It’s not unusual for me to come across new information after I’ve written my column about certain subjects. Often it is just a factoid, something about which I can’t write 1,000 words. So, I’ll take this opportunity to publish a brief update with a couple of factoids.
CAHSRA. Will California’s “bullet” train, the most expensive and slowest in the world, stall in Shafter? An article by Titus Wu, appearing in the New York Post indicates that real possibility. Wu writes, “Shafter, a city near Bakersfield, and developer Lennar Homes are plowing ahead with 1,200 homes in the same area off Highway 99 where the state’s rail authority plans to build tracks.”
In addition, Julie Watts, reporting for CBS News, points out that the CAHSRA Inspector General “has spent two years and $1.15 million trying to buy $300,000 in standard software — and still doesn’t have it.” Moreover, Titus Wu claims that costs for the high-speed rail plan have surpassed $200 billion, “though the rail authority insists the reassessed project cost is $126.3 billion.”
And so it goes with the Slo-Mo Cho-Cho.
AVENAL. In April, voters in the City of Avenal recalled four of the five members of City Council, including Mayor Alvaro Preciado. However, Emily Erwin reported in Your Central Valley that all four recalled officials refused to step down. Then there were court decisions and rulings from California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Bonta said that a legal action, Quo Warranto, should be tried in court. Quo Warranto “requires public officials to prove they still have the legal right to hold office.”
Meanwhile, City Council, theoretically composed of self-proclaimed Mayor Ricardo Verdugo, the only councilmember who was not recalled, cannot conduct business because it’s been ruled that there cannot be a quorum of one, according to Dom McAndrew in a separate piece for Your Central Valley.
So, as of late August, the four recalled city council members are still coming to work. Erwin says that the process for removing the council members is moving. “The councilmember are not.” However, in a third Your Central Valley issue, Katherine Phillips reports, “Now, many of those behind the recall fight are gearing up to run for the offices they fought so hard to remove the current leaders from.”
YEAR-LONG TIME. It seems that every year, as we prepare for the day when we have to “fall back,” voters get serious about having a single time standard for the country. Iris Kwok of the Los Angeles Times reports, “The House, in a lopsided bipartisan vote, approved a measure… to make year-round daylight saving time the default for most of the United States beginning next year.”
Representative Kat Cammack (R-Fla) is cited in the Los Angeles Times article as saying, “This legislation does exactly what Americans have been asking Congress to do, not just for years, but decades: end outdated practices of changing our clocks twice a year by making daylight saving time permanent.” Kwok reported that the measure passed by a vote of 308-117. She says that a companion bill is being debated in the Senate where its prospects are uncertain. However, in 2022, “a bill to make daylight saving time permanent was approved by the Senate, but the effort stalled in the House.” That’s our government in inaction. Whatever the outcome may be, states have the right to opt out.
As a Californian, I sincerely hope that the Golden State will opt out of the dual-time system. And either ST or DST is okay with me. I wouldn’t even complain about Greenwich Mean Time, so long as I don’t have to change the clocks in my life twice a year.
READING AND BOOKS. Because I write a weekly book-review column, I (have to) read at least a book a week. I made “have to” parenthetical because it’s not a burden. I’ve always read at least 50 books a year, except for years when I was writing textbooks. But, even during those years, I probably read 20 or more novels just for pleasure.
As I may have mentioned in previous columns I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a public library until I was in the third grade. Since then, I’ve been a bibliophile, although the folks at our local library would not recognize me. That’s because I buy books. I like to write in the books that I read. In particular, I write the names of major characters on the blank page at the back of most books. Naturally, I wouldn’t mark-up a library book.
I love books, and I’ve very seldom seen a movie that was faithful to or as good as the book on which it was based. But, in truth, some movies have pleasantly surprised me. Sometime in the 1950s, I read Nevil Shute’s “On the Beach.” In 1959, Stanley Kramer produced a movie, based on the book, and I loved it. I also thought the book and the movie (1963), “Lord of the Flies,” were exceptional. More recently, Freida McFadden’s “The Housemaid” (2022) was released as a movie in 2025. For cinematic reasons, the ending was altered, and I think that was a good decision. I enjoyed both and expressed my opinion in my Wednesday column that “The Housemaid” would be a breakthrough novel for McFadden.
Since about 2020, I’ve seen numerous articles proclaiming the death of paper books. However, a recent report by the Pew Research Institute states that “Print books still dominate in the U.S., but use of e-books and audiobooks has grown over the past decades.” Between Oct. 6 and Oct. 16, researchers interviewed 8,046 adults, a selective sample which “represents the views of the full U.S. adult population,” according to statisticians. Roughly two-thirds had read a book in the previous 12 months, and 75 percent read at least part of a book.
According to the American Booksellers Association, since 2022, more independent bookstores have been opening than closing, and in 2025, 605 such stores opened while only about 65 closed. Perhaps a culture of readers is growing.
I hope so.
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Jim Glynn es Profesor Emérito de Sociología. Se le puede contactar en j_glynn@att.net.