California proposes big water-theft fine
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California regulators on Monday proposed a first-of-its-kind, $1.5 million fine for a group of Central Valley farmers accused of illegally taking water during the drought.
It would be the first such fine for holders of California’s oldest claims to water.
The State Water Resources Control Board said the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District in Tracy illegally took water from a pumping plant even after it was warned there wasn’t enough water legally available.
The move by the board was the first against an individual or district with claims to water that are more than a century-old, known as senior water rights holders.
The action reflects the rising severity of California’s four-year drought that has prompted the state to demand cutbacks from those historically sheltered from mandatory conservation.
Cuba raises flag over D.C. embassy
WASHINGTON – Cuba’s blue, red and white-starred flag was hoisted Monday at the country’s embassy in Washington, signaling the start of a new era in U.S.-Cuba relations.
In sweltering heat and humidity, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez presided over the flag-raising ceremony hours after full diplomatic relations with the United States were restored at the stroke of midnight when an agreement to resume normal ties took effect. Rodriguez later met with Secretary of State John Kerry, becoming the first Cuban foreign minister to set foot in the State Department since 1958.
Hawking, billionaire back search for aliens
LONDON – Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner on Monday announced an ambitious bid to combine vast computing capacity with the world’s most powerful telescopes to intensify the so far fruitless search for extraterrestrial life.
Hawking, who speaks using a computer-generated voice because of the effects of motor neuron disease, explained the reason for the $100 million project: “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”
Milner, who made a fortune through investments in companies like Facebook, said the power of Silicon Valley technology and innovation would be used.
“The scope of our search will be unprecedented: a million nearby stars, the galactic center, the entire plane of the Milky Way and 100 nearby galaxies,” Milner told a packed press conference at the Royal Society in London.
Associated Press
