*Stanton-era ends at LAT: Tulare native Russ Stanton will end his four-year tenure as the top editor at the Los Angeles Times later this month. The paper's Web site reported this week that Stanton, 52, a Tulare Union graduate who also attended COS, will be replaced by Davan Maharaj, the paper's current managing editor. Stanton has worked for the Times since 1997. Earlier this year in an e-mail to the Voice, longtime columnist Steve Lopez praised his steady and unassuming leadership style and called him a "journalist's journalist." When asked whether he faced pressure to leave over his resistance to another rumored round of staff cuts, Stanton said: "It is important to me to be leaving on my own terms, and that is what I'm doing.” He characterized the opportunity to direct news coverage at the paper during the past four years as "a great honor" and added he was "looking forward to taking a breather and figuring out what the next challenge is." Under Stanton, the Times won three Pulitzer Prizes but also instituted massive staff cuts that reduced newsroom employees from 900 to 550. His last day on the job will be Friday.

*Education cuts coming: California Gov. Gerry Brown last week ordered nearly a billion dollars of midyear spending cuts to help offset shrinking state revenues. Area educators breathed a partial sigh of relief as the cuts to K-12 schools were not as severe as once predicted. The latest round of budget cuts, which go into effect on Jan. 1, reduce by $248 million funding for school bus transportation as well as $79.6 million in general per-student funding. Community colleges around the state, including College of the Sequoias and Porterville College, will be forced to weather a $102 million mid-year cut. Decreased college funding will also result in per-unit course fees increasing from $36 to $46 beginning in the summer of next year. Those fee increases will not impact COS students until classes start next fall since this year's summer school classes have already been cancelled.

*New research fuels ethanol debate: The burning of sugarcane fields prior to harvest for ethanol production can create air pollution that detracts from the biofuel's overall sustainability, according to a team of researchers led by scientists at the University of California, Merced. UC Merced graduate student Chi-Chung Tsao was the lead author on the paper, which was published online this week in the Nature Climate Change journal and focused on Brazil, the world's top producer of sugarcane ethanol and a possible source for U.S. imports of the alternative fuel. “There is a big strategic decision our country and others are making, in whether to develop a domestic biofuels industry or import relatively inexpensive biofuels from developing countries,” Campbell said. “Our study shows that importing biofuels could result in human health and environmental problems in the regions where they are cultivated.”

*Latest jobs report: California's unemployment rate decreased to 11.3 percent in November, according to data released late last week by the California Employment Development Department. In October, the Golden State's overall unemployment rate was 11.7 percent. In November, Tulare County's unemployment rate also dipped, improving to 15 percent from the previous month's 15.3 percent. In Kings County, the November unemployment rate rose a tenth of a percentage point to 14.7 percent. The state's highest unemployment rate last month was in Imperial County where 27.2 percent of the adult workforce was unemployed. Marin County's unemployment rate was the lowest at 6.9 percent. Nationally, the overall unemployment rate decreased in November to 8.6 percent.

*New ozone standard OK'd: Air pollution control officials in the Valley hailed the approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week of the so-called “8-hour ozone air quality plan” for the eight-county region. Approval is expected to lead to achieving the Clean Air Act's 1997 8-hour ozone standard of 0.08 parts per million by 2024, the EPA says, noting improvements in air quality over the previous decades with the worst air quality locations in the Valley improving for ozone by 6 percent and with other locations having even greater air quality improvements. "Much work remains in order to protect the millions of people who live and work in these areas,” says Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “These plans will spur development of new technologies and will cut NOx emissions by almost 700 tons per day over the next twelve years and help reduce the number of cases of asthma and other respiratory ailments.”

*New location for New Hope: Central Valley Recovery Services residential treatment program for women has found a new home at 212 N. Stevenson in Visalia. The New Hope program for women dealing with combined issues of mental illness and substance abuse disorders, was located for a number of years at 1425 W. Walnut Ave. The new facility, which has a licensed therapist on-staff and houses up to six women in the 60-90 day program, opened its doors Dec. 1. Program Coordinator Shirley Maldonado is hoping that members of the community will step forward to help with donations and support in decorating the new facility. Maldonado said of particular need are items such as area rugs, beds, pictures and bedspreads. She can be reached at 625-0440, or shirley@cvrshome.org. Central Valley Recovery Services has operated residential treatment homes for men and women in Visalia for a number of years.

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Op-Ed
Measure R: Powering economic development

By Ty Holscher

Tulare County - When the citizens of Tulare County voted for Measure R in 2006, we were voting primarily for improved roads.

Measure R promised to improve regional and local roads, tackle a serious pothole problem countywide, support transit and provide bike paths throughout the county.

Nearly five years later, Measure R has done that – and more. Measure R has also been a job generator, in an economy that desperately needs economic development successes.

With the projects made possible by Measure R, jobs are being created both directly and indirectly.

In Porterville, for example, Measure R funds will be leveraged with state funds to improve State Route 190, a vitally important corridor that leads directly to the industrial area that is crucial to Porterville's current and future economic development plans. Improvements to Scranton and Indiana will also enhance the link to the core area of the city.

The area around Porterville's airport is designated industrial and the majority of new jobs for residents are anticipated to come from this location over the next 20 years. Without Measure R, Porterville officials say, the city would have had a difficult time providing the linkages that lead to job creation.

With the improvements, Porterville will be able to offer better access to State Route 99, which enhances the city's ability to attract new employers. With new employers come much-needed new jobs.

Visalia's Industrial Park is also a critically important employment center, with an estimated 5,000 people from throughout the area working there.

Thanks to Measure R, access to the park will be easier thanks to improvements to Betty Drive, Riggin Avenue, Plaza Drive and, soon, the intersection of Plaza Drive and Highway 198.

These improvements will make the employment center more accessible and attractive to prospective future employers. Access to major highways is the cornerstone to job-creating new development and is always at the top of the list for site selection consultants.

Significant numbers of jobs are created during construction. The Sacramento Regional Research Institute's formula indicates that, considering the $500 million in projects, Tulare County will see as many as 6,2000 jobs created due to Measure R.

In addition, these projects create demand for everything from gasoline and equipment to clothing and burgers. Sales tax revenues have increased by 10 percent in the past year, and it is fair to say that some portion of that increase is a result of the huge transportation projects under way.

Sales tax supports local services such as law enforcement, fire and parks. It is critical to the lifeblood of local government.

Measure R can't solve our unemployment problem on its own. But the numbers of unemployed would be greater without Measure R, and the future is brighter due to Measure R.

An effective transportation network makes our region marketable, and is hugely important to economic development efforts. Thank you to the voters of Tulare County for your investment in today and tomorrow.

I encourage residents to participate in the Measure R process by visiting a Citizens Oversight Committee or a Tulare County Association of Governments meeting. For details, visit www.tcmeasurer.com.

(Ty Holscher is chairman of the Measure R Citizens Oversight Committee, representing the City of Tulare.)

*Ruiz 4 Kids annual Fiesta, held last month at the Visalia Convention Center, raised $267,959 – an $80,000 increase over 2010. All proceeds from the event benefit programs specifically created for hundreds of Central Valley children. The organizations that received funds from this year's Fiesta are: Blind Babies Foundation ($101,630); Visalia Police Activities League ($62,580); Family Services of Tulare County ($52,480); and the Boys & Girls Club of the Sequoias ($51,269). “The Ruiz 4 Kids Fiesta is a very unique fundraising opportunity,” said Kim Ruiz Beck, Ruiz 4 Kids president and chairman. “Ruiz 4 Kids conducts their fundraising, while each benefitting organization uses the event as a platform for their own fundraising efforts – both by obtaining sponsorships and selling tickets with monies allocated based on dollars raised by each organization.” According to Beck, this year's fiesta was the most successful effort in the more than 25-year history of the event. Ruiz 4 Kids, founded in 1990, organizes and hosts two annual fundraising events – a golf invitational to raise funds for college scholarships and the annual Fiesta to raise monies for area nonprofits that benefit children.

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