The Modoc War was one of the most dramatic American Indian wars in U.S. history.

The Modoc are a Native American people who originally resided in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. The Modoc War began in November 1872 when the military tried to force a small band of Modoc People, led by Captain Jack, to a reservation. The Modocs took refuge in an ancient lava flow that became their stronghold. Today it is a part of the Lava Beds National Monument. The Modocs knew the land and used it to their advantage. Twisting lava tubes and hidden caves created the perfect hideout for fifty-five Modoc warriors and their families. Native, or Indian, policy was the subject of national debate and many humanitarians sided with the Modocs. Then the Indians attacked a peace commission, resulting in the only U.S. General killed in an Indian conflict. The government cracked down hard, calling for swift punishment. By the end, the Modocs were fighting off a force of nearly 1,000 men, made up of both military soldiers and civilian volunteers. Again and again, the small band of Indians overcame incredible odds to protect their way of life. But it could not last. Their world was about to change forever. The Modoc People are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon[2] and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, now known as the Modoc Nation. #OPB #OregonExperience #ModocWar

OPINION: Insurance Companies Are Quietly Fleeing California Voters and lawmakers imposed price controls that leave residents more vulnerable to disasters.

[...It would never dawn on the state’s political leadership to invest in infrastructure improvements before near-catastrophic failures stressed levees to the breaking point. Nor would it occur to them to invest in water infrastructure. Shortly before the storms, which brought nearly as much rain in three weeks as California had experienced in a year, the state was already facing another weather-related crisis: a mega-drought that led to water rationing. Such a problem had long been predicted, yet until recently the state didn’t move urgently to approve new desalination plants or improve infrastructure.]...

OPINION: Insurance Companies Are Quietly Fleeing California
Voters and lawmakers imposed price controls that leave residents more vulnerable to disasters.
By Steven Greenhut
March 17, 2023 5:06 pm ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurance-companies-are-quietly-fleeing-california-proposition-103-natural-disaster-state-farm-market-competition-ricardo-lara-commissioner-db0af00?mod=e2tw

WSJ Opinion: Gavin Newsom's Climate Commitment to California

WSJ Opinion: Gavin Newsom's Climate Commitment to California
Review & Outlook: Despite regular power shortages in California, on Sept. 16, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed 40 new climate bills to amp up California’s green-energy shock experiment. Images: Shutterstock/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly

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The words “California” and “crisis” seem to go together as the state bounds from one intractable problem to another. The recent spate of flood-level storms in Northern California brought attention to the Golden State’s ailing levees. As an “atmospheric river” pummeled the low-lying Sacramento region, a nearly endless parade of trucks carrying rubble raced to shore up an aged system.

It would never dawn on the state’s political leadership to invest in infrastructure improvements before near-catastrophic failures stressed levees to the breaking point. Nor would it occur to them to invest in water infrastructure. Shortly before the storms, which brought nearly as much rain in three weeks as California had experienced in a year, the state was already facing another weather-related crisis: a mega-drought that led to water rationing. Such a problem had long been predicted, yet until recently the state didn’t move urgently to approve new desalination plants or improve infrastructure.

The recent floods and wildfire season have also have saddled insurance companies with as much as $1.5 billion in losses. Insurance markets could weather these blows, but California’s government-controlled insurance system won’t let them. Thus, insurers are pulling out of the state or reducing their underwriting, leaving many homeowners dependent on the bare-bones insurer of last resort: the state-created (though insurer-funded) Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan. As Jerry Theodorou, an R Street Institute insurance expert, observed in the Orange County Register, the number of FAIR Plan policies has increased 240% since 2017.

Car insurers are backing away, too, Mr. Theodorou notes, as losses increased 25% in one year, while premiums rose only 4.5%. That statistic offers insight into the problem. In 1988 California voters approved a ballot measure backed by tort lawyers that turned the insurance commissioner into a rate-setting czar. “Proposition 103 . . . requires the ‘prior approval’ of California’s Department of Insurance before insurance companies can implement property and casualty insurance rates,” the department’s website explains. “The ballot measure also required each insurer to ‘roll back’ its rates 20 percent. Prior to Proposition 103, automobile, property and casualty insurance rates were set by insurance companies without approval by the Insurance Commissioner.”

Thanks to Republicans’ longtime weakness in statewide races, the commissioner, Ricardo Lara, won re-election last year by 20 points, despite controversies involving campaign contributions from people linked to companies he regulates. But the real problem isn’t Mr. Lara; it’s the powers vested in his office. Since Proposition 103’s passage, California has endured similar problems with all insurance commissioners, including Republicans. Elected commissioners have every incentive to oppose premium hikes. Insurers are reluctant to propose any changes because doing so would trigger an administrative process in which “intervenors”—consumer groups that get reimbursed to advocate for the public in the rate process—rack up legal fees.

In 2016 State Farm General Insurance, which provides fire insurance to 20% of the state’s homeowners, proposed raising rates by 6.9%. The insurance commissioner at the time, Democrat Dave Jones, instead ordered the company to slash rates by 7% and rebate consumers $100 million. Small wonder that insurers avoid this process and instead quietly pull back from the market.

The Department of Insurance uses a formula to determine rates based partly on a company’s revenues. In State Farm’s case, the department, along with a group called Consumer Watchdog, calculated what the company’s premiums should be based on the overall revenues of an out-of-state group of State Farm-affiliated companies. Though a state appeals court rejected this method in a harshly worded ruling, a San Diego County court nevertheless awarded Consumer Watchdog $2.2 million in legal fees for its far-fetched opposition in its role as an intervenor.

This regulatory environment explains why California insurers can’t charge rates that reflect their actual risks. It also shows why there’s so little competition in the state’s insurance industry. Over the long run, competition keeps rates low. Insurance commissioners can certainly hold premiums down by edict, but the result is a contracting market. Homeowners then have little choice but to buy inadequate policies in a government-run marketplace.

Proposition 103 isn’t the state’s only insurance problem. In 2018 Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law banning insurance cancellations and nonrenewals in wildfire-affected areas for a year after the fires—and Mr. Lara continues to force the already overstressed FAIR Plan to offer additional coverage. Such edicts further burden an overextended backup insurance fund.

Lawmakers often talk about the need to help consumers and businesses in California’s many disaster-prone areas to secure affordable coverage, yet those same lawmakers impose edicts that impair the ability of insurance markets to do so. As a result, insurance may soon join droughts, fires, floods, infrastructure, traffic congestion, homelessness and crime among California’s many crises.

Mr. Greenhut is a resident senior fellow for the R Street Institute. This piece is adapted from City Journal’s special issue “Can California Be Golden Again?”

Flooding near downtown Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 11.
PHOTO: FRED GREAVES/REUTERS

Appeared in the March 18, 2023, print edition as 'Insurance Companies Are Quietly Fleeing California'. 

Farm and Ranch Groups Applaud USDA’s “Product of U.S.A.” Label Announcement | Farm Action

 

FARM ACTION FOCUS: END FRAUDULENT “PRODUCT OF U.S.A.” LABELING   Shouldn’t the “Product of U.S.A.” label mean exactly that? The USDA recently announced a proposed rule to ensure it does.

 

But under current policy, multinational corporations can use the “Product of U.S.A.” label on imported meat that’s been repackaged in the U.S., passing it off as a higher-quality product raised by U.S. farmers and ranchers. This deceives customers and puts U.S. farmers and ranchers out of business. Watch our “Product of U.S.A.” explainer video to learn more

 

https://farmaction.us/2023/03/06/farm-and-ranch-groups-applaud-usdas-product-of-u-s-a-label-announcement/ 

USDA Announces Grants for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. From January 2023

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making available up to $7.5 million for grants through its Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP). The competitive grants will support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production projects through two categories, Planning Projects and Implementation Projects. USDA will accept applications on Grants.gov until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 27, 2023.

Planning Projects

Planning Projects initiate or expand efforts of farmers, gardeners, citizens, government officials, schools and other stakeholders in urban areas and suburbs. Projects may target areas of food access, education, business and start-up costs for new farmers and the development of plans related to zoning and other needs of urban production. For example, the Texas Coalition of Rural Landowners used 2022 awarded funds to conduct a feasibility study and develop a business plan to establish a cooperative for small-scale agricultural producers serving low food access markets in Harris County, Texas.

Implementation Projects

Implementation Projects accelerate existing and emerging models of urban, indoor and other agricultural practices that serve farmers and communities. Projects may improve local food access, include collaboration with partner organizations, and support infrastructure needs, emerging technologies, and educational endeavors. For example, the Moka Urban Agriculture Initiative used 2022 awarded funds for a project to increase local food access and provide culturally relevant options that create economic opportunities for urban farmers. The project will help to reduce food insecurity, improve health and establish outdoor spaces for food production in Missouri.

Webinar

A pre-recorded webinar on Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grants | USDA provides an overview of the grants’ purpose, project types, eligibility and basic requirements for submitting an application.

More Information

OUAIP was established through the 2018 Farm Bill. It is led by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and works in partnership with numerous USDA agencies that support urban agriculture and innovative production. The grants are part of a broad USDA investment in urban agriculture. Other efforts include:

• Creating and managing a Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production to advise the Secretary on the development of policies and outreach relating to urban agriculture.
• Reopening the People’s Garden Initiative. People’s Gardens across the country grow fresh, healthy food and support resilient, local food systems; teach people how to garden using sustainable practices; and nurture habitat for pollinators and wildlife and greenspace for neighbors.
• Providing cooperative agreements that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans.
• Providing technical and financial assistance through conservation programs offered by NRCS.
• Organizing 17 Farm Service Agency urban county committees.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

First Nation History. Know the dates, the facts, ramifications of expansion.

 The Standard American History Myth treats American Indians as if they were an obstacle in the way of westward expansion and our inevitable march of progress. But nothing about what the United States did to the Native Americans was inevitable.