Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/515937
An article in Wednes- day's edition about events planned for Memorial Day contained errors. The Red Bluff Community Band will perform a patriotic program beginning at 10 a.m. Monday at the Veter- ans Hall at the corner of Jackson and Oak streets in Red Bluff. The Daily News regrets the errors. Itisthepolicyofthe Daily News to correct as quickly as possible all errors in fact that have been published in the newspaper. If you believe a factual error has been made in a news story, call 737-5042. CORRECTION Wr on g ti me l is te d for Memorial Day concert on Monday "Today the three pri- mary objectives were to provide resources to those new to export in prepar- ing for exporting, to help existing exporters expand into new markets and to help make connections to state and federal trade resources," Goold-Haws said. Resources include fund- ing for businesses to attend trade shows and informa- tion on funding sources overall, which included US Bank Deposit Relation- ship Manager Lisa Geraci, who was available to dis- cuss streamlining global trade activity, increasing efficiency, enhancing com- munication and informa- tion tracking and any other questions businesses might have. The group was able to bring in US Commercial Counselors for Poland, Spain and Denmark — not something people in the north state region typically have access to, Goold-Haws said. The Far Northern office has been tasked with as- sisting businesses in the 10 northernmost counties with export education as well as how to break into new markets so that they can realize their full poten- tial, said Angela Cordell, director of Gnosis Com- munications. "Export is an inter- esting industry," Cordell said. "A lot of people as- sume because they are in a small, rural county that they couldn't possibly ex- port globally and that's simply not true. With the technology that's avail- able there are so many ways for them to interact globally." Key to stimulating ru- ral businesses is offering training and tools to do international business, be- cause even a couple of in- ternational sales can in- crease a company's bottom line, Ohlson said. Following lunch, busi- nesses were given the op- portunity to meet one-on- one with the US Commer- cial Counselors to share ideas and seek advice on export markets for their product in the representa- tive's country. Several more seminars are being planned and will be posted online at www.exportnorcal.com. For more information, call 410-1182. Workshop FROM PAGE 1 Regulators said the first orders Friday will affect those holding century-old water rights in the water- shed of the San Joaquin River, which runs from the Sierra Nevada mountains to San Francisco Bay and is one of the main water sources for farms and com- munities. Meanwhile, a second cat- egory of senior rights hold- ers are making a surprise effort to stave off those kinds of cuts. Farmers who hold longstanding claims to water because their land lies along the waterways of the Sacramento-San Joa- quin river delta offered to voluntarily reduce their wa- ter use by a quarter. Officials promised a de- cision Friday on that offer, which would yield on some of the most iron-clad water rights in California, as they try to chart a path forward for a state locked in its dri- est four-year period on re- cord. "For me, 25 percent I can handle," said Gino Celli, who farms 5,000 acres of to- matoes, alfalfa and corn in the delta. "Anything more than that — man, I'm done." It is unclear whether the farmers' offer would go far enough to save waterways drying up around much of the state, following a win- ter of below-average rainfall and record-low snows in the Sierra Nevada. Farmers use 80 percent of all water taken from the land in California. Senior water-rights holders alone consume trillions of gallons of water a year, although the state doesn't know ex- actly how much they use be- cause of unreliable data col- lection. Regulators don't have widespread remote sensors or meters to make sure wa- ter isn't diverted. The cutback orders in- stead are enforced by honor system and complaints. Only a fifth of junior wa- ter-rights holders already told to stop pumping from the San Joaquin watershed have confirmed they were complying, a water board official said Wednesday. Agriculture experts say they expect only modest immediate effects on food prices from cuts to the se- nior water-rights holders. Farmers will likely use their limited water to grow valuable crops, such as al- monds, while less valuable crops, such as alfalfa, will be grown outside Califor- nia, said Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. The mandatory cuts scheduled for Friday would be the first to the state's se- nior water-rights holders overall since the 1970s, and first to senior holders along the San Joaquin in memory. "This is challenging. It's not about making every- one happy," Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the state Water Resources Control Board, said at a public hear- ing Wednesday. "It's about figuring out how to make terrible choices in the most fair and equitable way pos- sible." Board Director Tom Howard said that whatever he decides on the farm- ers' offer for voluntary cuts will apply beyond the river delta to the entire basin of the Sacramento River, which supplies most of the surface water in the food- producing Central Valley and the drinking water to homeowners as far south as San Diego. That deal would not ap- ply to hundreds of others with claims to water be- fore 1914, among the few groups spared cutbacks in four years of drought, un- til now. California's water rights system is built around the claims staked in the 19th century. Nearly 4,000 com- panies, farms and individ- uals are first in line to re- ceive water because they made claims to water be- fore 1914 or have property touching a waterway. The ranks of senior wa- ter-rights holders include the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles and rural irrigation districts that sup- ply thousands of farms. Regulators haven't or- dered them to stop pump- ing since 1977, during the state's last major drought. That order applied only to dozens along a stretch of the Sacramento River, and the water board has since gained new power to punish those who illegally take wa- ter, including $10,000 daily penalties. Delta farmer Rudy Mussi already has ordered tomato plants and prepared fields and said he needs to know how often, or if, he can wa- ter them. "Until the fine print is out, I don't know," Mussi said about joining the vol- untary cuts. "If I can make it work, hey, I'll do my darndest." Brown has come un- der criticism for sparing farmers with senior wa- ter rights from the man- datory cutbacks. Increas- ing amounts of the state's irrigation water goes to specialty crops such as al- monds, whose growers are expanding production de- spite the drought. Mandatory orders could put some farmers in the delta east of San Francisco out of business, said John Herrick, manager of the South Delta Water Agency. When the state cutback order comes, the farmers will immediately try to block it in court, he said. "That doesn't mean we'll win," Herrick said. "But that's what we'll do." Ellen Knickmeyer in San Francisco contributed to this report. Drought FROM PAGE 1 RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Gino Celli inspects wheat nearing harvest on his farm near Stockton on Monday. Celli, who farms 1,500acres of land and manages another 7,000acres, has senior water rights and draws his irrigation water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. COURTESY PHOTO Local business owners gathered at a Global Business and Exports training workshop held Thursday by the California Centers For International Business Development at Rolling Hills Casino. In the back of the book- let of activities happen- ing throughout the county there is a passport for the child to fill out as they at- tend the programs. Those who fill it in completely will be eligible to come to a film festival, tentatively scheduled for October, for a T-shirt with the Maker Summer mascot, drawn by Syerra Eickmeyer. "We're trying to (encour- age) more entries at the Tehama District Fair and wouldn't it be fun to have a Makers Showcase of what was created over the sum- mer," said Michelle Carl- son, a Department of Ed- ucation information spe- cialist. The culmination of the summer activities will be a film festival to which community members of all ages are invited to sub- mit films of 10 minutes or less. The best of each cat- egory will be shown at the festival, Carlson said. Guidelines will be posted soon at www.tehamas- chools.org. Department of Educa- tion Intern Maryn Span- gler, one of two hired part- time to work with the Maker Space, said she is ex- cited about the movement. "The Maker Space is bringing things back to the root of what educa- tion should be," Spangler said. "It's about learning through creativity instead of just learning to take a test." For more information on the Maker Summer pro- gram or Maker Space, call 528-7130. Maker FROM PAGE 1 Thankyou! PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. By Alicia Chang The Associated Press LOS ANGELES A man para- lyzed by gunshot more than a decade ago can shake hands, drink beer and play "rock, paper, scissors" by controlling a robotic arm with his thoughts, re- searchers reported. Two years ago, doctors in California implanted a pair of tiny chips into the brain of Erik Sorto that decoded his thoughts to move the free-standing robotic arm. The 34-year-old has been working with researchers and occupational thera- pists to practice and fine- tune his movements. It's the latest attempt at creating mind-controlled prosthetics to help disabled people gain more indepen- dence. In the last decade, several people outfitted with brain implants have used their minds to con- trol a computer cursor or steer prosthetic limbs. Here are some things to know about the new work, published Thursday by the journal Science: Thestudy Doctors at the Univer- sity of Southern California implanted small chips into Sorto's brain during a five- hour surgery in 2013. The sensors recorded the elec- trical activity of about 100 brain cells as Sorto imag- ined reaching and grasp- ing. Researchers asked Sorto to think about what he wanted to do instead of breaking down the steps of the movements, said principal investiga- tor Richard Andersen at the California Institute of Technology. After weeks of imagining movements, Sorto trained with Caltech scientists and therapists at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabil- itation Center to move the robotic arm, starting with a handshake and graduat- ing to more complicated tasks. The sensors relayed their signals to the arm, by- passing Sorto's damaged spinal cord. The difference Scientists have long strived to make robotic arms produce movements that are as natural as possi- ble. Previous research tar- geted a region of the brain known as the motor cortex, which controls movement. The new work zeroed in on a different area of the brain — the posterior pa- rietal cortex — that's in- volved in the planning of movements. The hope is that this strategy will lead to smoother motions. It's unclear whether the new approach is better be- cause no side-by-side com- parisons have been made yet, but it gives research- ers a potential new target in the brain. Past work In 2012, a Massachu- setts woman paralyzed for 15 years directed a ro- botic arm to pick up a bot- tle of coffee and bring it to her lips. In another in- stance, a quadriplegic man in Pennsylvania used a ro- botic arm to give a high- five and stroke his girl- friend's hand. Sorto's story Sorto has a caregiver at home, but he goes to the re- hab center several times a week to practice using the robotic arm. Since suffering a gun- shot wound 13 years ago, he longed to drink a beer without help. The first time he tried with the prosthetic arm, he was so excited that he lost his concentration and caused the arm to spill the drink. On the second try, he directed the arm to pick up the bottle and bring it to his mouth where he sipped through a straw. The beer tasted "like a little piece of heaven," Sorto said. The future Despite progress in the last decade, hurdles re- main before brain-con- trolled prosthetics can help paralyzed people in their daily lives. Experts said computer programs must run faster to interpret brain signals and the brain implants must be more durable. Currently, wire connec- tions run from a patient's brain to outside the skull, increasing the risk of in- fections. Future systems need to be wireless and contained within the body like pacemakers, experts J. Andrew Pruszynski of Western University in Can- ada and Jorn Diedrichsen of University College Lon- don wrote in an accompa- nying editorial. SCIENCE Pa ra ly ze d ma n us es h is t ho ug ht s to control a robotic arm, drink beer SPENCER KELLIS — CALTECH VIA AP Erik Sorto uses his mind to control a robotic arm to make a smoothie in Pasadena. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A