Farming

SOLEDAD, Calif. - For decades the slogans have sought to entice motorists who pull off Highway 101 in this Salinas Valley farm town - usually for gas or a cup of coffee - to stay and visit a while. "It's Happening in Soledad," declares a billboard that looms over the asphalt artery. "Soledad: Feel the Momentum" urge the stone markers planted at the town's highway exits. PHOTOS: Soledad's success rests on Pinnacles Now city officials think they have seized on an idea to provide the economic boost the community desperately needs: "Gateway to the Pinnacles.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is declaring a big success his department's 4-year-old program to pressure state-licensed insurance companies to stop investing in multinational firms that do business in Iran. Just eight of a total of 1,300 licensed insurers continue to invest in foreign-owned companies that are involved in the military, energy or nuclear sectors of the economy of the Islamic republic, he said. The State Department identifies the Middle Eastern nation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Thousands of Los Angeles homeowners covered by State Farm General Insurance Co. will see their annual premiums drop an average of $102, or 12.3%, beginning April 15. The reduction is part of a statewide markdown that will benefit 85% of State Farm's 1.6 million homeowner customers in California, the company said. The lower prices are expected to be announced at a 10:30 a.m. news conference in Los Angeles held by state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and State Farm Chief Executive Tom Conley.

One of my least-favorite sports terms: It's a process. Like everything isn't. Studying game film, learning to lay off that low outside slider, scratching your left earlobe, it's all a process. Normally this process malarkey is used to explain why things aren't as good as they're supposed to be. And since in sports there is only one winner, that pretty much leaves everyone else going through their little processes. Naturally, you hear it a lot around the Dodgers. Rejuvenating the fan base, upgrading the roster, adding depth to the front office - it's all a process.

Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who has pushed to bring a football stadium to Los Angeles, also wants to bring wind power to California. A plan being marketed in Sacramento would bring California utilities thousands of megawatts of electricity from a massive wind farm in Wyoming being developed by the entertainment and energy mogul, who also developed L.A. Live and Staples Center. The idea is being promoted by Wyoming state officials who say that, besides benefiting Anschutz, it could be an economic boost for the Cowboy State and an environmental plus for California, providing cleaner power at a good price.

ELVERTA, Calif. - With your flute of French Champagne this weekend, how about a little caviar on toast from Sacramento? To the surprise of many would-be gourmands, the halcyon days of caviar are over. Most of the world's production no longer comes from such exotic spots as Russia's Volga River and western Asia's Caspian Sea. Those supplies are almost completely depleted from pollution, poaching, and overfishing of the caviar-egg-bearing sturgeon. Instead, it turns out that Sacramento County now is the epicenter of U.S. sturgeon and caviar production, and experts say California now accounts for an estimated 70% to 80% of U.S. production.

What do you get when you drop a bunch of D-list celebrities on a farm? Farm animals and a little you-know-what on your shoe. On Sunday night's episode of "Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off," the remaining seven contestants were tasked with preparing a farm-to-table meal. The celebrities picked their own vegetables and used a grill to prepare a main dish and side dish for 25 farm workers. Apparently, gardening is scary for some people, but if you're a celebrity, it's really scary.

Another classic Southern California theme park attraction is undergoing a major overhaul. Knott's Berry Farm's Timber Mountain Log Ride will close for five months, starting this month, for a renovation of the ride's automated figures and sets and to add new scenes and characters. The log ride, which opened in 1969, is housed in an eight-story building. Riders on log vehicles float in 24,000 gallons of water and glide past mechanical figures and taxidermied animals before dropping down a 42-foot free fall.

State scientists, grappling with an explosion of marijuana growing on the North Coast, recently studied aerial imagery of a small tributary of the Eel River, spawning grounds for endangered coho salmon and other threatened fish. In the remote, 37-square-mile patch of forest, they counted 281 outdoor pot farms and 286 greenhouses, containing an estimated 20,000 plants -- mostly fed by water diverted from creeks or a fork of the Eel. The scientists determined the farms were siphoning roughly 18 million gallons from the watershed every year, largely at the time when the salmon most need it. "That is just one small watershed," said Scott Bauer, the state scientist in charge of the coho recovery on the North Coast for the Department of Fish and Game.