California
Powerful California Water Influencer Birmingham Resigns Westlands Post
Longtime Westlands Water District Normal Supervisor Tom Birmingham introduced Wednesday that he’ll retire as of Dec. 31.
“I’m retiring with excessive pleasure within the issues Westlands had achieved during the last 20 years,” he wrote in an electronic mail announcement.
Birmingham had confronted the probability {that a} newly-elected majority on the Westlands board was poised to interchange him after the brand new members had been seated on Dec. 2.
As a substitute, he’ll step down from the district he has served for greater than 36 years, in accordance with a Westlands announcement.
Birmingham’s Severance Totals Extra Than $660K
It’s anticipated that Birmingham will take with him a wholesome severance of at the least $664,000.
In 2020, Birmingham earned $442,196 in pay and $55,633 in advantages for a complete package deal of $497,892, in accordance with Clear California, an internet site that tracks public worker compensation.
Per his contract, he’s to obtain a severance based mostly on his month-to-month wage multiplied by the months left in his time period. In Dec. 2021, the Westlands board renewed his contract, a full 12 months earlier than it was set to run out, by means of November 2024.
That contract renewal was a main bone of competition amongst Westlands’ growers who had change into more and more pissed off with Birmingham’s administration type and focus lately.
Growers stated they felt new concepts for regionalizing water provides had been ignored by Westlands’ administration and that Birmingham continued to give attention to litigation and laws versus collaboration with different districts and neighborhood teams.
Associated Story: Proposed West Facet Dam Clears Hurdle, however Path to Building Is Murky
The ‘Change’ Board Election
Pissed off growers shaped a coalition that efficiently ran a slate of candidates within the latest election giving the “change” group a five-member majority on the nine-member board.
And so they made no secret of their want to interchange Birmingham.
“A change in management is foundational,” stated Sarah Woolf, who as soon as served on the Westlands board and who helped set up the “change” coalition.
Past that, the group had 4 important targets:
- Urgently creating extra groundwater recharge.
- Offering growers with clear and constant pumping laws.
- Creating a plan that incentivizes farming alternate options.
- Bettering relations with different water districts, deprived communities, and environmental and ingesting water advocacy teams.
Birmingham had overseen Westlands throughout a time of serious change in California’s water world, together with larger restrictions on exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which Westlands depends on virtually completely.
The water world turned much more sophisticated beneath the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Administration Act, which can pressure restrictions on groundwater pumping.
The district’s gradual and less-than-innovative response to SGMA was a significant impetus for Westlands’ growers to take motion, in accordance with Woolf.
The brand new board is anticipated to nominate an interim common supervisor and start the seek for a everlasting alternative after they’re sworn in subsequent month, Woolf stated.
California
Dickies to say goodbye to Texas, hello to Southern California
FORT WORTH, Texas — Dickies is leaving Cowtown for the California coast, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The 102-year-old Texas workwear brand, which is owned by VF Corp., is making the move from Fort Worth to Costa Mesa in order to be closer to its sister brand, Vans.
Dickies was founded in Fort Worth in 1922 by E.E. “Colonel” Dickie. Today, Dickies Arena is the entertainment hub of the city and home of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
The company is expected to make the move by May. Approximately 120 employees will be affected, the report said.
By moving one of its offices closer to the other, VF Corp. says it can “consolidate its real estate portfolio,” as well as “create an even more vibrant campus,” Ashley McCormack, director of external communications at VF Corp. said in the report.
Dickies isn’t the only rugged brand owned by VF Corp. The company also has ownership of Timberland, The North Face and JanSport.
VF Corp. acquired Dickies in 2017 for $820 million.
“Their contributions to our city’s culture, economy and identity are immeasurable,” District 9 City Council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents the area of downtown Fort Worth where Dickies headquarters is currently located, said in a statement to the Fort Worth Report. “While we understand their business decision, it is bittersweet to see a company that started right here in Fort Worth take this next step. We are committed to supporting the employees who remain here and will work to honor the lasting imprint Dickies has left on our community.”
California
Caitlyn Jenner says she'd 'destroy' Kamala Harris in hypothetical race to be CA gov
SAN FRANCISCO – Caitlyn Jenner, the gold-medal Olympian-turned reality TV personality, is considering another run for Governor of California. This time, she says, if she were to go up against Vice President Kamala Harris, she would “destroy her.”
Jenner, who publicly came out as transgender nearly 10 years ago, made a foray into politics when she ran as a Republican during the recall election that attempted to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. Jenner only received one percent of the vote and was not considered a serious candidate.
Jenner posted this week on social media that she’s having conversations with “many people” and hopes to have an announcement soon about whether she will run.
Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th annual Womens March LA: Women Rising at Pershing Square on January 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
She has also posted in Trumpian-style all caps: “MAKE CA GREAT AGAIN!”
As for VP Harris, she has not indicated any future plans for when she leaves office. However, a recent poll suggests Harris would have a sizable advantage should she decide to run in 2026. At that point, Newsom cannot run again because of term limits.
If Jenner decides to run and wins, it would mark the nation and state’s first transgender governor.
California
Northern California 6-year-old, parents hailed as heroes for saving woman who crashed into canal
LIVE OAK — A six-year-old and her parents are being called heroes by a Northern California community for jumping into a canal to save a 75-year-old woman who drove off the road.
It happened on Larkin Road near Paseo Avenue in the Sutter County community of Live Oak on Monday.
“I just about lost her, but I didn’t,” said Terry Carpenter, husband of the woman who was rescued. “We got more chances.”
Terry said his wife of 33 years, Robin Carpenter, is the love of his life and soulmate. He is grateful he has been granted more time to spend with her after she survived her car crashing off a two-lane road and overturning into a canal.
“She’s doing really well,” Terry said. “No broken bones, praise the Lord.”
It is what some call a miracle that could have had a much different outcome without a family of good Samaritans.
“Her lips were purple,” said Ashley Martin, who helped rescue the woman. “There wasn’t a breath at all. I was scared.”
Martin and her husband, Cyle Johnson, are being hailed heroes by the Live Oak community for jumping into the canal, cutting Robin out of her seat belt and pulling her head above water until first responders arrived.
“She was literally submerged underwater,” Martin said. “She had a back brace on. Apparently, she just had back surgery. So, I grabbed her brace from down below and I flipped her upward just in a quick motion to get her out of that water.”
The couple said the real hero was their six-year-old daughter, Cayleigh Johnson.
“It was scary,” Cayleigh said. “So the car was going like this, and it just went boom, right into the ditch.”
Cayleigh was playing outside and screamed for her parents who were inside the house near the canal.
I spoke with Robin from her hospital bed over the phone who told us she is in a lot of pain but grateful.
“The thing I can remember is I started falling asleep and then I was going over the bump and I went into the ditch and that’s all I remember,” Robin said.
It was a split-second decision for a family who firefighters said helped save a stranger’s life.
“It’s pretty unique that someone would jump in and help somebody that they don’t even know,” said Battalion Chief for Sutter County Fire Richard Epperson.
Robin is hopeful that she will be released from the hospital on Wednesday in time to be home for Thanksgiving.
“She gets Thanksgiving and Christmas now with her family and grandkids,” Martin said.
Terry and Robin are looking forward to eventually meeting the family who helped save Robin’s life. The family expressed the same feelings about meeting the woman they helped when she is out of the hospital.
“I can’t wait for my baby to get home,” Terry said.
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