California still won’t make coronavirus workplace outbreaks public [San Francisco Chronicle]
Supporters of a push to require companies to report workplace coronavirus outbreaks publicly say they plan to keep fighting despite recent setbacks that they say allow big businesses to keep outbreaks secret. In February, Assembly Member Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, proposed a law requiring the California Department of Public Health to report coronavirus outbreaks by workplace location, meaning outbreaks at specific businesses would be disclosed to the public. But that requirement was dropped from the bill’s final version, allowing companies — and public health officials — to withhold coronavirus outbreak information from the public. Instead, health officials will report infections by industry. … The new bill was supposed to build upon last year’s AB685, which was inspired in part by a joint investigation by CalMatters and the Salinas Californian for the California Divide on unreported COVID outbreaks among guest farmworkers. That bill requires employers to notify workers of COVID-19 outbreaks and allows Cal/OSHA to fine employers and shut down workplaces for serious coronavirus violations and outbreaks.
Paper shortage, delays cause disruption in printing of wine labels [Napa Valley Register]
With paper joining a lengthy list of items in short supply because of pandemic-stretched supply lines, winemakers find themselves in a bind when it comes to getting their products to market. Without paper, there are no labels, and with no labels on the bottles, there is no wine. … “The three main issues are freight, labor and inflation,” said Travis Pollard, vice president and general manager of ASL Print FX in Napa.
Two Napa County supervisors to attend Germany wine confab — virtually [Napa Valley Register]
Two Napa County supervisors usually travel each year to a foreign country for the Great Wine Capitals Global Network conference, but this year there’s a twist. Supervisors Alfredo Pedroza and Ryan Gregory will be participating in the conference to be held from Oct. 24 to Oct. 29 in Mainz, Germany. But instead of flying to the Rhineland for meetings and winery tours, they’ll stay in Napa Valley and use their computers. … Besides San Francisco/Napa Valley, the Great Wine Capitals are Adelaide, South Australia; Bilbao/Rioja, Spain; Lausanne, Switzerland; Mainz/Rheinhessen, Germany; Mendoza, Argentina; Porto, Portugal; Valparaiso/Casablanca Valley, Chile and Verona, Italy. Each year, one hosts the annual conference.
Deep Springs College brings rigorous academics to a ranch in the high California desert [CBS News]
In the shadow of eastern California’s High Sierra, hemmed by twisting mountain passes, Deep Springs College is an oasis of green set amid a no man’s land of sage-brush and endless sky. … Here, students from around the world labor in the classroom and on the grounds, where there is no football field, but there is an alfalfa field. And the syllabus includes philosophy, calculus and pre-dawn cow milking. Student-farmers grow the produce that student-cooks prepare. There are student mail carriers, student mechanics…and student ranchers who drive some 300 head of cattle across a valley almost twice the size of Manhattan.
See the 1-ton gourd that triumphed in Half Moon Bay pumpkin contest [San Francisco Chronicle]
Pumpkin enthusiasts and other local boosters gathered on a windy Monday morning in Half Moon Bay to root for the eager growers competing in the annual Super Bowl of gargantuan gourds. … Although the competition was stiff, there could only be one winner. With a behemoth weighing in at 2,191 pounds, Jeff Uhlmeyer of Olympia, Wash., took the top prize, in the form of $19,719. Napa’s Leonardo Urena, the 2019 winner who set a California record that year with a 2,175-pound gourd, took second place with his 2,007-pound entry. … The entry from another Napa native, John Hawkley, tipped the scales at a respectable 1,857 pounds.
Opinion: USDA needs to put climate solutions before industry profits [The Hill]
The United States is in a food fight with the rest of the world over climate change – and agricultural policy is at the heart of it. The recent release of the Department of Agriculture’s Action Plan for Climate Adaptation and Resilience only highlights the fact that the country isn’t preparing adequately to face the climate crisis. … Climate change is disrupting U.S. food production – from impacting growing seasons and disease risk to water availability and rising temperatures – and animal agriculture is fueling the flames with its own emissions. Yet, U.S. agricultural policy has long ignored “code red” warnings from climate experts. … We can’t ignore environmental disasters to protect the interests of agribusinesses. And while we need productive yields, we also need the food security that can only be found in a sustainable food system. Food policy must adapt to what works for climate mitigation.
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