UC Merced’s Incoming Chancellor on the University’s Future

Central CaliforniaPress Room2020June
By Jennifer Health/Medical • Workforce 0 Comments

UC Merced’s Incoming Chancellor on the University’s Future

The UC Board of Regents announced last week that Juan Sánchez Muñoz will become UC Merced’s fourth chancellor. As a UC alum and first-generation student, he has a lot in common with the university’s student body. He currently serves as president of the University of Houston-Downtown, and was still in Texas when Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with him about assuming leadership during a pandemic.

https://www.kvpr.org/post/uc-merceds-incoming-chancellor-universitys-future

By Jennifer Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Westlands Solar Park Begins Construction

KINGS COUNTY — CIM Group announced recently that it is advancing the development of Westlands Solar Park in Kings County, one of the largest permitted solar parks in the world. The solar park could grow to more than 2,700-megawatts (2.7 gigawatts) of renewable energy potential at full build out, which could provide clean energy to more than 1.2 million homes, said a press release from CIM Group. The master-planned energy park encompasses more than 20,000 acres in the Central Valley in western Fresno County and Kings County, southwest of Lemoore, and is designed to open in phases to meet the needs of public and private utilities and other energy consumers.

The first phase of CIM’s development at Westlands Solar Park includes Aquamarine, a 250-megawatt solar photovoltaic project, which obtained all entitlement and conditional use approvals following a full environmental impact review. CIM signed a power purchase agreement with Valley Clean Energy Alliance, a locally-governed electricity provider for the California cities of Davis and Woodland and unincorporated portions of Yolo County, for 50-megawatts of capacity, with initial delivery anticipated to occur in late 2021.

According to the press release, Valley Clean Energy’s decision to select Aquamarine from a competitive solicitation process was based on its board adopting criteria designed to select cost-effective California-based renewable projects that minimize impacts on prime farmland, environmentally protected species, and habitat. CIM said it applies sustainable principles across its real asset portfolios, and at Westlands Solar Park, CIM is repurposing selenium-contaminated and drainage impaired farmland for the development of clean energy.

Kings County Supervisor Joe Neves, whose district includes some of the project’s area, said there are challenges with the land in terms of a shortage of water and it not being suitable for permanent crops, which led to land retirement. Neves said the large project will keep the land active and on to its next application. “I think it’s a good project,” Neves said. CIM said its clean energy projects will also provide solutions to multiple policy objectives for the state of California’s renewable energy mandate, including greenhouse gas reduction and carbon free energy.

Additionally, Westlands Solar Park is expected to contribute to economic development in Central Valley communities by diversifying the region beyond agriculture and creating a substantial number of clean energy jobs over the development of the entire project. CIM earlier completed a 2-megawatt pilot project at Westlands Solar Park in mid-2016 with the Anaheim Public Utility as the off-taker.

The reporter can be reached at (559) 583-2423 or jzavala@hanfordsentinel.com

https://hanfordsentinel.com/news/westlands-solar-park-begins-construction/article_10d4e8a6-e0fc-585f-b7f1-39dd45cafaf8.html

By Jennifer Uncategorized 0 Comments

Here’s Tony Hawk Getting Barreled at The Ranch

The Ranch is not your typical wave. Besides the whole obvious manmade perfection thing, it has some absurdly fast and steep sections where most average surfers shouldn’t bother attempting anything that resembles a turn. At least not on your first crack at one of its waves. Bury a rail, miscalculate your speed, stall when you should be racing…any mishap before getting to what really matters — the barrel section — and you’ll kick yourself for eternity knowing you blew something that was literally handed to you on a silver platter. That’s the curse that hides underneath the Surf Ranch’s thin veil of potential bliss.

Of course, it’s really only this big of a deal if your chances at scoring a wave in Lemoore are limited to a couple of waves. If you’re somehow granted the opportunity to give the place a full day’s worth of playtime then your perspective will undoubtedly change. Take some chances. Try something you’ve never attempted before. Besides, if you fall flat on your face, there will literally be another wave in 20 seconds with your name on it.

Tony Hawk got a swing at The Ranch back in 2018 when he and Shaun White traded waves for a day. If the emotional rollercoaster of his first session was anything like the anxiety-riddled one described above, then we’d venture a guess this past weekend’s trip to Lemoore was actual bliss, capped off with a proper frontside barrel for the Birdman himself.capped off with a proper frontside barrel for the Birdman himself.

http://theinertia.com/surf/heres-tony-hawk-getting-barreled-at-the-ranch/

By Jennifer Health/Medical 0 Comments

Farming Icon and Philanthropist Makes Transformational Gift To Valley Children’s

(Madera, California) – The estate of LeRoy A. Giannini has donated nearly $9 million to Valley Children’s, in honor of LeRoy’s parents, Ruth E. and LeRoy G. Giannini. This represents the largest single estate gift in the organization’s history. “This is a truly remarkable day for Valley Children’s as we celebrate the extraordinary gift of nearly $9 million from the Giannini family,” said Todd Suntrapak, President and CEO of Valley Children’s Healthcare. “This gift is a wonderful tribute to the family’s deep Valley roots, to their lifetime of caring for children and families and to those children who we are privileged to care for at Valley Children’s today and for generations to come.”

For 124 years, the Giannini companies were farming giants in the Central Valley. LeRoy G. Giannini started farming at an early age on 20 acres. LeRoy was 16 when his father was killed in a train accident and, shortly after his high school graduation, he took over the family farming operation. Under his innovative leadership and steady, hard work, the family business grew to more than 2,000 acres of nectarines and plums, along with a processing plant in Dinuba. At one time in the late 1970s, Mr. Giannini was the largest producer of nectarines in the world. Over the years, the family also raised cattle along the Central Coast.

Mr. Giannini was as generous as he was private. Over the course of his lifetime, he made sizeable contributions to support educational and faith-based organizations in his community but his gifts were not widely publicized. Mr. Jim Burnett, longtime friend and employee of Mr. Giannini and the trustee to his estate, shared that, over the years, Mr. Giannini paid for every Little League team in Dinuba that did not have a sponsor. For his employees and their family members, he would pay for life’s unexpected emergencies, pay to send their children to college and cover funeral expenses for every employee or family member. In Mr. Burnett’s words, Mr. Giannini was a remarkably generous man who ran his business as a family.

A new outpatient center planned for construction on the Valley Children’s Hospital campus in Madera will be named in honor of the Giannini family to serve as a powerful tribute to their generosity. “We are grateful for the generosity and vision of the Giannini family and the transformational effect that their gift will have at Valley Children’s,” said Robert Saroyan, President of Valley Children’s Healthcare Foundation. “This gift is the capstone of the Giannini family’s incredible tradition of philanthropy in the Valley. Their spirit of generosity and compassion for those in need in our community will live on with the naming of the future center.”

https://www.valleychildrens.org/news/news-story?&news=238