California pledges millions to battle enormous, destructive swamp rats [Bay Area News Group]
A growing menace in the form of 15-pound swamp rodents is threatening Delta waterways, and the state is throwing money, hunting dogs and birth control at the invasive pests which have the potential to destroy crops and wetlands. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has received $10 million in new funding for the eradication of nutria, or coypu, which are native to South America and have found their way to the Golden State after wreaking havoc in Louisiana and other places….The new money will allow the state agency to hire more staff and try methods inspired by a successful eradication effort in the Chesapeake Bay.
Papaya outbreak highlights FDA’s food safety challenge [CQ-Roll Call]
…The Food and Drug Administration is trying to bring its efforts to track and prevent outbreaks in line with the technology now at its disposal. But because spending for next year is uncertain, Congress could make it difficult for the agency….The papaya outbreak is the latest instance of the FDA issuing a blanket warning against an entire product because officials were unsure where the problem originated. A similar thing happened before Thanksgiving last year when the government warned against eating any romaine lettuce….The FDA in April announced a blueprint to modernize the food safety system by looking at ways to increase the use of digital technology in the supply chain.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/papaya-outbreak-highlights-fdas-food-safety-challenge
Tariffs on China don’t cover the costs of Trump’s trade war [New York Times]
President Trump on Monday portrayed America as being on the winning end of his trade war, saying tariffs are punishing China’s economy while generating billions of dollars for the United States, an economic victory that will allow him to continue his fight without domestic harm….But government figures show that the revenue the United States has collected from tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods is not enough to cover the cost of the president’s bailout for farmers, let alone compensate the many other industries hurt by trade tensions. The longer Mr. Trump’s dispute with China drags on, the more difficult it could be for him to ignore that gap.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/business/trade-war-tariffs-revenue.html?searchResultPosition=1
Both sides consider appeal after judge reduces $80 million award against Monsanto [Bay City News]
A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday reduced an $80 million award levied against Monsanto Co. to $25 million for a Sonoma County man who claimed the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria upheld a jury award of approximately $5 million in compensatory damages to Edwin Hardeman, 70, of Santa Rosa, but said guidelines set by the U.S. Supreme Court required him to reduce the jury’s $75 million in punitive damages to $20 million….Monsanto, now owned by Bayer AG of Germany, is facing more than 13,000 Roundup lawsuits filed in U.S. federal and state courts.
Opinion: California refuses to enlist clean, cheap hydropower in fight against climate change. It makes no sense [CalMatters]
…For years, the people of the Northern San Joaquin Valley have been trying to get hydropower recognized for what it is: the original source of clean electricity. Our efforts have been stymied by people who feel entitled to decide what is, or isn’t, green enough. That’s why I have begun the process of modifying our state Constitution to recognize safe, abundant, carbon-free hydropower as a reliable source of renewable energy in our fight against climate change.
https://calmatters.org/commentary/hydropower/
Opinion: The sad lesson from California [New York Times]
After more than a decade of contentious debate, New York has passed a law that entitles farmworkers to basic rights that most workers take for granted — the right to earn overtime, have a day off, collect unemployment insurance and join a union….Yet this victory may prove to be largely symbolic. That is the sad lesson from California, which has had on the books for more than 40 years a farmworker statute hailed as the most pro-labor law in the country….But today, the board that administers the law is virtually moribund; it has not met in public since January. For most of the year it has lacked a quorum. And nobody seems to notice.
