Mendocino County Today: Monday 7/28/2025

Near Normal | Medicine Fire | Metal Hat | Laytonville Traffic | Spotted Fawn | Budget Bungling | Magic Show | Ukiah Retreats | Night Lights | Firecracker Attacker | Trump Month | Heil Gathering | Special Program | Magdalena Homes | Towel Folding | 2012 Washout | Apple Fair | Yesterday's Catch | Incredible Amazings | No Place | Man Vanishes | Denaturalization | Crumb Biography | American Girl | Chinook Return | About Ticks | Giants Swept | Amerika | Another Direction | Monterey Coast | Saving Graces | Popular Jake | Pardon | Trade Deal | Open Range | Lead Stories | Elite Problem | Tom Lehrer | Vietnam 1968 | Walking Corpses | Stop Starvation | Natural Advice | Miracles | Topmost Sierra

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SLIGHT thunderstorm chances continue each afternoon for interior areas around the Klamath Mountains. Near normal to slightly below normal temperatures expected into early this week. Another upper low could bring increase chances for thunderstorms by mid week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): CLEAR SKIES & a cooler 50F this Monday morning on the coast! How about mostly sunny skies into the weekend? No really, at least according to the NWS. I'll refrain from holding my breath but you never know?

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MEDICINE FIRE TAMED—for now—as Covelo evacuation orders lift

by Matt LaFever

A fast-moving wildfire is tearing through the Covelo countryside this afternoon, prompting evacuation orders, a three-alarm response, and reports of RV trailers and other structures catching fire, according to scanner traffic.

The fire is burning near the Covelo area, with flames reported around Hopper Lane and Covelo Refuse Road. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for residents north of Hopper Lane, west of Mina Road, and west of Covelo Road (Highway 162). Officials are urging residents in the zone to leave immediately.

Firefighters on scene described rapid spread through dry brush and grass, and air attack crews warned the blaze could grow to 200–300 acres. A surge of resources—including air tankers, helicopters, engines, and hand crews—was ordered to try and get ahead of the fire.

In a public alert, the Sheriff’s Office asked the public to avoid the area and use caution as emergency operations continue.

UPDATE 4:34 p.m.: Evacuation orders have been issued for Zones MEN-1COV08-B and MEN-1COV13-A, according to the Genasys Evacuation Map. Residents in these areas should leave immediately. The zones can be viewed at protect.genasys.com.

UPDATE 4:56 p.m.: The fire has grown to 100 acres, according to Incident Command

UPDATE 5:36 p.m.: According to CAL FIRE Mendocino, the Medicine Fire has grown to 217 acres and is currently 0% contained.

UPDATE 6:14 p.m.: Medical personnel are responding to the Medicine Fire following reports that a 26-year-old firefighter sustained a chipped tooth and facial laceration under unknown circumstances.

UPDATE 7:08 p.m.: Fire crews report that the Medicine Fire is holding at approximately 220 acres with 15% containment.

Road closures are in effect at the following intersections:

Ledger Lane and Zenia Road Ledger Lane and Barnes Lane Crawford Road and Barnes Lane

UPDATE 7:45 p.m.: Evacuation orders have been downgraded to warnings for the following zones: MEN-1COV08-B and MEN-1COV13-A, according to the Genasys Evacuation Map. Residents may return home but should remain alert and prepared to leave if conditions change.

(mendofever.com)

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WILLITS POLICE DEPARTMENT:

A metal cowboy hat was turned in to the department today after it was retrieved from the creek bed in the 100 block of North Main Street. The hat is heavily weathered and weighs about 15lbs. The hat appears to be a part of a statue due to a socket underneath, but does have some worn felt footings to rest on a flat surface.

If you recognize this property, we ask that the owner please call (707) 459-6122 so we can arrange to return it. The property will be held for 90 days pending an owner, with some form of proof of ownership, can be identified.

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LAYTONVILLE TRAFFIC, an on-line comment:

The speed of the traffic on 101 through our valley is insane. After last weekend with two accidents, one fatal for a local woman, you would hope things would slow down. This morning driving the 3 miles between Steele Ln and Ten Mile Creek road was beyond ridiculous. I pulled out of Ten Mile Creek Rd near forestry dept. Within minutes some lunatic was riding my bumper impatiently. He quickly tried to pass on left but on coming traffic prevented it even though he was in the north bound lane heading south. So he then went behind me darting over the fog line on the shoulder and passed me on the right. He quickly caught up to a motor home and rode his bumper all the way through town, again aggressively. As I approached Steele lane slowing to make the turn, a CHP was parked facing north 75 feet away and and the car behind me floored it after I made my turn. No one is driving any where near the 55 limit. Several weeks ago I stopped at the Chevron crosswalk for pedestrian waiting to cross, the car behind me did not even slow, or even hesitate but passed me and the crosswalk in the left hand turn lane. These are the out of towners driving this way. Something more needs to be done. Not just the occasional CHP sitting in their car. Not just speed signs that they race right by. The double fine zone south of town could fill the state coffers with cash, If anyone was enforcing the speed. I do not know the answer but surly someone does. We need more speed enforcement ASAP! CHP where are you?

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BUDGET BUNGLING 4.0

by Mark Scaramella

Near the end of June, as the Supervisors were finalizing what they jokingly referred to as this fiscal year’s “balanced budget,” they emphasized that to have any chance of achieving that nebulous goal, they’d need to strictly follow their “Strategic Hiring Process,” aka a soft hiring freeze, because the the budget depended on finding around $6 million in salary savings from not filling vacancies (in General Fund departments) over the July 2025 to June 2026 period. This “process” was so important to this year’s budget management that CEO Darcy Antle and her staff included the following unusual item in their June 24 CEO Report:

“Strategic Hiring Process — On May 6, 2025, the Board of Supervisors directed staff to implement ‘Strategic Hiring’ as part of the recruitment process due to significant budget constraints heading into the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year. The Strategic Hiring Process, introduced during the County budget presentation on June 3, includes six phases: job analysis and design, workforce planning, approval to hire, recruitment, onboarding, and evaluation. This structured process promotes consistency, transparency, and informed decision-making while assisting departments in assessing needs, justifying requests, and supporting long-term workforce planning. As part of this process, Human Resources will introduce a standing monthly agenda item to the Board of Supervisors, during which Department Heads and Elected Officials will address the Board regarding their requests to promote transparency and accountability. This standing item will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for the first time on July 29, 2025.”

Accordingly, the Human Resources Department added this item to that June 24 CEO Report titled “Strategic Hiring Process”:

“Agenda Item: Human Resources will present a monthly agenda item to the Board of Supervisors, which reviews all departmental requests to fill vacant or soon-to-be vacant positions. Each request will include a justification outlining the necessity of the position, any legal or regulatory mandates, and the proposed funding source.”

At the time, we scoffed at that the idea that the Board or the CEO or her top staff would do anything like this because 1. They don’t do monthly reporting, never have; never will. And 2. They especially wouldn’t do this kind of reporting because not only is it beyond them, but the results would show that they’re not doing anything like what the CEO said they would do — i.e., managing vacancies and balancing the budget.

So it was no surprise to comb through the July 29 Board agenda and the July 2025 CEO report and find nothing about the Strategic Hiring Process. Repeat: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

PS. With the exception of two relatively new Supervisors, these are the same people who complained on an almost monthly basis in the months before Auditor-Controller/Treasurer Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison was suspended without pay for not providing the Board with financial reports that should have been provided by the CEO.

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UKIAH RETREATS FROM AGGRESSIVE ANNEXATION PLAN AFTER OUTCRY

by Matt LaFever

The City of Ukiah is hitting the brakes on its controversial push to expand city boundaries, announcing it will scale back the scope of its proposed annexation and delay submitting an application to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo).

City officials say the decision came after recent meetings with county leaders, where Ukiah signaled it would reduce the amount of land included in any future reorganization. An application that had been expected this summer is now off the table—for now.

“We recognize the need for deeper discussion about how and where services will be responsibly delivered to the community,” Councilmember Mari Rodin said in a statement. “We’re committed to pulling back and re-evaluating our next steps.”

The shift follows months of public outcry over the city’s plan to annex large swaths of unincorporated neighborhoods, farmland, and riverfront. Opponents argued the proposal lacked transparency, threatened rural independence, and moved too fast without adequate public input.

The Mendocino County Farm Bureau, a vocal critic, called the city’s process “misguided” in a July 2 letter. “It was clear that NO ONE in attendance that evening supported the annexation proposal other than city staff,” wrote Farm Bureau president Estelle Clifton, referring to a contentious public workshop in June. She urged the City Council to rescind the plan entirely and “start fresh with public input, involvement, and transparency.”

Meanwhile, No Ukiah Annexation, a grassroots group of residents and business owners, issued a fiery statement on July 19, responding to the city’s recent removal of the proposed annexation map from its website. The group dismissed the move as “not a meaningful shift in direction, but as a temporary tactic meant to quiet public opposition while continuing annexation efforts behind closed doors.”

The group is calling for stronger action: “We urge the Council to immediately direct staff to withdraw all annexation proposals and to suspend any further work until a genuine and inclusive citizen engagement process is conducted.”

In response to the mounting opposition, the city has confirmed that staff removed the boundary map from its website and is designing a new public process to examine potential impacts and explore alternatives.

City Manager Sage Sangiacomo framed the moment as an opportunity to regroup. “Strong cities make strong counties, and strong counties make strong cities,” he said. “A well-considered annexation will result in improved quality of life and a stronger economy.”

For now, the City says it’s listening—and rethinking. Opponents say they’ll believe it when they see it.

Updates and future public engagement opportunities will be posted at cityofukiah.com/annexation.

(MendoFever.com)

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BILL KIMBERLIN:

Boonville house at night. There are those who feel that architecture should be photographed at night. I am one of them.

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WOMAN CHARGED IN FIRECRACKER ASSAULT on homeless woman in February pleads no contest to one felony or misdemeanor charge: three additional charges dismissed, receives suspended sentence

by Linda Little

Viral videos can destroy your life.

Possible Life Lesson – don’t film crimes!

A 21-year-old Fort Bragg woman who was arrested 6 months after a firecracker attack on a homeless woman, after her viral video ended up in the hands of Fort Bragg police, got no jail time, that is unless she fails to complete a 2-year court-ordered probation program.

Taylor Rylie Carnahan originally faced two felony charges and two misdemeanor charges. All but one charge, were dismissed.…

https://mendocinocoast.news/update-woman-charged-in-firecracker-assault-on-homeless-woman-in-february-pleads-no-contest-to-one-charge-3-additional-c/

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BETTER NOT TELL TRUMP

From the July 2025 Mendocino County CEO Report:

“July is Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Awareness Month, Also known as Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month honors the memory of Bebe Moore Campbell, an American author, journalist, teacher, and mental health advocate who worked to shed light on the mental health needs of the Black community and other underrepresented communities.”

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PHILIP ZWERLING:

The Noyo Bida Truth Project presents a special program on Saturday, August 2, at 1 p.m. at Mendocino College, Coast Campus, 1211 Del Mar Drive, Fort Bragg, Room 112.

Our special Guest Speaker, will be Tatiana Cantrell, The Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Director for the Pinoleville Pomo Nation.

Dr. Cantrell has worked with children and families in Lake and Mendocino Counties for the past 25 years. She has spent the past several years working with local indigenous communities to address historical and generational trauma by removing barriers to services, forming collaborative relationships with community agencies, and individualizing family and case plans to meet people where they are at. She is a current faculty member at Mendocino College in the Child Development Department.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) crisis refers to the disproportionately high rates of violence, including murder and disappearances, experienced by Indigenous people, particularly women and girls, in the United States and Canada. This crisis is a serious issue with deep historical roots in colonization and its ongoing impacts. Locally we can find its roots in the Mendocino Indian Reservation overseen here by soldiers at Fort Bragg (1857-1864) and continuing through the Indian schools in Mendocino County into the 20th Century, like the Round Valley Indian School, 1860-1924.

(This program is neither sponsored by nor affiliated with Mendocino Community College.)

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MAGDALENA HOMES EXPANDS HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES IN ANDERSON VALLEY, SEEKS HOME BUYERS AND RENTERS, AND COMPANY INVESTORS.

Anderson Valley, CA – Magdalena Homes is proud to announce significant strides in addressing the housing shortage in Anderson Valley. With two newly established rental properties in downtown Boonville, the company is committed to providing high-quality, affordable housing solutions that benefit the local community.

Since the launch of these rentals, Magdalena Homes has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from tenants. One tenant shared that this has been her best housing experience in the more than 15 years that she has been renting, while another expressed that her new home has given her renewed hope and a fresh start. These testimonials underscore the impact Magdalena Homes is making in the region.

Magdalena Homes is actively seeking buyers for its thoughtfully designed homes, renters looking for a welcoming living environment, and investors interested in supporting a community-focused initiative. Our mission is to enhance Anderson Valley’s housing landscape and create sustainable, vibrant communities.

For more information or to get involved, please contact Magdalena Homes at 513-537-0974 or [email protected]. You can also visit our website: magdalena-homes.com. Together, we can build a brighter future for Anderson Valley.

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JUST BUY 20 NEW TOWELS A WEEK

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

My dear Trophy of a wife declared we needed to talk, and when she said it her teeth were gritted and her tone was flat. Ominous.

I did a quick and guilty fact-check of some of my more questionable recent activities to arm myself prior to the conversation.

What could get her so heated up that she’d be willing to engage in several minutes of conversation with me, of all people in her life?

I narrowed it down to likely probabilities:

1) The most recent phone bill arrived and she’s curious about all my late night calls to Paris Hilton.

2) My recent decision to take up chewing Beechnut tobacco as a hobby.

3) Using the bathtub as a spittoon.

4) Reading “TRUMP: Hero or Genius?” out loud while she’s watching CNN.

5) Slathering Chanel face cream on my chest and shoulders after showering.

6) Using epoxy glue to keep the toilet seat in its full upright position.

That seemed about right. I didn’t bother with the missing medications that I’d already blamed on her sister and besides, that was way back in June. The broken windshield I told her was Kip’s fault.

But six is a good number, and more than I thought I’d come up with. And gluing the seat upright is nothing much, since we have the basement lavatory as a backup.

And yet I missed it. I spent 15 minutes to come up with everything she could possibly be annoyed and / or homicidal about and I miss it. Unbelievable.

So here it is, and feel free to laugh. I did:

Improper folding of towels.

Does this mean she’s more upset about the way I fold towels than she was when I gave her the leaf blower for Christmas?

Meaning, I think, that the towels in our house, the ones we mostly use to dry things, had undergone mal-folding. Mis-folding. Wrongly folded up and maybe put on shelves upside down.

I really did laugh. I get to skate on the $100 gift certificate I got her for Hooters on our anniversary? The meds I took and sold and blamed on her sister?

Darling, are you saying you are A-OK with all the times I’ve tied your dog to a post behind the Forest Club while I went in and downed half a dozen cold ones, but that you’re in warpath mode over a crooked crease in a dish towel??

But it’s true. Ask her. Ask my lovely wife if it’s true she gets riled up when the towels that are supposed get folded once this way and twice the other, are instead subjected to three folds and then crosswise but with the northwest corner pointing south. More or less.

Then ask her how much I laughed. But please don’t bring up the missing medications or the necklace with matching earrings I took to the pawn shop down on State Street.

BUTTERFLIES ARE BACK

Longtime readers, of which there must be at least a dozen, and with good memories, which narrows it to three or four, may recall my backyard butterflies.

Every summer two black-and-yellow swallowtail butterflies grace our small but densely planted back yard. For maybe 20 consecutive years they have come to dance, whirl, dive and swirl, all to our huge delight.

The questions come every season: Can it possibly be the same pair? If not, is it possible two butterflies magically take the place of the previous year’s pair?

Neither guess seems plausible, which makes us wonder how it happens.

TIME TO SWITCH

Summer’s here and the time is right to rediscover the new, improved old way to dress up the BBQ burgers and hot dogs.

Dump the pretentious Grey Poupon stuff that got popular about 40 years ago, marketed as very upscale and quite the must-have condiment. It’s time to give it the heave ho and go back to the original.

Dress up your next burger, sausage or hotdog with French’s bright yellow mustard, or its equivalent. Tangy, refreshing, reminiscent of better dogs, better days.

And while you’re piloting the BBQ grille remember: the only cheese authorized for a proper cheeseburger is American cheese. Mild, melty, good-lookin’ too!

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DECEMBER 21, 2012:

Highway 162 is closed at this location. It appears storm run off plugged a drain pipe under the highway, causing the water to flow over the highway eroding the roadway. The damage is approximately 20 feet wide by 30 feet deep, taking out both the east bound and west bound lanes. A semi tractor trailer had made it almost across the area when the road gave way. The rear axles of the trailer fell into the hole and were ripped from the truck. There is no hazardous materials issue at this time.

Cal Trans is working with the County Dept. of Transportation to assess the damage. They are considering a temporary, one lane bridge, as an option to open the road. This is a tentative solution at this point and, if it can be safely accomplished the early estimate or road opening would be later tonight or tomorrow.

There is an alternate route of Laytonville/Dos Rios Road which is a single lane dirt road leading between Laytonville and Dos Rios where traffic can then come back onto Highway 162.

— Mendocino Sheriff & OES

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BEFORE THE APPLE FAIR CAME TO BOONVILLE

by Carol Dominy

In the early 1900s, Mendocino was known for more than just lumber; the town had a reputation for apples, too. In 1911, local farmers organized the first Apple Fair inside the Odd Fellows Hall (now Highlight Gallery, at Kasten and Ukiah Streets), featuring displays of local produce, games, and entertainment. The event was such a success that the Farmers & Apple Growers Association decided to build a permanent home for it. In October 1912, the newly constructed Apple Hall opened on the southeast corner of Kasten and Little Lake Streets (where the Mendocino Community Church stands today), just in time for the second annual fair.

The third Apple Fair, held November 15–22, 1913, was the biggest and brightest yet. Apple Hall was transformed into a dazzling showcase, filled with polished apples in red and gold, draped greenery, colorful bunting, and glowing Chinese lanterns. But the main attraction came midweek: the Apple Fair Parade. Locals and visitors lined the streets to watch marching bands, schoolchildren, fraternal groups, and whimsical floats make their way through town under clear November skies.

The highlight of the parade was the Mendocino Lumber Company’s float. Described by the Beacon as “the best thing of its kind ever seen here in a parade,” it featured a detailed miniature of Mendocino Bay. The float included a model of the wire chute system used to lower lumber from the bluffs to ships below, and the rocky bluffs of the shipping point were carefully recreated using real rocks. A tiny version of the steamer Sea Foam sat anchored in the harbor. Along the sides of the float, “The M. L. Co” was cleverly spelled out in shiny red apples.

The Apple Fair remained a beloved Mendocino tradition for several years, but by the mid-1920s, Boonville became the host of the Apple Fair.

(kelleyhousemuseum.org)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, July 27, 2025

TYLER KELLER, 33, Ukiah. County parole violation.

BRITTANY KOHLMANN, 35, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SCOTT LINDEBLAD, 47, Lakeport/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

MATTHEW MIRAVALLE, 41, Clearlake Oaks/Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors.

JEREMY MOON, 43, Fort Bragg. Assault with intent to rape, domestic abuse, false imprisonment with violence.

NOELLE NEILS, 33, Upper Lake/Ukiah. Suspended license for DUI.

LEE RUPERT, 49, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

BENJAMIN TOOLEY, 42, Redwood Valley. Possession of obscene matter of minor in sexual act.

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NO REASON

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Following a Sunday trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., am typing this up on a public computer at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. Today's news reports indicate that the collapse of this world's civilization goes on. [As India's Swami Sivananda said: "What we need is a brand new civilization based on the Immortal Atman."] Globally, it is all going down, folks.

I am available to leave the homeless shelter because I've no further reason to be there. It is appropriate to be in association with incredible others doing the most amazing things. I have $842.59 in the Chase checking account, and $69.08 in the wallet. Am very happy to be able to report that general health is excellent at 75. Let us be guided by Spirit and take action.

Please contact me here:

Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]

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MAN VANISHES AFTER ROPE SWING JUMP AT POPULAR RUSSIAN RIVER SPOT

by Matt LaFever

What began as a carefree summer jump into the Russian River ended in tragedy Tuesday evening when an adult man failed to resurface after swinging off a rope near the historic Hacienda Bridge — a popular swimming spot tucked in the redwoods of west Sonoma County, just outside the tiny town of Forestville and about 70 miles north of San Francisco.

According to a press release from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, emergency calls flooded in at 5:34 p.m. reporting that the man had plunged into the water but never came back up. Within minutes, a multi-agency response swarmed the area, including deputies, crews from the Sonoma County Fire District and Graton Fire, Cal Fire, the California Highway Patrol, and the CHP helicopter H30.

“Deputies and fire personnel immediately initiated a search in the water,” the release stated — but despite the rapid response, the operation soon shifted from rescue to recovery.

By nightfall, the bridge was quiet, save for search crews combing the slow-moving river. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed the effort is now a body recovery mission, with teams still working to locate the victim.

The man’s identity has not been released. Officials say further updates will be provided as the investigation continues. The Sheriff’s Office also urged caution around the river, which can hide strong currents, submerged hazards, and steep drop-offs even on calm summer days.

(MendoFever.com)

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CITIZENSHIP IMPERILED BY TRUMP POLICIES

Editor:

In its efforts to rid America of as many immigrants as possible, the Trump administration is upping the ante once again. We saw their original proposed deportation of immigrants who have committed crimes, their “worst of the worst,” quickly expand to any immigrant (unless they were whites from South Africa). Now they’re developing plans to “denaturalize” — that is take away citizenship from immigrants who have become American citizens and have criminal records (even relatively minor ones like committing fraud). Using a rarely used obscure law originally passed to deport Nazis who lied on their citizenship application, the Trump administration plans to denaturalize these Americans to deport them.

Worse, their internal memos reveal a desire to apply this law more broadly to any of our 25 million foreign-born U.S. citizens it considers “undesirable” — the Justice Department to investigate, prosecute, denaturalize and deport any individual “it determines to be sufficiently important to pursue.” Trump has already threatened to denaturalize New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim socialist.

We’re on a precarious slippery slope. If Trump can strip foreign-born American citizens of their citizenship, can U.S.-born citizens be far behind?

Rick Childs

Mendocino

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CHUCK ANTIGUES

I can without reservation recommend the expansive and loving biography of Robert Crumb by Dan Nadel. It not only covers his life history, it also covers the birth of the Underground Comics, San Francisco in the 60s and 70s, and too many people, friends, lovers, co-conspirators to begin to name here. In case I am not being clear: this is a great book and a must read. Spoiler alert, R. Crumb owned property in Potter Valley since the early 70s, something I never knew, plus other local connections.

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AMERICAN GIRL

by Tom Petty (1976)

Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die
Tryin' she had one little promise
She was gonna keep

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' in the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

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FIRST SALMON IN NEARLY 100 YEARS FOUND IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RIVER

by Amanda Bartlett

An endangered species has returned to its Northern California river habitat for the first time in almost a century.

Winter-run chinook salmon — one of nine species considered to be most at risk of extinction by NOAA — have been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1994. But new concerns for the species came to light after California’s historic statewide drought between 2012 and 2016, when the fish all but vanished from the McCloud River, which flows through Siskiyou and Shasta counties.

The construction of Shasta Dam above the 77-mile-long waterway had already been causing problems for the species for decades, cutting them off from the mountain streams kept cool by melting snow where they like to spawn. But when the dam lost its own cold water pool during the drought, increasing water temperatures and reduced oxygen rates led to the deaths of 95 to 98% of eggs and recently hatched salmon incubating in their nests.

So it came as a surprise when, earlier this month, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed reports of adult Chinook salmon in the river near Ash Camp. Officials saw one female exhibiting spawning behavior and “guarding her nest,” while multiple smaller males were observed nearby, competing to spawn themselves, the agency wrote of the July 15 sighting.

The unexpected presence of the fish was likely in the aftermath of a long journey — officials suspect they spent a year or more in Shasta Reservoir before returning to the river. The CDFW attributed the comeback to reintroduction efforts spearheaded in 2022 in collaboration with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For the last few years, experts have been incubating winter-run Chinook salmon eggs in the frigid, clean waters of the McCloud River. They later catch the juvenile salmon at collection facilities downstream, where they are then transported to the Sacramento River in Redding and “released to continue their outmigration to the Pacific Ocean.” Those that escape, however, move into Shasta Reservoir, and experts think that’s how the new fish got there.

“Adult salmon returning and spawning in the cool waters of their historic habitat off the increasingly hot Sacramento Valley floor is seen as critical to the recovery of winter-run Chinook salmon and is a major goal,” the CDFW said.

It’s not the only glimmer of hope for the endangered species. Experts said the fish have also been observed swimming nearby past Eagle Canyon Dam in the North Fork of Battle Creek. “This is the first time this has happened since fish passage facilities were constructed as part of the Battle Creek Restoration Project,” the CDFW said.

(sfgate.com)

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HOW WORRIED SHOULD YOU BE ABOUT TICKS?

by Erik Vance

I heard about ticks long before I ever saw one. Growing up in California, I knew they existed, but just imagined them elsewhere, like bison or fireflies. So the first time I found one burrowing its filthy head into my leg, I lost my mind — jumping up and down and screaming.

Since then, I have carried a healthy fear of the horrid arachnids, and whenever I’m in “tick country,” I do a constant body check that looks as if I’m trying to smooth out my hiking pants.

Why shouldn’t I be paranoid? Tick populations are increasing, possibly a result of climate change, and tick-related E.R. visits are spiking across the country. And polls suggest parents are twice as worried about ticks as mosquitoes. They’re gross, they make us sick and we hate them.

But recently I’ve wondered if my anxiety about ticks is an overreaction. How much of a threat do they really pose? And what can I do to regain a sense of power over these pests? I asked experts how to assess the risk.

It really is all about Lyme.

Most tick-borne diseases are pretty rare in the United States, except one. Lyme disease is the one you are most likely to get — it’s 12 times as common as the runner-up, anaplasmosis. In some places, as many as 50 percent of adult ticks carry Lyme disease bacteria, and it causes the most people to become sick.

“That’s our biggest concern,” said Erika Machtinger, an entomologist and head of the vector-borne disease team at Pennsylvania State University Extension. “There aren’t vaccines in development for anything else; there is for Lyme disease.”

Lyme disease usually lasts less than a month and is generally treatable with antibiotics, especially if you start within 72 hours of being bitten. However, it can be easily missed or misdiagnosed. And even more frightening, symptoms sometimes persist and plague people for years, even after treatment.

Where you live really matters.

Most of the continental United States has at least one tick species that can make you sick. But not all areas have the same risk, and some tick-borne illnesses are far more prevalent.

In other words, where you live matters more than anything, said Jean Tsao, an ecologist and Lyme disease expert at Michigan State University. It might dictate what you wear on a hike and where you walk.

In Arizona, where tick-borne illness is rare, you might wear shorts and sandals through long grasses and just plan to pick the loathsome critters off. In Michigan, like Dr. Tsao, you probably want long pants (and a long-sleeve shirt while gardening), and you’d treat them with a fabric-safe repellent called Permethrin. You’d also wear socks with your shoes and regular bug repellent.

“I never walk into the woods with Tevas or Chacos anymore,” Dr. Tsao said. “And I wouldn’t say I’m paranoid.”

The ticks that most often transmit Lyme disease live across the Eastern United States, but the disease is most prevalent in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Rhode Island recorded more than 2,800 cases of Lyme disease in 2023, while Texas had only 27. Areas in states like Michigan that are seeing Lyme-carrying ticks for the first time tend to have less of the disease than places where they are more established. And while there are probably fewer ticks in city parks than in wilderness areas, they can live anywhere they have birds, rodents or raccoons to prey on.

I live in Colorado, which has a handful of tick disease cases every year. No expert would say I shouldn’t take tick precautions, but after seeing the data, the critters certainly fall down my list of worries.

The type of tick is also important.

Blacklegged ticks (or deer ticks) are by far the biggest carriers of Lyme disease bacteria. Lone star and dog ticks do carry diseases, but they are clearly in the supporting cast of the tick show.

A blacklegged tick has three life stages — three blood meals and three opportunities to pick up the Lyme disease pathogen. Adults are the ones most likely to carry it, and larvae almost never do. Oddly, most people get Lyme disease during the months when the nymphs (think of them as teenagers) are more common. That’s probably because they are smaller and harder to spot, especially in places we don’t want to check, Dr. Machtinger said.

The toilet is a great place to check for ticks by running your hand over your skin and looking closely, she added. “I know it sounds weird but it’s true. It’s the easiest way to,” she paused, “you can reach all of your crevices.”

If you find one while in Lyme country, it still might not be a species that puts you at risk. The first thing to do is identify it, either with a doctor, an identification site or state resources like a local university extension lab. (Stick it in a Ziploc or just sandwich it between strips of Scotch tape.) If it’s a deer tick and it’s been less than 72 hours, you can get a dose of antibiotic. Otherwise, monitor the site for rashes and look for flu-like symptoms.

Tick behavior matters too.

Lastly, it’s worth knowing a little about the ticks themselves. For instance, ticks can bite you anywhere, but they do like warm protected places, like the groin, armpits and backs of ears. If they find you on a hike, they are more likely to be on the lower half of your body; if you were gardening, they might have crawled up the arm, Dr. Tsao said.

And remember, they tend to be harder to spot on darker skin. “You have to get to know your freckles really, really well,” Dr. Machtinger said.

On the plus side, ticks don’t bite right away, so you can actually wash them off in the shower before they attach. And it takes around 24 hours between when one bites and when it transmits Lyme disease. Plenty of time to find it, pull it and crush its tiny, disgusting body.

Ticks die quickly inside a dryer, which is useful, as well as in the laboratory, which just makes them hard to study, Dr. Machtinger said. She added that after a few months working with them, ticks lose their ick factor and become almost cute. I won’t ever go that far, but with a better understanding of their true risk, I suppose I can live alongside them.

(NY Times)

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SINKING GIANTS SWEPT by Mets to fall three back in wild-card standings

by Shayna Rubin

The San Francisco Giants deployed a bullpen game to get through Sunday’s series finale against the New York Mets, and it was their most reliable arm that relinquished a slim lead in a sweep-clinching 5-3 loss.

Randy Rodriguez, one of baseball’s stingiest relievers, had allowed one home run (All-Star Game excluded) in his first 43 appearances this season. Clutching a one-run lead against the Mets, Rodriguez broke character at the worst time when Ronny Mauricio launched a Splash Hit to tie the game 3-3. Two outs later, Juan Soto gave New York the lead with a home run to left.

It the first time Rodriguez had allowed a home run and multiple runs in an outing since April 29 against the Padres at Petco Park. Plus, with the team needing a little extra from its entire pitching staff, it was the fifth time all season that Rodriguez pitched more than an inning.

“We ask a lot of him,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Every now and then, you’re going to hang a couple of pitches.”

With the loss, the Giants fell three games back of the third and final wild-card spot are are now just two games over .500 at 54-52. With a three-game series coming up against the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates, the Giants will have an opportunity to inspire the front office to add for a postseason push before Thursday’s trade deadline. Their bad stretches are starting to outweigh the inspired ones, but there’s a strong indication that president of baseball operations Buster Posey is looking to add.

“I think Buster made it clear, we go out and get (Rafael Devers), it makes sense for us to improve this team this year and the foreseeable future,” Matt Chapman said. “We expect to add and continue to get better and continue to make a push to make the playoffs.”

A rare mishap from Rodriguez wasn’t the most notable element of this loss. The Giants went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position to go 0-for-23 with RISP over the course of the three-game series sweep. It’s the first time since 1931 that the Giants went at least 0-for-20 with RISP in a series, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.

“It’s one of those things that we haven’t been able to get the big hit,” Chapman said. “Maybe when we do, it takes the pressure off of guys. Everyone wants to get the big hit and we haven’t been able to get it done. Sometimes there’s really no rhyme or reason. Everyone is aware of the situation and has an idea of what they want to hit in a situation. I’m not really sure. Hopefully it’s one of those things we continue to grind and it will start falling our way.”

Chapman, still nursing a sore left hand, provided the Giants all their runs with a two-homer day. His solo home run in the fourth inning tied the game and a two-run homer, his 16th of the year, gave the Giants a short-lived 3-2 lead.

But nailing one of the missed opportunities with runners in scoring position could have changed the weekend’s complexion for the Giants.

One miss came in the second inning, when Mike Yastrzemski walked and Dom Smith, playing against his former team, singled to put runners on the corners. But the bottom of the order couldn’t execute with one out as both Patrick Bailey and Brett Wisely struck out to strand the runners.

In the third inning, Heliot Ramos got caught in an indecision between second and third base when Willy Adames made contact on a check swing, resulting in something of a swinging bunt. Ramos made a hasty decision to try to sneak into third base, where third baseman Mauricio tagged him out easily to end the inning. Ramos was likely expecting a throw across the diamond to first, couldn’t see the angle and should have stayed put at second base, Melvin said.

“He just got in no-man’s land and probably didn’t know what to do. If you go back and look at the high-home (angle), he just got a few steps off and got caught in no-man’s land,” Melvin said. “It’s one of those things, obviously, you’d like to take that back.”

The Giants loaded the bases against Mets closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning, the tying run at second with one out. But Adames and Chapman struck out to end it and give the Mets their seventh straight win and the Giants their 22nd and 23rd wasted opportunities with runners in scoring position.

(sfchronicle.com)

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WE HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS, SAN FRANCISCO

by Carl Nolte

It’s the midpoint of a long, cold summer, and San Franciscans are restless. San Francisco seems to have lost its edge. Now is the summer of our discontent, as Shakespeare might say.

If Shakespeare were here, he’d be worried, too. The arts are in trouble, community theaters have lost their audiences, museums are closing or cutting staff, the Opera is having problems, and Esa-Pekka Salonen has left the S.F. Symphony. Even the venerable Mountain Play skipped a season on Mount Tamalpais this year for the first time in 80 years. The audience wasn’t there.

San Francisco’s formally fabled nightlife has gone dark. The gloom is widespread: D’Arcy Drollinger, the city’s Drag Laureate, plans to close Oasis, a fabled drag club. “We’ve been struggling, like a lot of other venues,” he said. “Our margins are razor-thin.” Ben Bleiman reopened Harrington’s, an old school bar in the Financial District, on the theory that the city was on the rebound. “The fact that we are breaking even is a miracle,” he said. He should know. He’s the president of the city’s entertainment commission.

The main question now is to find someone, or some group, to blame for this situation. The current thinking is that it’s the young people — Gen Z, those born starting in 1997 and mostly in their 20s now. They drink tap water and Red Bull instead of craft beer and martinis, according to experts. Or maybe it’s Gen X who are to blame for ruining things. Or the millennials, born after 1980, the children of Baby Boomers. They are old enough now to know better.

One thing is clear: San Francisco is not what it was. It’s those new people. They don’t understand. My father used to talk that way, too. He used to say San Francisco was a lot better years ago — it was a golden age, he said. It was only later that I realized it wasn’t a golden age for San Francisco so much as it was a golden age for him. It was like what they said about Lefty O’Doul: He was here at a good time, and he had a good time when he was here. You don’t know Lefty O’Doul? You must be new in town.

I was thinking of those times one day last week when I rode the 1-California bus from an appointment out in the Richmond heading downtown. Through the Western Addition, down California Street, switched to Sacramento Street, over Nob Hill, through Chinatown to Portsmouth Square, through the oldest part of the city. It was remarkably unchanged; the buildings looked the same, and the city had that hard-to-define San Francisco feel, as if something interesting might happen at any time.

The city is full of high tech and AI is next, but on Kearny Street near Sacramento, two women were making dumplings by hand in a restaurant window.

I walked down Kearny, over to Montgomery Street, through the Financial District that flourished in the Baby Boomer generation.

Enough of the familiar San Francisco. I thought. So I headed south, south of Market, south of the ballpark, to Mission Bay. It’s a new city down there, all square glass buildings, not a breath of the old city. I am reminded again of the story Herb Caen told about the San Franciscan who died and went to heaven. “It’s nice,” he said. “But it’s not San Francisco.”

I had lunch at Thrive City and watched a lunch hour exercise class, men and women stretching, bending, reaching for the sky outdoors in the plaza. Not the graceful tai chi programs you see at Washington Square in North Beach. Something new.

Crowds of people, much younger than the usual city crowd, streamed by. The area around Chase Center is full of new restaurants, new parks and new people. Only a few years ago, this area on the edge of the bay was derelict, like the seacoast of nowhere — the railroad yard was empty, the ships had sailed, and weeds grew wild. A few remnants remain, including a dock where barges carrying freight cars tied up, like an artifact from the industrial past. Next to that is the clubhouse of the Bay View Boat Club, where salty San Franciscans come to drink beer and tell stories about the good times.

Lady Gaga played Chase Center that night. A sold-out crowd. She had a show people wanted to see. Maybe all is not lost.

So maybe this is the future of San Francisco, a mix of an older city and the new one. All glass and clean living mixed in with the city and a lifestyle we all came to admire.

That’s the way of cities: Tastes change. The best of the past survives, but something better usually comes along. Old-timers remember the scent of roasting coffee on the Embarcadero, but Hills Bros. could not compete with Starbucks.

Maybe Gen Alpha — the only generation to live entirely in the 21st century — will adopt the philosophy of Marine Gen. O.P. Smith, a graduate of UC Berkeley. When asked whether his troops were retreating, he said: “Retreat, hell! We’re just attacking in another direction.”

(SF Chronicle)

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SAVING GRACES

by Michelle Nijuis

On the evening of January 7, as the sky over the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles heaved with flames, Francois Auroux struggled to mount a bicycle in his front yard. He'd left his home of 39 years with bags of belongings on his shoulders and two framed works of art pinned awkwardly under one arm. A local NBC reporter, Robert Kovacik, saw Auroux through the smoke and embers and ran over to ask whether he could help. “You can take these paintings, I guess,” Auroux said. Handing them to Kovacik, he rode off to safety, head bent against the powerful Santa Ana winds.

Auroux and his family, like more than 11,000 other households in the Los Angeles Basin that month, lost their home to fire. After he recovered the canvases from Kovacik, he said that he had grabbed them “unconsciously” but that both had family significance; one was a screen print of a painting by the Greek artist Alekos Fassianos, whom his grandfather had known in Paris.

Perhaps not in living memory have so many of us been in flight from fires and floods, wars and economic disasters. Whether the places we are forced from are grand or humble, our belongings abundant or scarce, we pack what we need and then, if we have time, consider what else might be worth salvaging. When the opera singer Olha Abakumova and her young daughter, Zlata, escaped the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they filled a small suitcase with necessities, then added an embroidered shirt that had belonged to Abakumova's mother, Zlata's favorite stuffed animal, and a precious bundle of Ukrainian sheet music. Last fall, after torrential rains caused fatal flash flooding in Spain, survivors brought water-damaged family photos—by the handful and wheelbarrowful—to the University of Valencia, where specialists helped repair them.

“Time turns us all into conservationists," the philosopher Erich Hatala Matthes observes in his pithily titled ‘What to Save and Why.’ "If we want to save the things we cherish from time's ravages, then we need to preserve them, conserve them.” Even the most fervent Marie Kondo devotees might choose to hold on to some trinkets in hopes of sparking joy in future generations. Similarly, we expect that institutions—from museums and libraries to the National Park Service and local land trusts—will protect what is most important to us and our communities over time.

The second Trump administration, however, has obliterated any illusion that these institutions are themselves protected. Mass layoffs have hobbled the federal agencies charged with protecting land, wildlife, air, and water; executive orders have threatened to weaken the Endangered Species Act, dismantle the federal agency that funds museums and libraries, and “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian Institution properties. The administration has also suspended major grants and cut funding from both public and private universities, threatening the livelihoods of many who practice conservation for a living.

(New York Review of Books)

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"Me and Jake LaMotta grew up in the same neighbourhood. You wanna know how popular Jake was? When we played hide and seek, nobody ever looked for LaMotta."

— Rocky Graziano

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PARDON

by Jane Kenyon

A piece of burned meat
wears my clothes, speaks
in my voice, dispatches obligations
haltingly, or not at all.
It is tired of trying
to be stouthearted, tired
beyond measure.
We move on to the monoamine
oxidase inhibitors. Day and night
I feel as if I had drunk six cups
of coffee, but the pain stops
abruptly. With the wonder
and bitterness of someone pardoned
for a crime she did not commit
I come back to marriage and friends,
to pink fringed hollyhocks; come back
to my desk, books, and chair.

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JUST IN:

The European Union and the United States agreed on Sunday to a broad-brush trade deal that sets a 15 percent tariff on most E.U. goods, including cars, averting what could have become a painful trade war with a bloc that is the United States’ single biggest source of imports.

President Trump said that the European Union had agreed to purchase $750 billion of American energy, which Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the E.U.’s executive branch, told reporters would be spread out over three years.

Higher tariffs will be hard to swallow for many European Union companies, but this blueprint for a deal is probably going to allay fears that the trans-Atlantic relationship is falling apart. Europe has been very worried about the United States stepping away from cooperation with Europe in a way that could leave the continent militarily exposed and without a key global partner. “The European response on trade would have been fundamentally different had they not been worried about backlash in these other geopolitical theaters,” said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group.

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LEAD STORIES, MONDAY'S NYT

No Proof Hamas Routinely Stole U.N. Aid, Israeli Military Officials Say

Israel Says It Has Paused Some Military Activity in Gaza as Anger Grows Over Hunger

News Organizations Urge Israel to Let Reporters and Aid Into Gaza

U.S. Reaches Preliminary Trade Deal With Europe

What Will It Cost to Renovate the ‘Free’ Air Force One? Don’t Ask

Avian Flu Wiped Out Poultry. Now the Screwworm Is Coming for Beef

Tear It Down, They Said. He Just Kept Building

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

MAGA is a problem, but much of MAGA has been misled by the Conservative elite, and the Democrats have the same problem. There is a lot of misdirection about the left from the Democratic elite. They want a 'softer' more forgiving version of elitism, but they still want all their perks. The want the protection. The want the unwashed masses kept at bay. But just kept more comfortably at bay. The elites are the problem. Right along with the ultra wealthy. Fix one for our problems? Go back to the tax structure of 1965. Run that for at least ten years, then adjust, with the full historic knowledge of what a fiasco 'Reaganomics' or supply side economics has been for the middle and lower middle class. The numbers are horrific.

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TOM LEHRER, MASTER SATIRIST OF COLD WAR ERA, DIES AT 97

by Nicole Arthur

Tom Lehrer, a social and political satirist who amassed a devoted following in the 1950s and 1960s for routines featuring blithely subversive musical numbers such as “So Long Mom (A Song for World War III),” “National Brotherhood Week” and “The Vatican Rag,” died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 97.…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/07/27/tom-lehrer-satire-music-dies

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"Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."

— Tom Lehrer, on why he stopped writing satirical tunes

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WALKING CORPSES

by Amjad Iraqi

In the last week it has seemed as though everyone in Gaza has been convulsed by terrible hunger. Exhausted Palestinians – including friends and colleagues of mine – can feel their bodies breaking down. They are watching children and the elderly fainting on the streets or writhing in pain. Ruwaida Amer, a journalist I used to work with who is currently in Khan Younis refugee camp, put it simply: ‘I am so hungry. I’ve never meant those words in the way I do now. They carry a kind of humiliation that I can’t fully describe … we wake up thinking only of one thing: how to find something to eat.’ Social media is filled with images of skeletal infants and crying toddlers begging their parents for food. People are beginning to die from malnutrition, many of them children. Without immediate intervention, numbers are likely to rise sharply in the coming days and weeks.

Famine experts warned that this would happen. In early March, in the middle of negotiations to continue a ceasefire deal with Hamas, Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza. A couple of weeks later, Israel relaunched its military offensive with even greater intensity. When it partially lifted the blockade in late May, the trickle of aid that it allowed in was directed almost exclusively through four fortified distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a dubious US-backed private contractor, under the protection of the IDF. The results were as predictable as they were disastrous: at the GHF hubs, soldiers fired at chaotic crowds, killing dozens every day; desperate civilians trampled one another as they tried to reach boxes of dried food; criminals stole and profiteered from looted goods. Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents have seen none of this aid.

This experiment in ‘calibrated deprivation’, as my organisation, the International Crisis Group, describes it, has been proved reckless and catastrophic. Israel seems to believe that by overhauling Gaza’s aid infrastructure and allocating a reduced calorie count for each person, it can keep the weakened population subjugated without plunging them into full-fledged famine. Officially this policy is intended to strip Hamas of its governing capacity and force it to surrender, or at least to accept Israel’s demands. But starvation isn’t static; it worsens with every hour. Time is running out.

Far-right politicians in Israel, many of them in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, have made no secret of that fact that they hope starvation will encourage the ‘voluntary emigration’ of Palestinians from the territory. Netanyahu himself has endorsed this, repeatedly referring to it as the ‘Trump plan’ in a bid to retain US favour. Some officials have been even more blunt, calling for the ‘erasure’ of Gaza. Israeli citizens living in abundance just half an hour’s drive away are mostly reacting to the disaster with indifference, denial or worse, continuing to justify nearly seven hundred days of unprecedented warfare as an appropriate response to Hamas’s assault on 7 October 2023. Few care to hear the International Court of Justice’s warning in January 2024, or those of many experts worldwide, that what is happening in Gaza may amount to genocide.

Other Israeli officials, particularly among the upper echelons of the military, are worried about the political and security consequences of uncontrolled starvation, including the prospect of war crimes investigations abroad. But policies built on myths are hard to revise. The repeated accusation that Hamas had systematically diverted aid is unfounded, according to many agencies with experience in Gaza. Rather, Hamas authorities worked with local clans to crack down on criminal groups looting aid; some of those groups, as Israeli officials admitted, have been quietly supported by the IDF to undermine Hamas from within. And contrary to Israel’s claims, Gaza’s pre-existing system of aid distribution, run by the UN and international NGOs across four hundred hubs, worked efficiently despite tight restrictions.

Governments in Europe and elsewhere have denounced Israel’s starvation policy, insisting that the war must end. France, which is co-chairing a summit with Saudi Arabia to revive the two-state solution, just announced that it will recognise a Palestinian state. But such diplomatic gestures are a far cry from using the material leverage these countries possess. Israel’s allies are still buying time for Israel to change course or come to a deal with Hamas over how many trucks to allow in, as though food were a legitimate bargaining chip. Gazans cannot afford to wait for either. Every day that foreign governments stand by, devastating starvation becomes harder to avert.

The worst is still preventable. After finding it in breach of its human rights obligations under the Association Agreement, the EU struck a deal with Israel earlier this month to allow in more aid. But the divided bloc, which is Israel’s largest trading partner, is still choosing not to exercise its full power – trade suspensions, sanctions, arms embargoes. Arab states decry the war but are also reluctant to apply real pressure, partly for fear of upsetting Washington: none has suspended even part of its normalisation agreement with Israel. The Trump administration repeatedly claims that it wants to broker an end to the war, but defaults to Israel’s side at every turn.

‘People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive,’ an UNRWA worker told the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, Saturday, ‘they are walking corpses.’ It should never have come to this. Thousands of trucks carrying food, fuel and medicine are waiting to enter Gaza. The sea offers further routes if needed. Experienced local and international aid workers are ready to help. But nothing will change so long as Israel is allowed to keep Gaza’s gates shut.

(London Review of Books)

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PEOPLE OF GOOD CONSCIENCE MUST STOP THE STARVATION IN GAZA

by José Andrés

Forty years ago, the world’s conscience was shocked into action by images of emaciated children and starving babies dying in their mothers’ arms. There was a surge in international aid, airdrops of food and activism from the world’s most popular artists. Thanks to the news media and events such as Live Aid, we could not look away from the hungry in Ethiopia.

A generation later, people of good conscience must now stop the starvation in Gaza. There is no excuse for the world to stand by and watch two million human beings suffer on the brink of full-blown famine.

This is not a natural disaster triggered by drought or crop failures. It’s a man-made crisis, and there are man-made solutions that could save lives today. The hunger catastrophe in Gaza is entirely caused by the men of war on both sides of the Erez crossing: the ones who massacred Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ones who have been killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the more than 21 months since.

We are far beyond the blame game of who is the more guilty party. We don’t have the time to argue about who is holding up the food trucks.

A starving human being needs food today, not tomorrow.

As the occupying force, the Israelis are responsible for the basic survival of civilians in Gaza. Some people may find this unfair, but it is international law. To that end, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed aid group, put a new plan in place that distributes food from a few hubs, which forced desperately hungry people to walk for miles and risk their lives. At the time it was created, international aid groups warned this would be dangerous and ineffective. Those warnings have sadly proved true.

It’s time to start over.

Food cannot flow quickly enough to Gaza right now. The World Food Program, led by its American executive director, Cindy McCain, said last week that one-third of Gaza’s population had not eaten for multiple days in a row. Small children are dying of starvation in numbers that are rising rapidly.

World Central Kitchen, the international aid group I founded, works with our partners in Gaza to cook tens of thousands of meals a day. Last week we resumed cooking a limited number of hot meals after a five-day pause caused by a lack of ingredients. It was the second time we were forced to stop cooking because of food shortages this year. Our teams on the ground are committed and resilient, but our day-to-day ability to sustain cooking operations remains uncertain.

Since the start of the war, we have prepared and distributed more than 133 million meals across Gaza, through large field kitchens and a network of smaller community kitchens. We have delivered thousands of meals to displaced Israeli families, including last month when Israeli towns and cities came under intense missile attacks from Iran.

The Israeli government has claimed that Hamas is stealing the food in Gaza. It also says it is doing “everything possible” to feed Palestinians.

Here is the reality we have seen on the ground. Before Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid, which started in March, our convoys experienced very little violence or looting. After the blockade was lifted, the situation worsened significantly, with widespread looting and anarchy. It is rare now for trucks entering Gaza to make it safely to our kitchens or those of other aid groups without being looted. Drivers and kitchen workers are often attacked by armed groups of unknown origin.

The blockade that was supposed to pressure what’s left of Hamas only strengthened these gunmen and gangs. It precipitated mass deprivation and the collapse of society in Gaza.

Our proposal is to change how we feed people, secure distribution and scale up quickly.

First, we urgently need to open humanitarian corridors accessible to all aid groups operating in Gaza, to ensure that food, water and medicine can arrive safely and at scale.

Second, we need to substantially increase production of hot meals. Unlike bulk food supplies, hot meals have little resale value for organized gangs.

Third, we need to feed people where they are. We must deliver meals to where the Palestinian people are sheltering, rather than expect them to travel to a few distribution points, where violence often breaks out.

Fourth, we want to prepare one million meals a day, not tens of thousands. We estimate this would require five large cooking facilities in safe zones, where bulk food supplies can be delivered, prepared and distributed without risk of violence. These large kitchens would also supply hundreds of smaller community kitchens at the neighborhood level throughout Gaza, empowering communities as essential partners.

This proposal is dependent on securing food, equipment and vehicles. By itself, it won’t be sufficient. We want to see all aid groups operating in Gaza able to work freely in their own way.

I understand that many Israelis are still grieving and are focusing first on their own. On the long list of those who continue to suffer, there are the surviving hostages, the traumatized families and the wounded soldiers.

We have seen in the past several months how Israel is able to pursue what it sees as its national interest with courage. The challenge of feeding starving Palestinians is no different.

We are approaching the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of two holy temples in Jerusalem. It is a solemn day of suffering and remembrance.

The Book of Isaiah reminds us that fasting is not enough. The true fast is to share our bread with the hungry and give our clothes to the naked.

“If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness,” it reads. If we want to light the darkness, we need to extend our soul to the hungry. And we need to do it now.

(José Andrés is a chef and the founder of World Central Kitchen, an international aid group.)

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MIRACLES

by Walt Whitman (1881)

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the
        ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

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