The San Joaquin Valley Connect is a daily publication of the Great Valley Center's Energy Program and is designed to keep you informed about what's happening in your region. You have been subscribed because of your interest in regional happenings and energy efficiency in the San Joaquin Valley.

California citrus leaders worried over new disease
With more budget cuts looming, California citrus leaders fear the state won't spend enough to ward off a disease that already has ravaged Florida groves. So the industry wants to collect more fees from growers for stepped-up prevention efforts.
Fresno Bee article

Legislature targets real estate practices
The continuing trauma of 365,000 foreclosures in California the last two years has triggered an aggressive round of legislative proposals inside the Capitol this spring to tighten practices of the state's powerful real estate industry.
Sacramento Bee article

Delta landowners heading to court
Three dozen Delta landowners are headed to court after refusing state water officials' requests to access their lands as part of a peripheral canal study.
Stockton Record article

Fresno turns to local developers to revive downtown
The year was 2004 and downtown Fresno's future suddenly looked bright. Two years earlier, the city had unveiled Vision 2010, a slick plan for the triangle framed by downtown's freeways. The plan was bearing  fruit faster than anyone expected.
Fresno Bee article

Focus On Ag: State's almond acreage up by 6%
Almond orchards stretched across about 680,000 acres in the state at the end of last year, a 6 percent rise from 2007, a federal report said Friday. The acreage has increased 63 percent since 1995, the report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service said.
Modesto Bee article

Fruit growers ripping up trees
California's tree fruit crop is expected to shrink by 15.8% this year as farmers struggle with low prices, fading interest in some varieties and a sluggish economy. The Reedley-based California Tree Fruit Agreement estimates the industry will produce about 49 million boxes of peaches, plums and nectarines, down from 58 million last year.
Fresno Bee article

Manteca adds 897 housing units
Manteca – despite the mortgage meltdown that sent nearly 1,000 single family homes into foreclosure during 2008 - experienced its second highest year in terms of the number of new housing units that were built within the city limits since a growth cap was imposed in 1987.
Manteca Bulletin article

Bird flu planning pays off for Valley health officials
The swine-flu threat couldn't come at a worse time for the central San Joaquin Valley, where public-health workers have struggled for resources in the recession. But they have a plan. Spurred by the threat of bird flu four years ago, public-health agencies created pandemic-flu plans that are paying off now.
Fresno Bee article

Visalia City Council will discuss options for dealing with flood map and insurance
Local property owners and the Visalia City Council will try and hammer out a plan today to deal with the June 16 implementation of a new federal flood-plain map that will require some property owners to buy expensive, mandatory flood insurance.
Visalia Times-Delta article

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