Welcome back! Here’s the weekend wrap-up:

At the top of the scroll: The Salton Sea made headlines with “Audit: No State Plan Means a Higher Cost to Fix Salton Sea Woes” in The Desert Sun, and the Imperial Valley Press reported “State Auditor: California Faces Salton Sea Liability” and “Mud Volcanoes are a Treasure by the Salton Sea.”

Salmon also made headlines, including in the San Jose Mercury News with an article on “Salmon Return to San Jose, Thrilling Longtime ‘River Watchdog’ Roger Castillo” and commentary, “Los Gatos Creek: Shopping Cart Art Calls Attention to Endangered Salmon.” The Sacramento Bee reported “Merced River Ranch Restoration Celebrated,” and also featured the latest in Stephanie Taylor’s California Sketches series, “Salmon’s Fight for Survival in an Engineered World.”

“Sandhill Cranes Thrive in the San Joaquin Valley Wetlands” was the topic of an article and photo slideshow in The Fresno Bee.

Editorial headlines included “Why California Water Debate is Going Nowhere Fast” in the San Jose Mercury News, “Don’t Delay Farm Bill Again” in The Fresno Bee, “Strict Scrutiny for Fracking” in the Los Angeles Times, “Celebrate Almonds, While Recognizing Water Issues” in The Sacramento Bee and “It’s Good to Have ‘Water’ Word Spoken Aloud” in the Appeal-Democrat. Among commentaries were the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Avert Water Wars — Build Desalination Plants” and “Water Source of Fights in California, Other States.”

Reports:

• The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority,“ released “Land Subsidence Along the Delta-Mendota Canal in the Northern Part of the San Joaquin Valley, California, 2003-10.”
• The Pacific Institute released “Beyond Water Pricing: An Overview of Water Financing Options in California.”

Water Word of the Week: With the Water Education Foundation now accepting applications for the 2014 William “Bill” Gianelli Water Leaders Class, are you curious to learn about Mr. Gianelli — who also has a powerplant named after him? From sister site Aquapedia, the Foundation’s online water encyclopedia, read the post, “William R. ‘Bill’ Gianelli: Aquafornia Water Word of the Week.”

Last Week’s Top Stories: The most viewed story was “NASA Identifies Rare Weather Pattern Set to Bring Big Winter Storms to Region,” an article in The Sacramento Bee. Excluding news articles, a Los Angeles Daily News editorial, “California is Drowning in Ancient and Unfair Water Rules,” received the most views.