Raiders’ win is their
3rd straight at home
Disney goes darker
with ‘Into the Woods’
SPORTS | Page C1
LIFESTYLES | Page C6
The Modesto Bee
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2014
modbee.com
$1
Mandates
of egg laws
in dispute
“This is my first and last day of shopping because I’m a procrastinator.”
ISABEL MAZA, Vintage Faire Mall shopper
COSTS, EFFECTS REMAIN UNCLEAR
AS STATE RULES TAKE EFFECT JAN. 1
By Jeremy B. White
The Sacramento Bee
Andy Alfaro [email protected]
Jessica Garcia looks at hair clips at Icing at Vintage Faire Mall on the last Sunday before Christmas. The mall and other
shopping centers were full of people wrapping up their gift buying for the year.
Consumers race to finish
their Christmas shopping
STORE OWNERS
HOPE PURCHASES
MATCH FORECASTS
By Ken Carlson
[email protected]
Shoppers filled parking lots and
were spending their dollars Sunday
on the last weekend of shopping before Christmas.
“This is my first and last day of
shopping because I’m a procrastinator,” said Isabel Maza, who was hitting the stores at Vintage Faire Mall
in Modesto. She was with Isaac Clark
of Waterford, who did most of his
shopping earlier this month to make
sure to find everything on his list, he
said.
Nationwide, retailers were counting on the last 10 days of holiday
shopping to cash in on the 2014 season. Through Dec. 15, holiday sales
were up 1.8 percent compared with
the 2013 season, according an Associated Press report citing numbers
from First Data Corp.
The National Retail Federation
116 in2
Current standard
67 square inches
9 or more birds: 116 square inches per bird
Andy Alfaro [email protected]
Isaac Clark of Waterford and Isabel Maza of San Jose do some last-minute
shopping at Vintage Faire Mall on Sunday.
had predicted a 4.1 percent increase
in sales for retail businesses in November and December. It was a rosy
forecast after unsteady consumer
confidence for most of 2014.
Jennifer Pimlott, manager of the
Royal Robbins clothing store in the
McHenry Village shopping center,
said sales gained momentum in the
latter part of this year’s holiday season.
SHOPPING | Back page, A8
CERES TRAFFIC SERGEANT GIVES
FACTS, FIGURES AND ADVICE
By Deke Farrow
[email protected]
the vehicles as they pass.
How many drinks, he asks
the kids, is it OK for the driver heading their way to have
had. One? Two?
How many marijuana
joints are they OK with him
having smoked?
The answer, almost without exception, is none.
Perry, 38, has been a police
officer literally half his life,
having begun his career with
Debbie Noda [email protected]
Ceres at age 19. At Ceres High
School, he was a police Ex- Sgt. Chris Perry and other members of the Ceres Police
Q&A | Back page, A8 Department’s traffic unit use these electric motorcycles.
Source: California Dept. of Food and Agriculture
There is a 75 percent
probability of average or
above-average precipitation between January
and the end of March for
California, according to a
new report by federal
scientists, the first such
prediction in five years.
Page B1
E-cigarette use has
boomed among kids, but
the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration is taking
forever to craft e-cigarette
regulations. The FDA
needs to stop stalling. And
California lawmakers need
to step up in the feds’
absence. Page A7
NATION
Faced with the first
targeted killings of New
York City police officers in
years, police leaders ratcheted up precautions for
their vast patrol force as
officials described the
predatory final movements
of a gunman bent on
killing officers. Page A4
LOCAL NEWS
As a train approaches,
the sound of its horn can
conjure romantic images
of a foggy London train
station. But if the horn is
blaring by your home in
the middle of the night,
startling you from sleep,
you might have a different
take. Page B1
STATE
Tribune News Service
Drone approvals
beset by conflict at
FAA, emails show
By Craig Whitlock
The Washington Post
The Federal Aviation Administration proclaimed a
new era in aviation in September when it granted permission to six Hollywood filmmakers to fly drones on movie
sets, a decision that opened
the door to commercial drone
flights in the United States.
“These companies are blazing a trail,” Transportation
Secretary Anthony Foxx said
at the time. “We are thoroughly satisfied these operations
will not pose a hazard to other
aircraft or to people and property on the ground,” added Michael Huerta, the chief of the
FAA.
What the FAA did not reveal, however, was that senior
officials had overruled objections from some of its safety
TODAY’S SCOOP
OPINIONS
New California regulations
will require cages holding
a single bird to provide
322 square inches, with
the space allotment per
bird decreasing for cages
that hold more birds.
1 bird
322 square inches
Avoid the 12 coordinator talks DUI
LOCAL NEWS
CHICKEN CAGES
322 in2
MONDAY Q&A
Driving a vehicle is among
the most dangerous things a
person can do, says traffic
Sgt. Chris Perry of the Ceres
Police Department.
When he talks before
groups of students, he sometimes tells them to picture
being in a car with their family, driving down a two-line
highway at anywhere from
55 to 70 mph. Another vehicle is in the opposite lane,
driving about the same
speed. There is maybe six to
eight feet of space between
Who’s guarding the henhouse?
Asked in 2008 whether
hens and other farm animals
deserve more space, California voters replied with a resounding “yes.” Two-thirds of
them endorsed a standard allowing hens enough room to
stand up, lie down and extend
their wings fully without
touching their enclosure or
another bird. Voters were convinced both by calls for humane treatment and evidence
suggesting birds with more
space tend to be healthier.
Now, days away from the
law taking effect, questions
about what the law requires,
how farmers will comply and
who will oversee it continue to
cloud the outlook for California’s hens. The issue is closely
watched in the Northern San
Joaquin Valley, a leading egg
region.
While Proposition 2 only
applied to eggs produced in
California, the Legislature
subsequently passed a law
covering all eggs sold in the
state. The combined measures
dictate that, come Jan. 1, every
egg laid or offered at a grocery
store in California must meet
the new standards.
Egg industry groups and
economists have warned
about an increase in egg prices to offset the cost of installing new enclosures — the Association of California Egg
Farmers has pegged the statewide price tag at around $400
million — or of housing fewer
hens. Estimates of the amount
vary, but a spike appears likely.
“You would expect people
would have to charge higher
prices because it’s going to be
a more costly production system,” said David Harvey, an
agricultural economist with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research
Service.
Representatives of national
and statewide organizations
representing the egg industry
say they believe California
farmers will be prepared
when the calendar flips to
2015.
“California egg farmers are
working diligently to meet the
EGG LAWS | Back page, A8
Carly Fiorina, the first
woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, is courting contributors and staff
for what looks like a presidential campaign. But the
Republican faces hurdles
from her career and the
failure of her one political
campaign. Page A3
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inspectors, who had warned
after a formal review that the
filmmakers’ plans were too
risky and should be prohibited, according to documents
and emails obtained by The
Washington Post.
The warning turned out to
be prescient. On Wednesday, a
camera-toting drone operated
by one of the filmmakers, Pictorvision Inc., flew off a set in
California and disappeared,
according to an FAA report.
Tom Hallman, the president
of Pictorvision, said crew
members found the 20-pound
drone the next day in “rugged
terrain” on a private ranch
about 100 yards from where
they had been filming near
Santa Clarita. He said no one
was injured.
Since giving the go-ahead
DRONES | Page A6
Foggy,
then sun
61 | 45
Complete forecast Page B6
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The Modesto Bee, © 2014