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Kern Supervisors approve massive public works bond
Kern County supervisors approved a $115 million bond to fund road improvements, two replacement fire stations and a new building for the county's information technology department.
Bakersfield Californian article

Merced Irrigation District begins irrigation deliveries
On Monday morning, eastern Merced County's canals were full of liquid that seems to be worth more than gold to local growers these days: water. The Merced Irrigation District officially began its water year on Monday at 10 a.m. Although a storm passed through the Merced area Saturday night, Hicham Eltal, assistant general manager for water resources, said that some growers have been calling for water.
Merced Sun-Star article

Updated allocations show severe water shortages will remain
Although the state's water supply outlook has improved slightly, farmers in many parts of California learned last week that they still face severe water shortages, as both federal and state water projects issued updated supply allocation estimates for the 2009 crop year. The state Department of Water Resources said recent winter storms increased the Sierra snowpack to near 90 percent of average.
California Farm Bureau article

Peripheral canal construction could begin in 2011
Area opponents argue legislature should have final say in Delta project The work of the Delta Vision Committee is done and after two years of hearings and research to develop solutions for curing California’s water ills, a major part of the plan is to build a canal to move fresh water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This is, say opponents of the canal concept, merely a slicked up and much more expensive version of the original peripheral canal which was defeated by California voters in 1982. This version of the canal-as-Delta-savior would divert a significant amount of fresh Sacramento River water around the Delta and ship it south to provide water to more than 23 million Californians and farms in the Southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.
Central Valley Business Journal article

Oasis on Highway 41 moves: Drive-in to be restored
For more than 20 years it was the place to stop. When Valley residents drove to the coast there was Ed's Drive-in, in Stratford, white and yellow, with a hamburger boy on top and a small pond with picnic tables to the side and rear.
Lemoore Advance article

Sierra Pacific sawmill, in operation nearly a century, to close in July
The Sierra Pacific Industries sawmill, the heart of Tuolumne County's timber industry for nearly a century, will shut down in July, putting 146 people out of work. Weak demand for lumber and government limits on logging have forced the move, company spokesman Mark Pawlicki said Tuesday. The announcement rattled residents of a county that has lost many timber and mining jobs in the past two decades.
Modesto Bee article

Assistance extended for state's unemployed
Out-of-work Californians receiving unemployment assistance would get an extra 20 weeks of benefits under a bill passed Monday in the state Assembly. With Hanford-based Republican Danny Gilmore voting for the measure along with virtually the entire Republican membership, it passed 77-0.
Hanford Sentinel article

Salton Sea shocked by series of quakes
California’s odd Salton Sea, a brackish body of water in the desolate desert 38 miles north of El Centro, is the location of at least three small earthquakes Tuesday morning.
Central Valley Business Times article

StanCOG considers corridor between Patterson, Turlock
The Stanislaus Council of Governments is taking a fresh look at a proposed corridor between Interstate 5 and Highway 99. The so-called South County Corridor, which would use road widening and other improvements to better connect Turlock and Patterson, was slated to receive about $116 million from a sales tax increase on the ballot in November.
Patterson Irrigator article

Grade Separation Under Study
Kern County supervisors approved a $115 million bond to fund road improvements, two replacement fire stations and a new building for the county's information technology department.
Escalon Times article

Grants slated for Madera County & Chowchilla
Chowchilla and Madera County are among 21 cities and 15 counties throughout California that will receive Community Development Block Grant funds, the California Department of Housing and Community Development announced Monday. HCD is awarding a total of $30.4 million. Madera County will receive $1,500,000 in state funds and the City of Chowchilla will be given $450,000.
Madera Tribune article

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