You are now in San Diego County category.

Area Assemblyman James Gallagher called it frustrating, misprioritization and a “dereliction of duty.” Gallagher and state Sen. Jim Nielsen last week were unable to persuade a legislative committee to allocate $100 million for levee repairs. During the legislative budget subcommittee’s meeting, the state’s chief deputy director for the Department of Finance noted that a “compromise” was made in instead providing Proposition 1 funds. But Gallagher said that “compromise” won’t do much to repair damaged levees all over the state, including one in Yuba City. Rather, the $111 million portion of the budget is earmarked for capital projects and environmental mitigation.

Near the southeastern shore of the Salton Sea, hot steam bubbles up from the earth and gurgles out of mud volcanos, rising into the air. This active geothermal zone runs along the San Andreas Fault, where geologic forces allow the Earth’s natural heat to rise near the surface, creating one of the world’s most powerful geothermal hot spots. The energy reservoir extends beneath the Salton Sea, where underwater vents release steam that rises in boiling circles of bubbles on the lake’s surface.

While deep mountain snow combined with high temperatures caused California rivers to swell, Colorado officials on Monday downplayed flood risks saying much of the snow already has melted. Statewide snowpack in the major river basins hit 207 percent of the median — 332 percent in the South Platte River Basin and 288 percent in the Colorado River Basin, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s latest survey.

A civil engineer who formerly worked for the contractor doing the Oroville Dam spillway reconstruction has proposed a dual design spillway so the emergency spillway never has to be used again. Henry Burke’s argument for a different design than what the state Department of Water Resources proposed, centers around the need for high-flow back ups. Burke used to work for the contractor, the Kiewit Corporation, which is based in Omaha. Erin Mellon, communications manager with the Natural Resources Agency, said his concept is being considered in the long term, though not by Nov. 1 this year.