RAVITCH, RUN

Are activists involved in the Andy Lopez shooting utilizing a ramp-the-hysteria, rumor-as-news tactic more associated with irresponsible right-wing news outlets?

Late last week, Debriefer noticed an uptick in rumors being floated about when Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch would decide on whether to charge sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus, who shot Lopez while he brandished a toy weapon.

The gist of the rumors: it’s imminent.

But according to a Ravitch spokesperson, the rumors were launched by an activist attorney. This was part of an effort to push Ravitch’s hand on a decision fraught with controversy.

Ravitch faces a June 3 election, and critics have accused her of stonewalling on Gelhaus until after the votes are counted. She denies the stonewalling.

The rumor push coincided with breathless news reports that the city of Santa Rosa was on edge in anticipation of Ravitch’s imminent-not-imminent ruling. Protests were planned unless she ruled now. Talks of a riot were in the air. Federal mediators were brought in.

And then the weekend came. No charges, no nothing.

The Ravitch spokesperson said she hadn’t heard anything about when her boss’ decision might actually come down, despite the rumors. She said she’d call Debriefer when there’s some actual news.

BO-GASSER

A drunken driver took out the gas pumps at the only fill-up station in Point Reyes Station last week, meaning that if you were on the coast and low on petrol, your only hope for days and days was Bolinas—where a gallon over the weekend would set you back an eye-popping $5.65 for premium grade.

That was shocking enough—and Debriefer could not find a higher-priced gallon of gas anywhere else in the U.S. By midweek, BoGas was getting $5.76 a gallon.

But even more jarring was seeing the word “Bolinas” on electrified roadside signage, in the form of temporary highway signs warning drivers in West Marin that their only chance for a fuel-up was at BoGas—located in a town famous for repeatedly removing all state signage that would point you there. The state eventually gave up on the Bolinas signs, and the temporary one along the Nicasio Reservoir was not to be see on Tuesday morning – only to reappear by the end of the day.

Proceeds from BoGas sales go to a local community land trust, which, ironically, uses the money generated by insanely high gas prices for affordable housing programs in town.

FRACKING SUSPENSE

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday pushed Sen. Holly Mitchell‘s fracking moratorium bill, SB 1132, to the so-called suspense file, where bills with costs exceeding $150,000 are sent.

Bills that wind up in that file, says the state website, “are then considered at one hearing after the state budget has been prepared and the committee has a better sense of available revenue.”

A 2010 op-ed by Thad Kousser, in the Los Angeles Times, called for an end to the use of the suspense file. “They should make the legislative game fair to both parties by eliminating the obscure but important procedures governing the ‘suspense file,'” Kousser wrote, “which give legislative leaders the power to kill, without a public vote, bills that a majority of legislators might support.”

A recent Sacramento Bee story put it a little more bluntly: “The Appropriations Committee’s suspense file is often the place where bills go to die.”

Check www.bohemian.com for updates.—Tom Gogola

For the first time in 15 years, all of the Golden State suffers from a water shortage, and while that’s very bad for the region, it may also send food prices skyrocketing throughout the country.

An April study from Arizona State University said the price of lettuce could jump by as much as 34 percent; the price of a single avocado is estimated to rise by some 28 percent, to $1.60.

“You’re probably going to see the biggest produce price increases on avocados, berries, broccoli, grapes, lettuce, melons, peppers, tomatoes and packaged salads,” says ASU agribusiness professor Timothy Richards in a statement. Meanwhile, a study released by the UC Davis Watershed Sciences Department on May 19 said the drought would cost the state’s ag economy $1.7 billion.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in January when it became clear that 2013 closed out the driest year ever for many parts of the state.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly map of drought conditions produced jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says that the entire state suffers from conditions ranging from “abnormally dry” to “exceptional drought.” The heavy-population centers all suffer from “extreme drought” or “exceptional drought.”

The drought is hitting the farm industry. Fresno County, the No. 1 farming county in the nation, may lose up to a quarter of its orchards and fields this year for lack of water. The UC Davis study estimated 14,500 Central Valley farm jobs would be lost to the drought.

The state’s farmers will leave about 800,000 acres idle this year, according to estimates by the California Farm Water Coalition, which will negatively impact the state’s entire economy. As a result, consumers can expect to pay more at the grocery store for a range of staple foods.

Richards notes in a statement that between 10 and 20 percent of some crops will be lost to the drought—and that California produces the highest yield of the crops most at risk, especially avocados.

The Arizona study has gotten some pushback from local ag experts, as it highlighted an expected jump in grape prices of up to 50 cents a pound.

That price jump has yet to be seen, says Napa Valley Grapegrowers executive director Jennifer Kopp Putman. “Napa grape prices are stable this year. All contracts I’ve seen show no big increase.”

Grocers will typically try to replace California produce with other sources in a pinch, which makes it “hard to really determine the extent to which consumer pricing is affected because of a drought,” says Sandy Elles, executive director of the Napa County Farm Bureau.

Elles adds that Napa wine grapes got a “very lucky reprieve with the late seasonal rains” this year.

This story was sourced from Alternet, with additional reporting by Tom Gogola.