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FRESNO (AP) — NASA scientists have begun deploying satellites and other advanced tech- nology to help California water officials assess the state's record drought and better manage it, officials said Tuesday. The California Depart- ment of Water Resources has partnered with NASA to use the space agency's satellite data and other airborne technology to better measure the snow- pack, groundwater levels and predict storms. ''It sounds like a cliche, but if they could put a man on the moon, why can't we get better seasonal forecasting?'' Jeanine Jones of the state's Department of Water Resources said in an interview following the Sacramento announce- ment of the partnership. Now they will. NASA scientists said they are also embarking on pro- jects that use satellite images to help more accu- rately measure the num- ber of fields farmers have chosen not to plant and where land is sinking because of excessive ground-water pumping. Gov. Jerry Brown directed state officials to form such partnerships as part of his drought emer- gency declaration last month. California's relation- ship with NASA began shortly after the dry year of 2009, when officials sought answers to prob- lems exacerbated by the lack of rain and snow, such as the sinking land. This year's drought has made that research all more important, Jones said, adding that the pre- liminary findings proved that there's plenty more to learn. NASA geologist Tom Farr said that bringing together all types of research and modern technology like pieces of a puzzle may help those in charge of managing the state's water supply avoid deficit water years like this. ''We're on the verge of being able to put all these measurements together and start looking at the concept of closing the water budget of Califor- nia,'' he said. Lawrence Friedl, director of NASA's Applied Sciences Pro- gram, said that 13 of the agency's satellites are focused on water. Three more water research pro- jects are scheduled by NASA, including a satel- lite to be launched Feb. 27 with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Projects NASA is advancing include mea- suring so-called ''atmos- pheric rivers'' to better predict global storm sys- tems farther in advance so rain can be captured in California reservoirs. Satellite images that show the amount of land farmers have chosen not to plant in a drought will arm officials in Sacra- mento with information about where to open food banks for farm workers. Satellites technology will help officials identify levees that are prone to break with high volumes of water, scientists said. 7A Wednesday, February 26, 2014 – Daily News The Passing Parade is brought to you by by Minch Property Management, 760 Main Street specializing in commercial leasing and sales. 530 527 5514 THE PASSING PARADE Roger Angell is 93. I do not know the man, but feel I do after reading one of his many pieces in the New Yorker. His reflections and emotions below certainly express the thoughts of those of us now long in the tooth. Baseball filberts will know him for his great writings about the game. He is that rare fellow who can write in a conversational manner and still keep the reader's attention. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and was its chief fiction editor for many years. He has won many literary awards. However, I write of him today because of his most recent contribution titled "This Old Man". If you are a DN readers, say, under 50 or 60, you may prefer to read something in a lighter vein. But if you just like great writing and insight, Angell is your man. For example: "Check me out. The top two knuckles of my left hand look as if I have been worked over by the KGB. No, it's more as if I'd been catcher for the Hall of Fame pitcher Candy Cummings, the inventor of the curve ball who retired from the game in 1877. To put it another way, if I pointed that hand at you like a pistol and fired at your nose, the bullet would nail you in the left knee. Arthritis." Angell recounts his various infirmities as all elderly do, but he does it with style, wit and grace. He continues, "I'm ninety-three, and I'm feeling great. Well, pretty great, unless I forget to take a couple of Tylenols in which case I feel jagged little pains shooting into the base of my thumb. Shingles in 1996 with resultant nerve damage. I've endured a few knocks but missed worse. I know how lucky I am, and secretly tap wood, greet the day, and grab a sneaky pleasure from my survival at long odds. The pains and insults are bearable. My conversation may be full of holes and pauses, but I've learned to send a private Apache scout ahead into the next sentence, the one coming up, to see if there are any vacant names or verbs in the landscape up there. If he sends back a warning, I'll pause meaningfully, duh, until something else comes to mind". But when Angell writes of his dog Harry, and later of his wife Carol, both who died two years ago, it reduced me to tears. "The downside of great age is the room it provides for rotten news. Living long means enough already. When Harry died, Carol and I could not stop weeping; we sat in the bathroom with his little body on a mat between us and passed a Kleenex box between us". And later, "We geezers carry about a bulging directory of dead husbands or wives, children, brothers and sisters, lovers and classmates." Well, I thought I could condense his marvelous prose, but there is too much to overlook. (To be continued) Robert Minch Death Notices Death notices must be provided by mortuaries to the news department, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified advertising department. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortuaries or by families of the deceased and include online publication linked to the news- paper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. Setting it straight –––––––– It is the policy of the Daily News to correct as quickly as possible all errors in fact that have been published in the newspaper. If you feel a factual error has been made in a news story, call the news department at 527-2153. Gerald Alan Korito Gerald Alan Korito died Friday, Feb. 21 at his Corn- ing home. He was 84. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Broth- ers Corning Mortuary. Published Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Manuel Edward Spessard Manuel Edward Spessard died Monday, Feb. 24 at his Corning home. He was 83. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Broth- ers Corning Mortuary. Published Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. RBUHS to hold lockdown drill By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Red Bluff Union High School is scheduled to hold an intruder lock- down drill at some point during Wednesday's school day. For a short time there may be an elevated police presence in the area of the high school as the school goes into a lockdown. School officials do not want to make the exact time of the drill public in an effort to better gauge their own and student's response times. Associate Principal Miguel Bar- riga said while the school has run similar drills in the past, this will be the first attempt to run the drill at an unstructured time for the student body. The drill is being run in conjunc- tion with the school's resource offi- cer and the Red Bluff Police Department. Barriga said the school had planned to notify parents of the drill through phone calls Tuesday night. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. Deputies found at the scene several spent cas- ings from two different caliber firearms, shattered vehicle window glass and pieces of plastic vehicle debris. There were no reported injuries or property dam- age. An extensive area check with other local law enforcement agencies did not find the suspected vehicles. The Sheriff's Depart- ment is asking anyone with information regard- ing the incident to call 529-7900 or phone the Secret Witness Hotline at 529-1268. Continued from page 1A SHOTS new events, creating a sus- tainable model for our fairgrounds. And that is the new direction that our board is going." Some in attendance chuckled, asking how that differs from how things were run in the past. The agenda item Durrer was speaking under wasn't up for discussion. Joe Froome, who has had dealings with Eidman and is affiliated with the West Coast Monster Truck Nationals event at the fair- grounds, in scheduled remarks asked whether the board's change of direc- tion should have first been vetted with the Fair's sponsors, partners and community. "We are appointed by the governor to set policy," Durrer said. "And when we see that a change needs to be made, which was something that this board has discussed, we've been in closed session for five months in a row with regard to this. And we are going forward with the direction that we feel is in the best interest of this community." As the board moved through its agenda — it approved the purchase of a transformer to restore power to the main grand- stands, saw slight increas- es in revenue and atten- dance in January com- pared to last year, and approved of Meredith's idea of engaging Tehama County youths to see what they would want at future Fairs — it came to one item regarding insurance coverage for the Fair. Board Vice President Greg O'Sullivan spoke of looking into the matter further. Durrer said the item, a Revenue Protec- tion Program from the California Fair Services Authority, was received in early January and required action on opting in by Fri- day. As the board tried to get a handle on what the program entailed, Eidman, who was present at the meeting, stood up. "Madam Chair, can I help you with that?" Eid- man said. "Certainly, sir," Durrer said. "That's revenue protec- tion for the actual Fair event itself," Eidman said. "We've typically taken that out. We've filed and collected once or twice." Eidman, while he was standing, thanked his sup- porters for coming to the meeting. The board then moved to continue fund- ing the revenue protection program. Shortly after, the board moved to a closed session, where it picked Eidman's interim replace- ment. Lomeli reappointed Fair board member Jorge Lomeli, of Corning was reappointed to the fair board of directors Tues- day. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed the 41-year-old who has served on the board since 2013, accord- ing to a release from the governor's office. "Lomeli has held multi- ple positions at Bell- Carter Olive Co. since 1993, including lead mechanic and mechanic," the release stated. "He is a volunteer equipment cap- tain at the Corning Rural Fire Department." There is no compensa- tion for the position and it does not require Senate confirmation. Lomeli is a Democrat. Continued from page 1A FAIR in California generally has fallen since 2005, and while gasoline prices have edged up in recent weeks, they remain down from a year ago. The average statewide price of regular on Tuesday was $3.80 per gallon, according to figures from AAA. That was up about 2 cents from a week ago but down 43 cents from a year ago. Continued from page 1A GAS man — have all won at the district level. The show will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 1. Attendees are advised to arrive early as it is expected that this gala event will sell out. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for ages 10 to 18. Children younger than 10 will be admitted free of charge. The proceeds from the evening provide the prizes and awards to the contestants and support for the pro- grams of the Exchange Club and the Soroptimist International of Red Bluff. Continued from page 1A SEARCH After running out of bullets, Rhoades grabbed a kitchen knife, police said. She was stabbing someone in the parking lot when officers arrested her, court documents say. Rhoades was later transferred to an undis- closed location because the husband of one of the victims works at the coun- ty jail, authorities said. Rhoades worked at the tribe's gas station and con- venience store in Cedarville, Calif., about 25 miles east of Alturas on the other side of the Warn- er Mountains. Her son, Jack Stockton, was ousted as vice chair- man and evicted from trib- al housing on the same grounds as Rhoades, Duran said. Stockton was- n't at the hearing when the shooting broke out, and he has no listed phone num- ber. Also killed in the shooting were Rhoades' nephew Glenn Calonicco, 30, another council mem- ber; and tribal administra- tor Shelia Lynn Russo, 47. Two women who were wounded survived bullet wounds and also were cut with a knife. The criminal complaint identified them as Melissa and Monica Davis, Rurik Davis' daughters. Authorities have said they were alerted to the gun and knife attack when a woman covered in blood ran to nearby City Hall and rang a bell to get in. The Cedarville Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with 35 registered members. The Rancheria owns 26 acres in Cedarville, where most members reside in nine one-story houses built in the 1950s. Investigators have been looking into whether Rhoades embezzled feder- al grant money meant for the Cedarville Rancheria, a person familiar with the tribe's situation told the AP last week on the con- dition of anonymity. The tribe had received an Indian housing grant for $50,399 in 2012 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a news release on the department's website. Duran said he couldn't confirm or deny that was the money in question, adding the amount could be less ''or a lot more.'' Police have said they are still working on a motive, but a nephew who lived with Rhoades, Jacob Penn, has said she snapped under the pres- sure of her brother's attempt to evict her. Eviction from tribal housing is a serious pun- ishment for American Indians. But Rhoades and Stockton were not being removed from tribal rolls and would continue to receive their portion of $1.1 million in gambling revenue shared by casino tribes with the Rancheria, which has no casino, Duran said. The tribe was busy cleaning the headquarters and was unsure if it would resume using the facility after the slayings, Duran said. Continued from page 1A VEST NASA turns research to California drought California slaughterhouse under criminal probe PETALUMA (AP) — A congressman says federal offi- cials have launched a criminal probe of a Northern Califor- nia slaughterhouse that recently recalled more than 8.7 mil- lion pounds of beef. U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman told the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa on Monday he learned about the U.S. Attorney's Office's investigation of Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. during a telephone call with U.S. Agriculture Secre- tary Tom Vilsack. Huffman said investigators could not provide details, but he was told the suspected misconduct was grave. The USDA has said Rancho processed diseased and unhealthy animals and circumvented federal inspection rules. The recalled beef was sold at Walmart and other national chains and used in products, including Hot Pockets. $330M spent at California carbon-permit auction SACRAMENTO (AP) — State officials say California's latest carbon-permit auction has raised nearly $330 million. The Sacramento Bee reports industrial firms and others bought emissions allowances that can be used this year and in 2017. At the auction on Monday, the 2014 allowances sold for $11.34 per ton, while the 2017 permits went for $11.38. It was the sixth state-run carbon auction since Califor- nia's cap-and-trade market system began in 2012. The California Air Resources Board says in total Cali- fornia firms have now spent a combined $1.54 billion for the right to emit greenhouse gases since the program was launched.