Rural California levees besieged by pounding wet winter

Billions of dollars in flood projects have eased fears of levee breaks near California’s capital and some other cities, but state and federal workers are joining farmers with tractors in round-the-clock battles this week to stave off any chain-reaction failure of rural levees protecting farms and farm towns. As the wet winter forces operators of dams to send more water roaring downstream, the struggle to spot and shore up weak spots in nearly 1,600 miles of levees in the Central Valley is unrelenting, said Rex Osborn, spokesman for emergency operations in San Joaquin County, one of the nation’s main farm and dairy counties.

2 dams illustrate challenge of maintaining older designs

Twelve years ago, widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast helped… . FILE – In this Feb. 6, 2015 file photo, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, right, talks with David Thomas, director of the Joint Federal Programs for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Sacramento District, aft… .

Sierra Nevada snowfall is at the heaviest in 22 years

Ivanka looks somber as Nordstrom dumps her fashion line from stores and online in response to boycott by thousands of women over the election… but Jared is all smiles as he meets Queen Rania Husband admits stabbing his pregnant wife to death in front of their two children after she begged her church, the police and relatives for protection from his abuse for months Can this Twitter account predict the future? Mysterious social media handle appears to have called Brexit, Trump and Beyonce being pregnant Why noisy eating can frazzle your brain: Scans find that people who become annoyed at chewing or have an abnormality in the organ Woman, 19, was ‘robbed, strangled and thrown off a 50ft bridge by her two FRIENDS’ before her body was swept out to sea and never recovered White man who shot NFL star Joe McKnight in road rage attack is charged with murder after outrage over police who … (more)

Asian shares mixed after Trump offers scant policy details

Authorities urged thousands of people in Northern California to evacuate homes as rivers swollen by four days of heavy rain threatened to crest above flood level, even as another day of showers was forecast for… Rescue workers used boats and firetrucks to evacuate dozens of Northern California residents from their flooded homes Wednesday as a drought-busting series of storms began to move out of the region after days of heavy rain… Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Christopher Wilkins looked to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep him from becoming the first prisoner executed in the nation this year. Texas on Wednesday put to death an inmate convicted of killing two men over a phony drug deal, the first U.S. execution of 2017.

Asian shares mixed after Trump offers scant policy details

Authorities urged thousands of people in Northern California to evacuate homes as rivers swollen by four days of heavy rain threatened to crest above flood level, even as another day of showers was forecast for… Rescue workers used boats and firetrucks to evacuate dozens of Northern California residents from their flooded homes Wednesday as a drought-busting series of storms began to move out of the region after days of heavy rain… Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Christopher Wilkins looked to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep him from becoming the first prisoner executed in the nation this year. Texas on Wednesday put to death an inmate convicted of killing two men over a phony drug deal, the first U.S. execution of 2017.

‘Pressing concern’ to manage water in Middle East troublespot

There is a “pressing concern” to manage Euphrates River water, a key resource for a “politically volatile” area of the Middle East, US officials said, in a face of another sub-par rice crop in Iraq. Iraq, which until the mid-1970s relied on home-grown rice to cover most domestic demand, has seen buy-ins soar, becoming one of the top 10 biggest importers.

Obama signs bill for Flint water, California drought

President Barack Obama signed a bill Friday authorizing water projects across the country, including $170 million to address lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, and $558 million to provide relief to drought-stricken California. Obama said the bill advances vital projects across the country to restore watersheds, improve flood control and rebuild water infrastructure – including pipes in Flint, where residents have struggled with lead-tainted water for more than two years.