi Jr., the vice chancellor for university relations, said he had been supportive but skeptical when student leaders told him they were trying to book Mrs. Obama. “I said, ‘Good luck,’ ” Mr. Garamendi recalled, with a laugh. “I said, ‘I love you guys.’ And I kept walking.”
But sure enough, in late March, Mrs. Obama announced that she would make her sole college commencement appearance this season at the Merced campus. The decision brought a swell of pride to this university in the Central Valley of California.
“Anybody who asks where my daughter’s graduating from, I say, ‘U.C. Merced,’ and they go, ‘Oh!’ ” said Shelly Comer, a nurse whose elder daughter, Michelle, was receiving her degree in psychology. “And then they start talking about Michelle Obama.”
Mr. Garamendi echoed that. “The eyes of the world are on us at this moment,” he said. “People are learning that there are positive things happening in California’s Central Valley.”
The first lady’s visit brought a jolt of excitement to the region, which has been battered by drought, high unemployment and a high foreclosure rate.
Conor Mangan, 22, said he hoped that Mrs. Obama’s appearance would help the local economy, if only for a day. “I hope it pays off,” said Mr. Mangan, who noted that he had backed Ron Paul in the presidential race.
Economic concerns were also on the mind of Irvin Junprung, 22, a biology major, who summed up the immediate plans for him and many of his fellow graduates. “Find work,” Mr. Junprung said.
Speaking at the commencement, Mrs. Obama stayed on inspirational terrain, echoing President Obama’s themes of community service and perseverance in tough times. “My husband knows a little something about the power of hope,” she said. “You are the hope of Merced. And this nation.”