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Dry Wells Plague California as Drought Has Water Tables Plunging

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Photo Credit: Bloomberg Business

Photo Credit: Bloomberg Business

Near California’s Success Lake, more than 1,000 water wells have failed. Farmers are spending $750,000 to drill 1,800 feet down to keep fields from going fallow. Makeshift showers have sprouted near the church parking lot.

“The conditions are like a third-world country,” said Andrew Lockman, a manager at the Office of Emergency Services in Tulare County, in the heart of the state’s agricultural Central Valley about 175 miles (282 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.

As California enters the fourth year of a record drought, its residents and $43 billion agriculture industry have drawn groundwater so low that it’s beyond the reach of existing wells. That’s left thousands with dry taps and pushed farmers to dig deeper as Governor Jerry Brown, a 77-year-old Democrat, orders the first mandatory water rationing in state history.

“The demand we’re placing on the aquifer and the deep bedrock drilling, which is going on at an alarmingly fast pace, is really scary,” said Tricia Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. “Folks are really concerned we’re not going to be able find water in the groundwater system much longer. We are tapping it way too quickly.”

Nowhere has lack of rain been felt more than in Tulare County, in a valley dotted with dairy farms and walnut orchards at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains. With 458,000 residents, it’s home to 1,013 dry wells, accounting for more than half of those that have failed in the state since January 2014. (Read more from “Dry Wells Plague California as Drought Has Water Tables Plunging” HERE)

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Mystery “Warm Blob” in the Pacific Ocean Could Be Causing California’s Mega-Drought

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BlobA mysterious “warm blob” in the Pacific Ocean could be the reason why US West coast states like California are experiencing their worst ever drought, a new study says.

The blob in the ocean was discovered last year, with temperatures one to four degrees Celsius (two to seven degrees Fahrenheit) above surrounding ‘normal’ water, causing havoc to West Coast marine ecosystem and led species to seek refuge elsewhere.

The blob extends about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) offshore, from Mexico up to Alaska, and was 300 feet (90 meters) deep.

A study by the University of Washington found that a high-pressure ridge could be causing the blob, by trapping heat in the water.

Dr. Nick Bond, a climate scientist at the University of Washington, coined the term ‘the blob’ in June. (Read more from “Mystery “Warm Blob” in the Pacific Ocean Could Be Causing California’s Mega-Drought” HERE)

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Governor Issues Executive Order Imposing Draconian Fines for Long Showers

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Photo Credit: LA Times

Photo Credit: LA Times

By Pam Key. Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) said Californians will face heavy fines for taking long showers.

Brown said, “This executive order is done under emergency power. It has the force of law. Very unusual. It’s requiring action and changes in behavior from the Oregon border all the way to the Mexican border. It affects lawns. It affects people’s — how long they stay in the shower. How businesses use water.”

Brown said to enforce his order, “Each water district that actually delivers waters — water to homes and businesses, they carry it out. We have a state water board that overseas the relationships with the districts. Hundreds of them. If they don’t comply, people can be fined $500 a day. Districts can go to court to get a cease and desist order. The enforcement mechanism is powerful. In a drought of this magnitude, you have to change that behavior and you have to change it substantially.” (Read more from “Governor Jerry Brown to Levy Draconian Fines for Long Showers” HERE)

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California’s Wealthy Lagging in Water Conservation

By Frank Shyong, Hailey Branson-Potts and Matt Stevens. There are few signs of California’s epic drought along a stretch of Maple Drive in Beverly Hills.

Deep green front lawns stretch out, dotted with healthy trees and sculpted foliage. The only brown lawn in sight was at a home under construction.

As California gears up for the first mandatory water restrictions in its history, a long-standing class divide about water use is becoming increasingly apparent.

Beverly Hills and other affluent cities use far more water per capita than less-wealthy communities, prompting some to cast them as villains in California’s water conservation effort. (Read more from this story HERE)

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California Governor Orders Mandatory Water Restrictions

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1-salt-creek-beachCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown ordered officials Wednesday to impose statewide mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history as surveyors found the lowest snow level in the Sierra Nevada snowpack in 65 years of record-keeping.

Standing in dry, brown grass at a site that normally would be snow-covered this time of year, Brown announced he had signed an executive order requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to implement measures in cities and towns to cut the state’s overall water usage by 25 percent compared with 2013 levels.

The move will affect residents, businesses, farmers and other users.

“We’re in a historic drought and that demands unprecedented action,” Brown said at a news conference at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada, where state water officials found no snow on the ground for the first time in their April manual survey of the snowpack. “We have to pull together and save water in every way we can.”

After declaring a drought emergency in January 2014, Brown urged all Californians to cut water use by 20 percent from the previous year. (Read more from “California Governor Orders Mandatory Water Restrictions” HERE)

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California Loosens Sex Offender Residency Restrictions

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ChainsCalifornia will alter its 8-year-old ban preventing all registered sex offenders from living near schools or parks, state officials announced Thursday, instead imposing the restriction only on pedophiles and others whose sex crimes involved children.

The state corrections department said it is changing its policy in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that found the blanket prohibition unconstitutional. The high court ruled this month that restrictions imposed by California voters in 2006 go too far to limit where sex offenders can live.

Parole agents can still force sex offenders to live more than 2,000 feet from schools and parks where children gather, as required by the ballot measure commonly known as Jessica’s Law. But they will have to make the decision for individual cases.

The March 2 ruling applied only to registered sex-offender parolees in San Diego County, but prison officials will apply the ruling statewide. Some local governments outside San Diego County also have begun repealing their local residency restrictions in response to the high court’s ruling. (Read more from “California Loosens Sex Offender Residency Restrictions” HERE)

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California Drought: State OKs Sweeping Restrictions on Water Use

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California officials approved a package of far-reaching water restrictions Tuesday, limiting homes and businesses in much of the Bay Area and elsewhere to just two days of outdoor watering per week while cracking down on the way restaurants and hotels use water.

The rules mark unprecedented territory for the state, which has historically let local water agencies, with their unique supplies and demands, manage how customers use water. But with California poised for a fourth year of drought and conservation lagging, officials opted for statewide action.

The regulations, carrying fines up to $500, add to restrictions put in place last year that rein in outdoor water use — for example, barring people from hosing down driveways. The new terms tread deeper into homes, businesses and the lives of most Californians, and are indicative of the state’s worsening water woes.

“We are not seeing the stepping up and the ringing of alarm bells that the situation warrants,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, which voted unanimously for Tuesday’s conservation mandates.

The regulations require local water agencies that don’t already limit outdoor watering to certain days of the week to adopt a two-day-a-week policy. Among the Bay Area agencies that would have to impose the two-day limit are the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, serving the city’s more than 800,000 residents, as well as the Marin Municipal Water District and Contra Costa Water District. Agencies outside San Francisco that buy water from the SFPUC — including on the Peninsula and in parts of the East Bay — are affected only if they do not already impose watering limits. (Read more from “California Drought: State OKs Sweeping Restrictions on Water Use” HERE)

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“ISIS Did It First”: California Lawyer Proposes Ballot to Execute Homosexuals

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By AFP. A California lawyer has submitted a referendum proposal to outlaw homosexuality in the famously liberal western US state, on pain of execution.

The proposal — unlikely to advance, as it requires over 360,000 signatures to proceed — was submitted by attorney Matthew McLaughlin to the California Attorney General’s office last week.

“The abominable crime against nature known as buggery, called also sodomy, is a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha,” reads the proposal, registered for comment on the attorney general’s website. (Read more about the California lawyer’s proposal to execute homosexuals HERE)


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Gay Syrians Tell of ISIS Persecution

By Arwa Damon and Zeynep Bilginsoy. The photographs released by ISIS in its stronghold of Raqqa are dated March 2015. The first ones show a large crowd, mostly men, but also among them a handful of women and children, all looking up.

Three men on top of a building, faces covered in black balaclavas, stand on either side of their victim, while a fourth seems to be taking a photo or video.


Their victim is thrown off the building. In the last photograph, he is seen face down, surrounded by a small crowd of men, most carrying weapons, some with rocks in their hands. The caption reads “stoned to death.”

The victim brutally killed because he was accused of being gay.

There are at least half a dozen documented cases of men being similarly killed by ISIS. What’s even more sickening for Nour, a gay Syrian man, is the onlookers’ reaction. (Read more from this story HERE)

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First Sheriff Joe, Now California DMV Ordered to Overlook Identity Theft by Illegal Aliens

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Illegal aliens may enjoy a free pass on identity theft due to a new investigative policy at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The policy, issued last year and effective as of Jan. 1, 2015, directs DMV investigators to overlook identity theft by applicants “who may have attempted to obtain or been issued a license or ID card previously through submission of false information.”

A DMV source who asked to remain anonymous provided Breitbart News exclusively with a copy of the newly-enacted internal policy memorandum. The document informs DMV investigative officers that past identity theft is acceptable when the illegally-acquired IDs were only used to obtain a driver license, and where the license or ID was not used to commit any other crime.

It is unclear how investigators are meant to determine whether a falsely obtained driver license or ID was used solely for driving, or also to commit other crimes, such as using a fraudulently-obtained driver license to open a bank account, to apply for a loan, or even to purchase alcohol.

The policy seems to expect applicants to admit voluntarily to using a fraudulent driver license or ID for purposes other than driving a motor vehicle, if they did so. (Read more about the California DMV HERE)

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Disneyland Measles Outbreak “Starting to Sweep the Country”

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Photo Credit: CBS Baltimore By Christie Ileto. A health warning. The extremely contagious measles virus is back. An outbreak that started at Disneyland is starting to sweep the country.

Christie Ileto has the push for children to get vaccinated.

Measles was thought to have been eliminated in the U.S. 15 years ago. Now its back, targeting those who haven’t been immunized.

The outbreak that started in California’s Disneyland is expanding. At least 75 cases of measles span six states.

“It’s scary to think the happiest place on Earth is infected with measles,” one Disney employee said. (Read more about the measles outbreak in California HERE)

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Arizona Medical Director on Measles: “One of the Most Contagious Diseases Known to Man”

By Connie Sexton. A recent but rare case of the measles in Maricopa County has health officials reminding the public of the disease’s potential harm and the benefits of being vaccinated.

“It’s one of the most contagious diseases known to man,” said Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, the county’s medical director for disease control. Although measles are extremely rare, one in a thousand cases leads to inflammation around the brain, deafness and cognitive impairment, and one to two cases in a thousand are fatal, she said. “The measles vaccine is one of the best we have. No vaccine is perfect, but this is almost 100 percent perfect.”

County officials hope those who have never been vaccinated will do so now, in light of the news Thursday that a woman in her 50s living in the county tested positive for measles. Officials believe it’s likely the woman contracted the disease Dec. 15-20 while visiting Disneyland, which has been linked to an outbreak in California, Sunenshine said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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U of California Event: “Bringing Down Israel Will Benefit Everyone in the World”

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Photo Credit: via Zombietime

Photo Credit: via Zombietime

Won’t someone please think of the murderous terrorists?

A November 12 panel discussion on the University of California’s flagship Berkeley campus was billed as an opportunity to learn about events 7,000 miles away in Israel – and about a Dec. 4 graduate student vote to join the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Instead, attendees were exhorted to bring down the Jewish State.

Hosted by UAW 2865, a union of over 13,000 student-workers across the University of California system, the union’s BDS Caucus brought in guest speakers to “discuss the role of organized labor in the Palestine solidarity movement.”

Panelist Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), dominated the conversation.

“Bringing down Israel will really benefit everyone in the world and everyone in society, particularly workers,” she said later.

Read more from this story HERE.