Trump donors ran $27 million real estate and green card scam, prosecutors say
July 18, 2022
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A blanket of crops covers the floor of the Imperial Valley in southern California, a patchwork of vibrant greens given life by the Colorado River in a landscape bleached by the desert sun.
But as a decades-long drought desiccates the US West and the once-mighty river dwindles, questions are being asked about why a handful of farmers are allowed to take as much water as all of Nevada and Arizona combined.
"We average less than two inches (five centimeters) of rainfall per year," fourth generation farmer Andrew Leimgruber told AFP.
"So without the supply of Colorado River water coming here, there would be no one living here, there'd be nothing being grown here, this would be a desert."
The valley, along with Yuma in Arizona, is a vital part of America's huge agricultural sector, producing most of the vegetables the United States eats over winter, in a business that generates around $2 billion a year.
Farmers here also grow alfalfa, a forage crop supplied to beef and dairy ranchers.
Ancient agreement
The land here has always been fertile, but it's always been dry.
The pioneers who forged the West realized that with its permanent sunshine, Imperial Valley could produce crops year-round to feed a growing population, as long as they could keep the fields watered.
Their solution was to build an 80-mile (130-kilometer) canal from the Colorado River, positioning themselves at the head of the queue for the rights to that river.
An agreement hashed out over a century ago allows Imperial Valley farmers to use 3.1 million acre-feet of water every year -- about 70 percent of all the water California is allowed to take.
An acre-foot refers to an acre covered in water a foot deep, which equals some 326,000 gallons (1.23 million liters) or about half an Olympic-size swimming pool.
But as human-caused climate change worsens a drought that has now lasted more than two decades, the river is struggling to keep up with demand.
The 40 million people in the West who rely on it, including in some of America's biggest cities, are being told they need to cut back.
Residents of Los Angeles last year faced fines for watering their gardens too often, and are urged to take only short showers instead of baths.
The predicament has pitted suburban homeowners surveying their brown lawns against nearby farmers.
"As the largest water user on the river, we become a target because it becomes an easy solution," says Tina Shields of the Imperial County Irrigation District.
"We're not going to sacrifice our community for urban sprawl and urban development and other areas."
In any case, says Shields, many of the people who complain about farmers using water are happy to fill their refrigerators with the food they produce.
"We grow a half million acres a year of crops that feed our nation and other nations as well. So it's critical to our community and our economy in particular."
'No lack of work'
Despite its water wealth, Imperial County is one of the poorest in California and would struggle to survive without agriculture.
Rural workers, mostly Latinos, come from a wide area, including across the Mexican border several dozen miles away, to earn money in the fields.
"There has been no lack of work here," says Ramon Cardenas, who has toiled for three decades under summer temperatures that regularly top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
Some farmers have cut deals with power generation companies, signing long-term leases that see crops replaced by solar panels.
They might not be using water anymore, but neither are they offering work.
Cardenas hopes the trend won't spread.
"We depend on this," he says gesturing to the crew picking lettuce.
Productive land
Despite a very wet California winter, Imperial Valley hasn't gotten much rain this year.
As Leimgruber's sprinklers spray hundreds of liters (gallons) of water onto a field, he insists it is well used.
Even thirsty alfalfa -- around 15 percent of which he says is exported -- is vital for a country that consumes so much meat and dairy, he says.
"California is the top dairy-producing state in the country, and that's because of the Imperial Valley's ability to plant alfalfa," he says.
"A lot of Americans don't think it's possible to see empty shelves, and it's areas like this that ensure the country is fed and I think that has to be protected."
And, he insists, if Imperial Valley didn't produce the alfalfa, other suppliers would simply step in and fill the void.
Why, he questions, should he and his fellow farmers miss out on that?
"People don't understand how productive this land is," he says.
© 2023 AFP
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Manicured fingers meticulously place cash in transparent envelopes marked "food," "gas" and other categories, demonstrating in a TikTok video a retro technique for controlling what you spend that is newly popular with some money-conscious Americans.
Returning to cash to control spending may be old fashioned, but in an era of high inflation, a growing number of consumers find that it works.
Judia Griner, 25, started "cash stuffing" two years ago when she was a student at Old Dominion University in Virginia. Now, her TikTok account has more than 200,000 followers.
"I was like, I need to somehow use my own money to pay off the tuition so I won't be in too much debt," Griner told AFP.
"I realized that I had no idea how to do that, because I just didn't know how much money I had," she said.
"I would swipe my card, and I would just kind of cross my fingers and hope that it wouldn't be declined."
It was a similar situation for 31-year-old Jasmine Taylor, who launched her Tiktok channel in February 2021 and now has more than 620,000 followers.
"I had a degree but no outlook for a job. My finances were bad," Taylor, a Texan, said. "I was a pretty big impulse shopper."
Both women decided the way to turn around their spending behavior was to rely on the technique of paying cash for everything.
Once they cash in their pay checks, they separate it into different envelopes for specific expenses -- rent, shopping, etc.
On TikTok, the hashtag #cashstuffing has now reached more than 930 million views.
- Old method, proven results -
The method is reminiscent of the age-old piggy bank system, and was popularized in its current form 20 years ago by financial guru Dave Ramsey, before the era of smartphones and contactless payments.
Despite being outdated and at times inconvenient -- some businesses refuse to accept cash -- the method has allowed Griner to save $7,500 to finance her education.
"The card didn't feel like real money to me," Griner said.
But using cold cash made it very real.
"I could physically see myself spending all my cash and it just went away and that's what helped me curb my spending," she said.
Taylor, too, saw immediate results. She pays 95 percent of her expenses in cash, got rid of $32,000 in student debt, $8,000 in credit card debt and $5,000 in health care debt.
Wracking up debt is a national affliction in a country with abundant credit card offerings that goad households to take on more and more loans.
"It's a problem that my generation kind of suffers from: consumerism and just overspending everything," Griner said.
- Sense of comfort -
For Priya Malani, founder of Stash Wealth, a financial advisory service for young professionals, the economic downturn plays a role in the current success of the envelope system.
"With so many insane headlines -- crypto crashes, market pullbacks, looming recession, the list goes on -- it makes sense that people are looking for a little more control," Malani said.
"A dollar bill you hold in your hand provides that comfort."
But, Jason Howell, a wealth management professor at American University warned that "2023 is probably the worst time to keep your cash in your house" because it earns no interest and depreciates.
Taylor, who keeps her envelopes stuffed with small bills in a fireproof safe in her home, is well aware of this. She still deposits money in the bank when she saves $1,000 or more.
The two experts acknowledge that there is no broader movement back to cash in the United States, where the trend has been the gradual decline of cash in favor of card or mobile payments.
In 2022, about four in ten Americans (41 percent) said they would not make any cash purchases in a typical week, compared to only 24 percent in 2015, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.
According to Griner, the envelope method still represents "the perfect kind of system for a beginner" to manage a budget.
For her, the change has been dramatic: "I trust myself with money."
Howell said that sense of control is a notable achievement.
"It makes you think, it's the greatest benefit of this system," Howell said.
© Agence France-Presse
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Actors from the smash-hit comedy series "Ted Lasso" will meet President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday to discuss the importance of mental health, the administration said Sunday.
The Apple TV+ series, whose third season premiered March 15, delves into various characters' mental health, with storylines tackling issues with bullying, anger, relationships and self-esteem, as well as panic attacks.
The show stars Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, an out-of-his-depth American football coach who is recruited to lead a dysfunctional English soccer club in the aftermath of its owners' divorce, and as Lasso faces his own mental health issues.
The president and First Lady Jill Biden "will welcome Jason Sudeikis and the cast of Ted Lasso to the White House to discuss the importance of addressing your mental health to promote overall well-being," the White House said in a statement.
"'Ted Lasso' has inspired the world through its universal themes around optimism, kindness, and determination, and the Lasso philosophy to 'believe,'" Apple TV+ said in a statement, as reported by entertainment news outlet Deadline.
Biden on Sunday tweeted a photo of the Oval Office with a sign reading "BELIEVE" taped above the door -- a reference to Lasso's mantra.
The Biden administration said it has expanded mental health resources for young people and provided nearly $500 million to help states transition to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Anyone experiencing a mental health or suicide crisis can access confidential counseling by calling or texting 988 in the United States to reach the hotline.
"Ted Lasso" won Emmys in 2022 and 2021 for best comedy, best lead actor in a comedy for Sudeikis and best supporting actor in a comedy for Brett Goldstein, among other wins.
After winning in 2021, Sudeikis said the show was about family, mentors and teachers, and teammates.
"And I wouldn't be here without those three things in my life," he said.
© Agence France-Presse
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