On Friday, health experts offered updates about what we’re learning about the virus.

Q: The federal government has vaccines that protect against H5N1, the virus that causes avian influenza, in its Strategic National Stockpile. Why aren’t we using them?

A: The virus isn’t spreading between people, said Erica Pan, California’s state epidemiologist. California’s cases have been mild. And antiviral oral medications are effective against the virus.  “We’re remaining proactive, if things change,” she said.

Q: Do this year’s flu vaccines help protect us?

A: There’s not enough information to know if our existing flu vaccines will protect us, said microbiologist Dr. Bobbi Pritt of the College of American Pathologists. It’s unlikely; this year’s vaccine is designed to fend off the two circulating subtypes of influenza A and the one circulating subtype of influenza B — not avian flu.

Scientists are designing a vaccine for cattle, which will help reduce exposure risk, said Dr. Ben Bradley, also with the College of American Pathologists. But it will be impossible to vaccinate wild birds.

Q: California has 36 confirmed human bird flu cases. But could some people be asymptomatic, so they’re missed?

A: So far, the state is focusing only on cases of people with known illness. Wastewater surveillance is a way to monitor the virus — but it mostly catches virus that is shed by flying birds. Also, there is increasing evidence that wastewater holds fragments of dead virus from milk that we pour down our drains.

Some people may be asymptomatic or only mildly ill, so they don’t bother going to a doctor, Bradley said. And it’s tough to detect live virus in people. That’s because nose and throat swabs, used to find COVID, don’t always catch it. Most of the California cases have been found by doing an eye swab.

“California has a very robust public health testing program. Not all states have an equally robust program,” said Dr. Donald Karcher, president of the College of American Pathologists.  “So it’s very likely we’re missing cases in other parts of the country.”

Q: Why does the virus cause severe respiratory illness in some people — and mild illness, like conjunctivitis, in others?

A: There are two strains, Pritt said.  The D1.1 genotype, which is seen in birds, caused very severe disease in an older person in Louisiana, as well as a teenager in Canada. The B3.13 genotype, seen in cows, caused mild disease in dairy workers.

“At this point, the B 3.13 strain doesn’t seem to be associated with severe disease, but we’ll have to keep an eye on that,” Pritt said.

Illness may be influenced by the route of infection, Bradley added. Dairy workers’ eyes may have gotten a splash of infected milk in their eyes.

Q: Dairies are frustrated because they’re taking protective steps, but still get infections. What’s going on?

A: “We don’t know. That’s what the research is targeting,” said state veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones. “It just  seems like something else is causing the spread as well.” Perhaps asymptomatic but infected new cattle are brought onto farms. Or maybe someone neglected to clean their footwear before work.

Cows can be asymptomatic for a number of weeks, she added, so may inadvertently transmit disease.

Q: Is avian flu affecting the state’s milk supply?

A: Even if a dairy has sick cows and is quarantined, cattle don’t typically die from the disease. Unlike birds, they recover, Jones said. Once the virus is no longer detected, the dairy can resume selling milk.

Q: Are eggs safe?

A: Because chickens show signs of disease so quickly, and die, officials can ensure that eggs from infected flocks don’t enter the market, Jones said. Additionally, sick hens don’t tend to transmit the virus to their eggs.

Q: Why is the illness so different in cattle and birds?

A: In birds, the D1.1 strain is well studied, and known to be highly contagious. And it is seasonal, with poultry infected by migrating waterfowl. This fall, 51 commercial farms and nine backyard flocks in 13 counties have been affected. It is also very severe. Flocks must be killed to ease their suffering and reduce the risk of spread. “It’s basically a death sentence for a poultry flock,” said Jones.

The virus just jumped into cows this spring, so there’s a lot we do not know about how it behaves. So far, it isn’t seasonal. This B 3.13 strain doesn’t sicken cows as severely as it does poultry. Only 1% to 2% of cows die. So the state’s response is different, focusing on containment, not euthanization. So far, 679 of 984 dairies have been quarantined. Of these, 66 are once again virus-free.

For the first time, officials found the cow strain in poultry flocks. They don’t know why. Perhaps rodents are tracking in from one farm to another.

Q: When should we start getting worried about an outbreak among humans?

A: Most worrisome are the two cases in the U.S. with no clear link to cows or birds — one in Michigan, one in Oakland, Bradley said. “If we would be seeing more of those cases,” he said, “that’s something that would lead me to be concerned.”

There are also concerns because studies of blood show antibodies to prior exposure, suggesting that there are asymptomatic cases and the real number of infections is higher, he said.

Another bad sign would be a jump in flu cases in the summer, outside the traditional flu season, indicating a spread.

“If we’re seeing more human adaptation, that’s going to raise red flags,” Bradley said. “It says: ‘This is something we need to be more aggressive in testing for.’”

Like a rodent version of the notoriously violent 1969 film “The Wild Bunch,” extensive video footage recorded at Contra Costa County’s Briones Regional Park offers repeated evidence of the squirrels’ savagery.

Squirrels chase the voles, then catch and pummel them until they’re a bloody pulp. Like cats, the squirrels sometimes let the mortally wounded creature limp off.  Then they pounce again.  Even as the vole squirms, clinging to life, they take a bite.

It’s been known that California ground squirrels won’t pass up an easy meal of meat. Prior research found clues of ingested voles, as well as quail eggs, insects and shellfish.

But the new study, led by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and UC Davis scientists, is the first to chronicle widespread predatory behavior.

“This was shocking,” said lead author Jennifer E. Smith, an associate professor of biology at UW-Eau Claire who with Sonja Wild of UC Davis leads the Long-term Behavioral Ecology of California Ground Squirrels Project.

“Here’s this never-before-encountered-in-science behavior that sheds light on the fact that there’s so much more to learn about the natural history of the world around us,” she said.

With its rolling, grassy hills and secluded, shady canyons, Briones is heavenly habitat for ground squirrels.

Prolific and plentiful, the squirrels are intriguing because they have a larger and much more complex social structure than other squirrel species, according to Smith.

The behavior of two different ground squirrel populations is the focus of research by faculty and students from UC Davis, Wisconsin and other institutions.

Dubbed Team Squirrel, the researchers follow specific animals year after year, gathering extensive data on the social and biological histories of many individual creatures across their lives.

They analyze recordings of alarm calls. They study squirrel poop to learn about gut health. They witness tense rattlesnake vs. squirrel standoffs.

In 2024, something unusual happened. Parts of California experienced an unusual explosion in the abundance of voles.

Defenseless bundles of fur, voles are small and pudgy, with short rounded ears, a rounded head and restless energy. They are engineers, digging burrows which turn soil and move seeds. Active night or day, they are driven by an enormous appetite and the ever-present need to feed their offspring. Voles may produce as many as six or seven broods a year.

Scurrying through a meadow in broad daylight is risky for voles, the researchers learned.

Through videos, photos and direct observations at the regional park, they documented ground squirrels hunting, eating and competing over vole prey between June 10 and July 30. The squirrels’ carnivorous summer behavior peaked during the first two weeks of July, coinciding with an explosion of vole numbers at the park reported by citizen scientists on iNaturalist, a free app where users have recorded millions of observations of wild animals and plants.

The squirrels didn’t seem interested in hunting other small mammals.

Watching video, “I could barely believe my eyes,” said Wild. “From then, we saw that behavior almost every day. Once we started looking, we saw it everywhere.”

The study changes our understanding of ground squirrels — suggesting that what was considered a grain-eating species actually is an opportunistic omnivore, say researchers.

It’s known that many other species, including raccoons, coyotes and humans, are flexible in their diet and behavior.

The new study shows that the California ground squirrel can also respond to a surge in the availability of prey, according to the study.

“The fact that California ground squirrels are behaviorally flexible and can respond to changes in food availability might help them persist in environments rapidly changing due to the presence of humans,” said Wild.

Other questions remain unanswered. For instance, it’s not known whether the hunting behavior is widespread, if it is passed down from parent to pup, and how it affects the larger ecology of the natural landscape.

The researchers plan to return to Briones next summer to see what impact, if any, this year’s vole diet had on the numbers of squirrels.

By then, however, the squirrels may have become someone else’s dinner. Hungry snakes, weasels, hawks and eagles rely on them for sustenance.

Ground squirrels are predators. But, like voles, they’re also prey.

But snowcat operator “Bandit” Ferrante has laser-guided vision, measuring snow depth 150 feet ahead and to each side to sculpt the slopes with precision. By dawn, crowds will start arriving to ski and ride the weekend’s fresh powder.

“These advancements are changing the way we do things,” said Ferrante, 36, who drives a new $400,000 German-made PistenBully rig with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to prepare the trails. “I see exactly where we’re going, and what’s going on.”

After two winters of heavy snow, the snowfall so far this winter has been sporadic. While Mother Nature is always fickle, climate change could create less reliable snow, spelling hardship for the businesses and mountain communities that depend on storms for their economic survival.

So resorts seek to make and protect each precious flake. Big corporations running Palisades, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood and Mammoth Mountain have made major investments, worth many millions of dollars, in what’s dubbed “snow management.”  With some daily lift tickets exceeding $250, the resorts seek to deliver a dependable high-end experience.

Initially just farm tractors on tracks, snowcats have evolved into machines of design, detailed craftsmanship and computer-driven tools.

Inside the warmth of his cab, with a chatty podcast for company, Ferrante monitors a computer screen with color-coded snow depths, guiding him on where to push and pull snow for the best coverage.

Its SNOWsat LiDAR remote sensing technology uses laser pulses to measure snow depth. With accuracy to within an inch, it can construct perfect snowboard half-pipes or World Cup ski race terrain.

The joystick that directs the 12-ton machine is smooth, responsive and comfortable to grasp. The blade shifts in 17 different directions, with wings to shovel the snow. With a sensor that detects incline, the powerful tiller automatically rises and falls when routes get steep.

It’s turned a once lonely and tedious task into a skill-driven profession.

“You keep learning new things,” said Ferrante, a South Lake Tahoe native with nearly 20 years of resort experience.  A tidy tattoo — a snowcat control stick — adorns his neck.

At competitive “Groomer Games” every spring, representatives of all California ski resorts gather to test their expertise by pushing a golf ball through a maze.

Innovations in snow-making tools — such as the $40,000 Super PoleCat — perform alchemy, mixing massive drafts of water, air and electricity to cover miles of runs. Some have built-in automated weather stations.

Snowcats maximize the efficiency of snowmaking. Some are simple utility vehicles, hauling things around the mountain. Others are “trooper carriers,” moving ski patrollers. “Dig rigs” have backhoes to excavate buried equipment.  A few have forks, for installing fences and seats on race days. The smallest cats are adroit at digging out chairlifts and clearing sidewalks.

“You use the right tool for the right job,” said Brendan Gibbons, director of snow surface at Palisades Tahoe.

The most prized snowcats at Palisades are the new LiDAR-equipped machines.

They are leading the fleets that are racing across the resort this weekend to groom freshly fallen powder, sending information by cell signal to the less well-equipped machines.

Until recently, snowcats relied on GPS to measure snow depth; the technology knows how high the machine is sitting above the ground. But this tool offers a limited view of what’s directly under the rig and front blade, not what lies ahead.

“It was a great start to this technology, but it only allowed us to see how deep the snow is where we’ve been, and where we are,” said Gibbons. “LIDAR shows us what the snow is before we get to it.”

LiDAR also measures the volume of piles of manmade snow, helping guide its use.

The tool is already in use in research and government agencies to study snow from the air. It helps water districts measure future water reserves. It can identify avalanche danger.

In the summer, LiDAR builds a digital model of the bare terrain. In the winter, Bandit and other “night crawlers” creep along the mountain’s cold contours, taking snow measurements.

Managers study the freshly updated maps on their phones, then strategize a nighttime plan based on weather, wind, melting and skier traffic.

After a long day of wear and tear, LiDAR helps “clean up the holes, remove the moguls and return the slope back to a nice, perfect skiing surface,” said Brian Demarest, SNOWsat manager for Kassbohrer All Terrain Vehicles in Reno, which sells PistenBully (“trail worker,” loosely translated, in German).

Snowcats no longer lurch and rock. An eight-hour shift “is like driving to L.A.,” said Gibbons.

The snowcat’s taco-shaped blade can turn in 17 different directions. On each side of the blade is a wing that shoves the snow left or right.

Its weight compresses the snow as it rolls, squeezing out dangerous air pockets and creating a more firm surface. Each track works independently, so the rig can pivot. Cleats add traction.

In the back is a spinning barrel with teeth, which chews up the snow. The barrel’s spin speed is adjustable, influencing how much the flakes heat up and bind to each other. A comb, also adjustable, drags behind to deposit rows of perfect corduroy.

Grooming is still dangerous, with peril on slippery and avalanche-prone slopes. One recent winter, when winds hit 192 mph gusts, machines skidded on ice.

Ferrante arrives at Palisades in mid-afternoon from his home in Garnerville, Nevada, to get his assignment for the night’s “swing shift.” When he’s done, he’ll hand it off to a colleague on the graveyard shift that grooms until the lifts open. By 5 a.m., he’s in bed.

“I don’t get lonely,” said Ferrante, who drinks a thermos of black tea to stay alert. Food can be heated by the exhaust pipe.

Throughout the long night hours, operators coordinate with each other, traveling together when there’s avalanche danger. A winch can help secure a machine, allowing it to work on steep slopes.

Ferrante sees coyotes, deer, porcupines, and occasional bear. One crew saw migrating ducks fall from the sky, lost in a storm.

His crew started the season with “track packing” to compress November’s snow. Now, with the arrival of a new storm, he’ll push snow into rigid “wind rows,” like fences, to catch blowing drifts; later teams will smooth them out. Post-storm priorities are roads, then ramps, then runs.

His discipline, largely unrecognized by resort visitors, is building the foundation for a whole season of sport.

“There is a ‘skill ceiling’ that’s infinite,” said Ferrante. “You’re never going to be the very best. You’re never going to figure it all out.”

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Bhattacharya would lead the $47.5 billion agency that is the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. NIH is a collection of 27 institutes and centers focusing on cancer, infectious disease, mental health, heart and lung ailments and drug abuse, among other medical matters.

“I am honored and humbled by President Trump’s nomination of me to be the next NIHdirector,”  Bhattacharya said on X. “We will reform American scientific institutions so that they are worthy of trust again and will deploy the fruits of excellent science to make America healthy again!”

In choosing Bhattacharya, Trump is picking someone with expertise in economics and health care policy who leads Stanford’s Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. With an MD and PhD in economics, he is a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, as well as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.

But he has no experience in basic or applied clinical biomedical research and has never held a government post. For the past 50 years, NIH has been led by known authorities in fields ranging from radiology to genetics. Many of them directed smaller agencies before stepping up to lead NIH, a job with immense administrative responsibilities.

He would replace Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli, a cancer surgeon and lab scientist who championed the use of artificial intelligence tools to create a research database. She also worked to make clinical trials more accessible to rural and minority patients.

Prior to spring 2020, Bhattacharya was a little-known academic who specialized in health policy issues such as physician payment, costs and quality of care, geographic variation in medical practices and regulatory surveillance of FDA-approved products. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was an economist at the RAND Corporation and taught classes in the economics department at UCLA.

But when the COVID pandemic broke out, Bhattacharya emerged as a leading critic of the interventions taken against the pandemic, such as business and school closings, mask and social distancing advisories and lockdowns.

The lockdowns and school closures created economic and societal devastation, he argued. He called for pursuing “herd immunity” through natural infections of those who were not sick or elderly.

He took aim at the NIH, saying it engaged in “massive suppression of scientific debate and research.” The CDC, he said, “exaggerated risk.” The FDA approved vaccines and therapeutics with “little to no evidence, sometimes based on faulty modeling,” he claimed.

In response, he experienced racist attacks and death threats during the pandemic, he wrote.

He praised the outcome of the 2024 election, calling it a “vote against the establishment and in favour of fundamental reforms,” in a recent essay on the website Unherd. The Biden administration engaged in “orchestrated PR campaigns,” he wrote, “spreading falsehoods and misinformation.”

Critics say he lacks the credentials needed to lead NIH.

“NIH is an institution that is founded on the basis of respect for subject matter expertise,” said Dr. Robert Morris, an epidemiologist and former professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.

“Dr. Bhattacharya has repeatedly shown disregard for subject matter expertise over the course of the COVID pandemic,” he said, “dismissing feedback from experts in virology, pathology, and epidemiology, while he, as an economist, was conducting an epidemiological study, despite having almost no training or experience in the field.”

Lucky Tran, a science communicator and PhD biochemist based in New York City, said “Dr.Bhattacharya has spread misinformation about vaccines and COVID, fought against lifesaving public health measures during the pandemic, and is backed by well-funded organizations which undermine public health in order to further corporate interests.  More than ever, the NIH needs to be led by an expert who is a strong supporter of groundbreaking research on new vaccines, treatments, and emerging infectious diseases. “

It was rumored that the Trump team was initially seeking candidates who could bring strong operational experience to helm the huge health research agency. According to the biopharma newsletter Endpoints News, the search included Moncef Slaoui, a longtime pharmaceutical executive at GSK who led Operation Warp Speed, the successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout by the previous Trump Administration.  A source told the newsletter that Slaoui said he was not interested, and volunteered other names.

But Bhattacharya’s contrarian stance has earned support with many leading conservatives on Capitol Hill, who say they are seeking reformers willing to battle the bureaucracy.

“Dr. Bhattacharya understands the need for significant reform following the failure of the public health establishment during the COVID-19 pandemic and has the knowledge and fortitude to do it,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, in a statement. “He would ensure that public health returns to science-based solutions — not bureaucratic failed practices.”

Bhattacharya is a co-author of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration, a manifesto published in October 2020 that argued for an easing of restrictions in favor of “focused protection” — sheltering those at risk of dying but allowing younger people to return to public life and build up immunity through the natural spread of the virus.

He accused Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, of  seeking to destroy the careers of dissenting scientists.

Bhattacharya was a plaintiff in a lawsuit, Murthy v. Missouri, that claimed Biden administration officials pressured social media outlets to suppress content critical of the government’s COVID policies. The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled the plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their claims.

He is a supporter of Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert Kennedy Jr., commending Kennedy’s vows to end the United States’ chronic disease epidemic and clean up corruption in the medical and pharmaceutical industries.

If appointed, Bhattacharya would have no direct authority over the CDC and FDA, agencies he fiercely criticized during the COVID pandemic, The CDC, FDA and NIH are separate operating divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services.

At NIH, Bhattacharya vowed he would change NIH’s “top-down leadership,” setting term limits on institute directors to encourage the influx of new ideas, he told NewsMax TV.  He also said he would strengthen the role of replication in research, helping build confidence in the reliability and generalizability of study results.

“Turn the NIH from something that…control(s) society,” he said on NewsMax, “into something that’s aimed at the discovery of truth to improve the health of Americans.”

But the dairy behind the bird flu detection, Raw Farm LLC,  is the same company that has previously sold contaminated products, causing many illnesses over the past two decades.

In February, 11 people were sickened after eating Raw Farm’s cheddar cheese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Of these, five required hospitalization.

Last year, state authorities issued three recalls of its products. The bacteria Campylobacter was found in milk and Salmonella was found in cheese, milk and heavy cream. Between 2012 and 2023, at least 35 people were sickened after eating its raw products, also prompting recalls, CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration data shows.

“I almost killed my son when I made the decision to give him raw milk,”  said Mary McGonigle-Martin of Murrieta, whose son Christopher almost died in 2006 from hemolytic uremic syndrome from E. coli bacteria after drinking raw milk that she said was purchased from the farm, previously known as Organic Pastures.

“He recovered from renal failure, congestive heart failure, a collapsed lung, acute pancreatitis, high blood pressure and seizures,” said McGonigle-Martin, who now serves as board chair of the nonprofit Stop Foodborne Illness. “When I made the choice to give my son raw milk, I didn’t know something so horrific could happen to him.”

A Raw Farms spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bird flu represents a new potential threat in raw milk, which has not been pasteurized, a process that kills germs with high heat. Experts worry that advocacy by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, could increase exposure to the virus.

The virus has affected 402 cattle herds in California since first detected in September, representing about 40% of the state’s dairy industry.

In the U.S. 53 people have been infected by avian flu. Of these, 21 were exposed by poultry, 31 from dairy cows and one from unknown sources. In California, nearly all of the state’s 29 human cases are linked to dairy farms.

Federal scientists are closely studying genetic sequences from California dairy workers in search of any dangerous mutations that may make the virus more dangerous or skilled at jumping from animals to people — then spreading.

Santa Clara County health officials identified the avian virus in one sample of raw whole milk purchased at a retail outlet, which they have not named, on Nov. 21, according to statements from both the state and the county. The county contacted stores on Friday and recommended they pull the raw milk from sale.

Meanwhile, Raw Farms issued a voluntary recall of the raw milk with a lot ID of #20241109 with a “best by” date of Nov. 27, 2024.

Food scientists warn that other dangerous microbes, not just avian flu, are proven to lurk in milk that has not been pasteurized, a process that kills germs with high heat.

“The risk of potentially getting an infection from a pathogen that comes from raw milk is significantly higher than than you would get from pasteurized milk,” said David A. Mills, a professor in the Department of Food Science & Technology at UC Davis.

We asked food scientists questions about raw milk, pasteurization and the growing avian flu problem.

Q: Can I catch avian flu from raw milk?

A: So far, there have been no human cases resulting from raw milk consumption. But in April, barn cats in Texas died after drinking raw milk from an infected dairy cow. The cats showed symptoms like depression, stiff body movements and blindness.  Lab studies have shown similar results.

A study conducted in mice, reported in the May issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that the virus in “untreated milk can infect susceptible animals that consume it.”

Q: How do microbes get into the milk?

A: Even healthy dairy cattle may contaminate milk with dangerous bacteria like E. coli.

It’s not just because udders are near the rectum, said Mills.

“When you’re on a farm and you have a lot of livestock, then there’s a little bit more feces around than in most places,” said Mills. “Transfers are going to happen.”

After milk is collected, small numbers of bacteria can multiply and grow.

Q: Why does pasteurization make milk safe?

A: Pasteurization kills bacteria by using heat to change the shape of the organism’s enzymes and cell structure.

The exact temperature and time depends on the approach. Milk may be heated to at least 145 degrees for at least 30 minutes, or 161 degrees for 15 seconds. in a large tank. Pasteurization can extend the shelf life of food for several days or weeks.

Q: Is raw milk legal in California?

A: About 20 states prohibit the sale of raw milk, but it may be legally sold in California if a dairy farm in California meets specific requirements for sanitation and licensing, according to the state’s Department of Public Health. Animals must be tested for specific diseases, including brucellosis and tuberculosis.

However, these requirements cannot guarantee that a dairy farm will produce raw milk dairy products that are free from harmful germs, said the California Department of Public Health. That is why farms that produce and sell raw milk must include a warning label on all raw milk dairy products.

Q: Isn’t raw milk supposed to be healthy?

A:There is no difference in the nutritional value between raw milk and pasteurized milk, according to CDPH.

Raw milk is not the same as organic milk or milk that comes from grass-fed animals. Raw milk can still contain harmful bacteria and other germs.

Raw milk also cannot give you “good bacteria,” sometimes called “probiotics.” Probiotics can be found in pasteurized dairy products such as yogurt or kefir, which are safer to eat than raw milk, said CDPH.

Q: What is dangerous about raw milk?

A: Unpasteurized milk, consumed by only 3.2% of the population, and cheese, consumed by only 1.6% of the population, caused 96% of illnesses caused by contaminated dairy products, a 2017 study found.

In the United States, outbreaks associated with unpasteurized dairy products cause, on average, 760 illnesses and 22 hospitalizations a year, mostly from germs such as Campylobacter and Salmonella, according to the CDC.

The greatest risks come from these bacteria:

• Campylobacter: This pathogen can cause reactive arthritis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which leads to paralysis.

• Salmonella: This pathogen can cause a blood infection, irritable-bowel syndrome and reactive arthritis. Antibiotic resistance makes Salmonella difficult to treat.

• Ecoli. 0157:H7: This pathogen can lead to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), the most common cause of kidney failure in children. Some children eventually will need a kidney transplant. Children suffering HUS can also lose part or all of their colon, suffer pancreatitis, seizures and strokes. Seizures and strokes can lead to permanent neurological damage.

People at greatest risk of serious illness are children under age 5, adults over 65, pregnant people, and people with weakened immune systems. In general, the majority of victims are children.

Additionally, raw milk can hold a huge amount of antimicrobial-resistant genes if left at room temperature, according to a study by UC Davis researchers.  Bacteria with antimicrobial-resistant genes, if passed to a pathogen, have the potential to become “superbugs,” so that pharmaceuticals to treat infection or disease no longer work.

Meet El Capitan, which churns through data at 1.742 quintillion calculations per second — think 1.7 followed by 18 zeroes — to simulate the testing needed to evaluate the health and extend the lifetimes of America’s nuclear weapons.

That speed record, announced Monday morning, boggles the mind. In human terms, every person on Earth would have to do one calculation every second, for 24 hours a day – for eight years.

Here’s another analogy: It would take a million iPhones working on the same problem at the same time to equal what El Capitan can do computationally in one second. If stacked, those phones would reach five miles high.

“El Capitan is an extraordinary tool that will allow us to continue fulfilling our core mission of ensuring the nation’s security and global stability through the development and application of science and technology,” said Robert Neely, director of the lab’s Weapon Simulation and Computing Program at the 2024 Supercomputing Conference in Atlanta. “This machine is not just a milestone for supercomputing — it’s a strategic asset for the nation.”

The $600 million behemoth, built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise using chips from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), is the latest chart-topper in the global race to build ever-faster computers. El Capitan has 22 times the computing performance of the lab’s previous most powerful system, Sierra. Simulations that take weeks or months on Sierra will be done in just hours or days on El Capitan.

“This is necessary for quantifying uncertainties and staying ahead of evolving threats, both from the defense and scientific standpoint — particularly as new materials and manufacturing processes come online,” Neely said.

El Capitan takes the title previously held by the supercomputer Summit, built for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

It’s less lovely than its granite namesake. Its brains live in refrigerator-sized units packed into 6,000 square feet of windowless floor space — the size of two tennis courts — inside Building 453, a nondescript tan structure protected by the lab’s notoriously strict security. A secret code guards its door.

In supercomputing facilities, “you have to have the space, the power, the cooling, and you also have to have the structural integrity of the facility to support the infrastructure,” said Anna Maria Bailey, chief engineer of the Lab’s High Performance Computing. It’s also seismically protected, sitting on plates that shift in response to earthquakes.

At its peak, El Capitan draws 30 megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 30,000 homes in a city about the size of Livermore. Building 453, first built with a standard voltage of 208 volts, was upgraded to 480 volts. Large water pipes provide cooling.

The system is lashed together with long fiber-optic cables. Development and operations engineer Rigo Moreno said that its length, “if we were to lay it out, would be multiple football fields.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which in 2019 purchased the supercomputer pioneer Cray, contributed a networking technology called SlingShot. The system’s special graphics processing chips are made by AMD.

High-performance computing has come a long way since the 1960s, when the Kansas City National Security Campus made history by installing a disk drive that could store 95,000 punch cards worth of data, or approximately 7.6 megabytes.

Supercomputers are now a measure of a nation’s technological prowess.

El Cap’s title comes from its rank on a list called TOP500, which rates the world’s supercomputers based on their ability to solve a dense set of linear equations.

But China may have powerful supercomputers that it has not disclosed in public.

“There are systems, like a lot of classified systems, that are not on the TOP500” list, said Trish Damkroger of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “If people do not submit, it’s hard to do a comparison.”

Faced with escalating rivalry between the United States and China, the Biden Administration implemented export controls on our nation’s semiconductor chips in 2022.

El Cap’s key role is to support the testing of our aging nuclear system at Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories. Even as other nations continue to pursue dangerous nuclear agendas, our weapon system is aging.

Not even a bicycle could sit inactive for decades and still be able to spring into action at a moment’s notice. But that’s what is expected of a nuclear weapon because a 1992 moratorium prevents actual explosions.

“One key advantage of El Capitan,” said Neely, “is that it offers us the ability to run high-resolution 3D modeling and simulations that weren’t possible with previous systems — or were computationally too expensive to run on a regular basis, using the accurate physics at the resolutions that we wanted.”

“We expect El Capitan to make those runs more commonplace,” he said.

The computer will also accelerate research in non-classified fields, according to lab experts.

Supercomputers can be used for earthquake prediction, wildfire modeling and modeling climate change, which means processing huge amounts of data like moisture and wind patterns. They can simulate the behavior of an entire gene of DNA. When the COVID-19 virus appeared, supercomputers were used to help forecast its spread.

“I cannot wait to see what El Capitan allows us to do,” said Judy Hill, project leader of Computational Science at the lab. With its sister machine Sierra, “scientists can do things they could only dream about five to ten years ago.”

In a study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Thursday,  eight of 115 dairy farm workers, or 7%,  who were exposed to H5N1 bird flu during outbreaks among dairy cows at farms in Michigan and Colorado had antibodies to the virus, showing evidence of prior infection.

While four workers remembered having symptoms, mostly conjunctivitis, the other four workers did not recall being sick. All eight people reported milking cows or cleaning a milking parlor

In response, the CDC is expanding its recommendation for testing, saying that the test should be offered to any worker who has been exposed to the virus but lacks symptoms. It also encouraged broader use of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for all exposed workers. Finally, it urged better use of protective tools, like face masks.

Scientists worry that the virus may develop mutations as it spreads, making it more dangerous or skilled at jumping from person to person. So far, all infections were acquired through direct contact with infected animals or milk.

“The less room we give this virus to run, the fewer chances it has to cause harm or to change,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, CDC’s principal deputy director, in a Thursday morning press briefing. “The best way to limit the virus’s room to run is to test, identify, treat and isolate as many cases as possible in humans and as quickly as possible.”

It is not yet known how often workers may be unknowingly infected, said Shah, adding that research is underway to better understand “how much of the iceberg is above the water, versus below the water.”

The more common seasonal flu may also be asymptomatic, with an estimated 5 to 30% of infected people showing no symptoms.

To date, there have been 46 human cases of avian flu in the U.S. Of these, 21 live in California. All live and work in the San Joaquin Valley and had exposure to infected cows.

But the leap in California’s number of infected herds over the past three months — from 10 to 233 at California’s 1,000 dairies — is troubling to the state’s vibrant dairy industry, a major part of the state’s agricultural industry and the nation’s top milk producer

The virus is ravaging dairy herds in the San Joaquin Valley, with milk output down noticeably, reported Sarina Sharp, a dairy analyst based in Michigan, in her most recent weekly report for the Milk Producers Council.

While the virus has hampered herd health and milk production in other states, the impact in California has been especially devastating, according to Sharp.

“By most accounts, milk production has fallen harder and cows have suffered more than infected cows elsewhere,” she wrote.

That may be because avian influenza is infecting California cows that have already struggled through a very hot summer. Or perhaps California cattle are infected with a particularly virulent strain.

California is the nation’s top dairy state, contributing about 16% of U.S. milk output. So far, the nation’s milk prices are not yet affected.

Milk from sick cows is not permitted in the public milk supply. Also, pasteurization of milk is fully effective at inactivating the virus, so there is no cause for concern for consumers of milk or dairy products.

The affected dairies have been placed under quarantine on the authority of California’s state veterinarian, and enhanced biosecurity measures are in place. Sick cows are isolated and are being treated at the dairies; and healthy cows have been cleared to continue shipping milk for pasteurization.

According to Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairies, the virus was introduced by cows purchased from an out-of-state dairy and then moved to California before they showed clinical signs.

Though the virus remains deadly to poultry, most dairy cows fully recover within a few weeks. Infected cows typically experience a drop in milk production during the illness.

The new study is important because it reveals the possibility of infection despite the absence of symptoms, as well as highlighting the need for better tools to protect workers, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In the study, none of the workers wore respiratory protection, and less than half wore eye protection, highlighting the need for better tools to support worker protection.

According to the California Department of Public Health, the risk to most people is low. People working with infected animals are at greater risk of becoming infected. No person-to-person spread of bird flu has been found. And no one has died due to bird flu.

But its spread is worrisome because avian flu can be serious, says the California Department of Public Health. We don’t yet know if there are any long-term symptoms or effects from this virus.  A bird flu vaccine for people and cattle is not yet available.

That ping on your phone, once welcomed, is delivering a textapocalypse of doomsday scenarios, false claims and desperate pleas to INVEST $20, $10 OR EVEN $5 IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS! DEADLINE TONIGHT!

Political campaigns are increasingly turning to text messaging for communication, surpassing the more traditional yard signs, phone calls or flyers. Texts are cheap, costing just pennies per message. They grab our attention. They can be personalized, tailored to a voter’s interests. And they can be effective, helping with voter turnout, volunteerism and sometimes fundraising. Republicans and Democrats are equal offenders.

Yet there is little federal oversight or scrutiny of political texts. And it’s tough to detect a scam.

“Texts are the most intimate platform there is. We want to hear from family and friends, not politicians’ thoughts about how America is ‘on the precipice,’ ” said Scott Wallsten, president of the Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., which studies innovation and regulation.

Laws or regulations governing political speech move into tricky territory, he said. It’s important that candidates have ways to reach citizens to explain positions and encourage them to vote.

But texts feel invasive — and, as Election Day approaches, they seem increasingly unhinged.

“There isn’t much time left. This may be my last text to you,” reads one. OMG — is the candidate trapped in quicksand? Is his plane going down?

Some are elegiac. “Our hearts sank … We prayed we were wrong, Patriot. But if you don’t already know, here’s what happened,” said another. To learn more — who died? Why am I a Patriot? — you must click on a link.

Others are just pathetic. “Look, these texts are really expensive to send. Can you please just read what I wrote?” pleads a message seeking campaign donations.

That old world of campaigning doesn’t exist anymore. So we asked experts to answer questions about this newest, and most annoying, form of campaign communication.  Interviews were edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Q: Seems like a waste. Why do they even bother?

A: Research shows that text messaging is good for turnout. “Can we count on your vote?” That kind of thing can get people to say that they’re going to vote. It’s definitely good as a fundraising tool.

I think the rise of text messaging has a lot to do with people stopping reading emails. And it’s cheaper. You can send out a text to every voter in your district three times before the election and spend less money than you would on half of a mailer.

Lawn signs never turn anybody out…TV commercials are good for persuasion.

—   Paul Mitchell, Political Data Inc., specializing in California voter data and software tools.

We open about 98% of all texts we receive. That’s an irresistible target.

— Scott Wallsten

Q: How did they get my cell number?

A: Your voter registration. Even if you update your registration with a landline number, there is still a “field” in the record that might contain your cell number.

— Paul Mitchell 

Campaigns also buy and sell data from other political campaigns, or a PAC, or an agency that sells consumer data. For instance, they may buy your email address, the spend the money on a “data append”, using a data broker to fill in missing data points, like the phone number that’s on your supermarket rewards card.

— Lloyd Cotler, founder of Banter Messaging, a San Francisco-based company that creates text campaigns 

Q: Why do I only hear from one party?

A: Targeting is based on party registration. Your number is pulled from the voter file, or bought from a past campaign. But if an organization is nonpartisan — say, a Home Builders PAC — it may text voters from both parties.

—   Lloyd Cotler

Q: If I register as an “independent,” am I shielded? Does it help if I use my landline phone number on voter registration forms?

A: Yes, you might get fewer texts.

But even if you’re “independent,” there is other information in your voter file, like your “voter propensity score” or other data points. Campaigns will try to figure you out.

A landline creates a hurdle, but it’s not a firewall. When campaigns go to a data broker, they say “I’m looking for cell phone numbers for this audience.”

— Lloyd Cotler

Q: Who writes this stuff? Do people actually believe it?

A: There’s a whole culture among these (texting) firms that seems to take you on an emotional roller coaster … saying, “Donate early,” then, “We have a matching donation!” and then, “Oh my gosh, I just got horrible news. Send me money!”

They probably are testing all these messages to see which ones work and which kinds of voters they work with.

— Paul Mitchell 

There’s not one person sitting there and writing each message. Through a platform, they’re loading up a message and then pressing one button and sending it to everybody. It’s cheap, compared to phone calls or direct mail.

— Lloyd Cotler

Q: How do I know it’s not a scam, pretending to be a candidate or campaign?

A: Look to see if they actually identify themselves. If I’m Planned Parenthood or the NRA, I want you to know that. If you just see an acronym that you don’t recognize, they’re trying to hide who they are.

If you see promises of an “800% match” or a “12,000 times match,” that’s not real. If they imply a celebrity is matching your gift, that’s a big red flag, because the celebrity would quickly run up against campaign contribution limits. They can’t possibly match everybody’s gift.

If the link is not clear where it’s going, if it just a jumbled mess of letters and numbers, that’s a huge flag. Don’t click on it.

— Lloyd Cotler

Q: I never “opted in.” How do I get them to stop?

A: Texts are considered to be illegal spam if sent by a commercial entity using an autodialer, without your consent. But political texts are different. They’re governed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which does not require consumers to “opt in,” if sent manually.

But having a human press “send” as the trigger to release thousands of texts into the ether obviously violates the spirit of the TCPA.

— Scott Wallsten

If a campaign texts you and you’re not interested, reply with STOP. You can also report the sender by forwarding texts to 7726 (or “SPAM”). If they persist, or you think they’ve violated federal rules, you can file an informal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission at fcc.gov/complaints.

Make sure you’re on the national Do Not Call Registry. Political texts are exempt, so that won’t stop them, but it does give you standing to file a TCPA “demand letter” to the campaign, notifying them of the alleged violation.  That’s an easy way to get them to stop because TCPA fines are really expensive. The more people that do it, the more campaigns will reexamine whether texting is a viable channel.

— Lloyd Cotler

Vote. We flag, every day, everyone who has returned a ballot. That also means we know the millions of voters who still have a ballot in their hands. And so as it gets closer to Election Day, you’re going to have a lot of campaigns texting the bejesus out of voters who still haven’t returned their ballots.

— Paul Mitchell

Q: What’s the best way to donate?

A: Go to the candidate’s website and directly donate there. That helps the candidate because, the way the laws are written, they can spend the money more efficiently than an independent expenditure committee can.

— Paul Mitchell

Don’t click on anything from the text.

I write checks. I don’t have to give my phone number. There’s no form to fill out. So I don’t get inundated with text appeals.

— Lloyd Cotler

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said that people 65 and older or who are immunocompromised need a second dose of the new vaccine released in September.

But you should wait six months after the first dose. This means next March is the earliest you’d be eligible.

Why is the CDC promoting two doses when the first one is still being rolled out?

“It’s predictive,” based on previous years’ infection trends, said Castro Valley’s Dr. Jeffrey Silvers, Medical Director of Pharmacy and Infection Control for Sutter Health. This is the second year in a row that the CDC has made a biannual recommendation.

Scientists now know that a duo of doses every year is needed to maintain immunity and keep pace with the virus’s mutational hijinks, said Silvers, who serves as an advisor to the California Immunization Coalition, a nonprofit public-private partnership that seeks to reduce rates of infectious disease.

Annual autumn-and-spring rollouts will mark one of the ways that we’re permanently incorporating the COVID virus into our daily lives.

Meanwhile, if you’ve been delaying the first dose of the updated 2024-2025 COVID vaccine, now’s the time. Last year, only 40% of older adults got one dose of a revised vaccine. Willingness to get two doses was even lower: 8.9% of older adults and 5.4% of immunocompromised adults got both doses.

The complexity of the schedule and the frequent changes in vaccine recommendations have created confusion and reduced uptake, according to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. To be sure, it’s hard to muster enthusiasm for six-month inoculations. But formalizing a two-dose fall-and-spring schedule is aimed to help.

The goal is to build a vaccine regimen that protects the most vulnerable populations for the greatest length of time. It’s an update to recommendations last summer when no additional doses for older adults were advised.

If you’re like a lot of us, you’ve probably lost track of how many times you’ve been vaccinated.

It’s time to stop counting, say experts. What matters, instead, is how recently you got a shot. Protection against severe COVID, requiring emergency room care or hospitalization, fades within four to six months.

Before you make your appointment, here are some things to know.

Q: We don’t need two doses of the flu vaccine. Why two COVID doses every year? Some diseases only need one vaccine in an entire life.

A: “Stable” viruses that don’t replicate quickly need fewer boosters, because there’s lasting immunity. For instance, we need a tetanus shot only once every 10 years. Measles, smallpox and polio need one shot a lifetime.

By contrast, both flu and COVID viruses replicate quickly. This means they have many chances to produce more mutations, which create new variants that evade immune protection.

The flu virus is very seasonal. (If it stuck around, it would require two shots, also.)

COVID circulates all year long, with peaks in the winter and late summer. So we need more frequent protection.

Q: For immunocompromised people, are two doses enough?

A: Not necessarily. CDC experts suggest additional doses — three, even more — of the new vaccine in people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised, in consultation with your doctor.

However, they advised waiting two months between each shot, depending on the patient’s circumstances.

Q: Will the second dose be the same as the dose that was released in September?

A: Yes. But it’s different from the 2023-2024 vaccine.

Q: How is the 2024-2025 vaccine different from last year’s vaccine?

A: The current vaccine more closely targets the JN.1 lineage of the Omicron variant of the virus. The vaccine introduced last fall targeted the XBB.1.5 strain. After last fall’s rollout of that updated vaccine, JN.1 surfaced with more than 30 new mutations, which worried experts.

Q: Can I mix and match the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines?

A: It is not recommended.

From year to year, it’s fine to get vaccines from different manufacturers. But when getting the second dose of a two-dose series, experts at the Oct. 24 meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended sticking with the same manufacturer. A dose from a different manufacturer may be administered if the same vaccine isn’t available or if the previous manufacturer is unknown.

Q: I was sick with COVID during the summer wave. Am I eligible for the 2024-2025 vaccine?

A: Yes, but wait three months after your illness. You still have some protection, so a vaccine isn’t needed.

Q: Why isn’t a second dose recommended for younger people?

A: A second dose won’t hurt a young person and will be protective. But the CDC is most concerned about hospitalization and deaths among elders and the immunocompromised because their immunity is impaired.

When we’re young, our bodies have a well-tuned network of protection against foreign invaders such as the COVID virus. The thymus, which produces infection-fighting T cells, reaches its peak size at puberty and then steadily shrinks.

In elders, there is a decline in the number, activity and diversity of T cells, a process scientists dub “immunosenescence.” By the age of 50, our T cell production is less than 10% of its peak, so it’s harder for an older person to clear the virus from their blood. Elders are also more likely to experience chronic inflammation in the lungs and other organs.

And younger people tend to bounce back from illness. When sickened, “younger people who are otherwise healthy tend to be able to weather the storm a little better,” said Silvers.

Q: Are we destined for a lifetime of constantly updated COVID vaccines?

A: Not if research is successful. Federally funded scientific teams are working to develop a “universal”  vaccine that would confer immunity to many viral variants — even versions that don’t exist yet. They hope to do this by targeting a region of the virus that stays the same, even as it mutates.

Such targets are usually those that are least accessible to the immune system. This poses a significant challenge to vaccine researchers. But with recent progress in vaccine technology, researchers believe that universal vaccines are closer to reality than ever before.

2024-2025 COVID-19 VACCINATION SCHEDULE:Children ages 6 months-4 years• Unvaccinated: Should receive a multi-dose initial series with a 2024–2025 mRNA vaccine• Previously completed an initial series: Should receive 1 dose of a 2024–2025 mRNA vaccine from the same manufacturer as the initial seriesPeople ages 5-64 years:• Should receive 1 dose of 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccinePeople ages 65 years and older:• Should receive 2 doses of any 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine, spaced 6 months apartPeople who are moderately or severely immunocompromised• Unvaccinated: Complete initial series, then at least 1 2024–2025 vaccine dose, with option of others• Vaccinated: 2 or more doses of 2024–2025 mRNA vaccine, spaced 6 months apart. May receive 3 or more 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine doses under shared clinical decision-makingSource: CDC

But there are too many of them, animal welfare activists say.

And that has put Weber, and many of his fellow Sonoma County farmers, in the political crosshairs of Measure J, a county ballot initiative that seeks to banish large poultry and dairy farms – and inspire similar efforts around the state and nation.

“It would shut us down,” said Weber, 55, a fourth-generation farmer whose family started producing eggs in 1912 and now supplies millions each week from 550,000 hens to private labels at grocery stores throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. “That’s not the way to reward somebody who has spent millions of dollars to do things the right way.”

Sponsored by a collection of local animal welfare advocates called the Coalition to End Factory Farming, Measure J has ignited a culture war, with Berkeley’s activist idealists seeking to transform the agricultural economy of rural Sonoma, famed for its world-class gastronomy.

If passed, the county ordinance could set a precedent, strengthening a slow-motion revolution that is changing the way animals are treated. While legislation stopping large farms has been introduced in Congress, this is the first measure to be put directly to voters.

It could also raise food prices and threaten the survival of farms in the former “Egg Capital of the World,” where sprawling subdivisions edge ever-closer to old red barns and rolling pastures.

“Measure J is a template and an inspiration,” said Cassie King, 26, of Petaluma, whose coalition represents 40 different animal welfare advocates. “It gives voters the power to address ‘factory farming,’ and hopefully set a precedent that can be followed in other areas.”

In recent decades, consumers have grown increasingly empathetic with animals’ living conditions, creating major reforms in welfare regulations.

California has led the way, creating some of the strongest animal “unnecessary cruelty” laws. Since California banned housing hens, pork and veal calves in cages in 2008, eight other states have passed similar rules.

The welfare effort is gaining traction as many farms are struggling to turn a profit. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, only 43% of the nation’s farms had positive net cash farm income in 2022. This is forcing consolidations.

Activists’ latest target is farm size. Large farms create an inhumane industrial food production system that confines docile animals to a lifetime of misery, proponents say. Such farms also poison the environment, hoard water and spread disease, they contend.

The effort to demonize large dairy and poultry farms has been led by groups like the Berkeley-based Direct Action Everywhere, which has trespassed on farms to take undercover footage and “liberate” animals. Protests are choreographed theater, with a dress code of biohazard suits, somber carnations and “funeral procession in progress” signage. Half-naked and covered in fake blood, they staged a picketing campaign outside a North Berkeley butcher shop specializing in locally sourced and sustainably raised meat.

The giant barns and endless feedlots of the Central Valley, not bucolic Sonoma, are the state’s worst culprits, agreed King, the Petaluma activist.

“But we have to start where we are,” she said. “Here, there is a presence. There is the desire. So let’s use that to set a precedent that can be followed elsewhere.”

An analysis by Sonoma County’s Economic Development Board identified 11 farms that confine animals and exceed the measure’s  “large-scale” threshold, with more than 700 dairy cows, 85,000 egg-laying hens, or 125,000 chickens raised for meat. About 50 medium-scale operations also could be affected, it said.

Also vulnerable are farms that don’t confine animals but shelter them in the winter, such as the organic dairy Tresch Family Farms in Two Rock, whose 750 cows graze 2,500 acres and produce milk for Straus Organic Creamery, one of the Bay Area’s top milk brands.

November’s vote is the first in what analysts call a “two trip” effort, said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. The initial goal is to raise the profile of the issue, demonstrating whether it is viable or not, he said. If the measure, which needs a simple majority to pass, performs better than expected — losing by only 5 or 6 points — efforts will expand, he predicted.

“If you can do it here, then you take that learning experience and send it other places,” he said.

In banners and yard signs, opposition has united many Sonoma County locals who seek to protect their region’s rich agricultural heritage, only 50 miles or so north of the Golden Gate. At least $1.3 million had been raised as of late September to defeat the measure, with major gifts from Western United Dairies, Perdue’s Poultry and the National Pork Producers Council in Iowa. Supporters had raised less than $200,000.

With no reliable polling on voter sentiment, its fate is unclear.

In a rare show of political unity, both the local Republican and Democratic parties are opposed, along with a slew of local cities and lawmakers, chefs and animal care experts.

It is opposed by Straus Family Creamery and Clover Sonoma, which buy more than half their milk from Sonoma County. Cowgirl Creamery, arguably the Bay Area’s most iconic cheese company, is opposed.

The Marin Agricultural Land Trust warned about “the ripple effect it will have on our vibrant food systems.”

Ranchers in the San Bernardino Valley, Tuolumne and elsewhere donated to the opposition.

“We believe in supporting each other…when extreme animal rights activists introduce flawed ballot measures,” said John Hammon of the Tulare County Cattlemen’s Association, 300 miles away.

Weber, the poultry farmer, and his younger brother Scott have pondered how to improve and save a farm that was started with tiny hen houses on a handful of acres by their great grandparents, economic refugees from Germany.

With an MBA from Santa Clara University and experience at Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Verizon and Cisco,  Weber spent the brothers’ inheritance on modernization, adding new, larger and cage-free buildings. They installed belts in the hen houses to carry away poop, so there is less stink and fewer flies. The poop is air-dried, processed into pellets and sold as fertilizer.

Recent years have been stressful. They’ve added locks to their facility doors after activists broke in, and screens on their henhouses to fend off wild birds carrying avian flu.

He keeps the results of his annual audit from the certifying organization Humane Farm Animal Care in a tidy white binder. “Good bird condition, detailed records, good litter quality,” it reads. “Clear records, efficient and detailed traceability. Knowledgeable, attentive employees.”

The only way that Weber Farms could comply with Measure J is to buy more parcels to split up the flocks, he said. But with Sonoma farmland selling for $300,000 an acre, that’s out of reach.

“This has nothing to do with how good of a job we’re doing,” he said with bitterness. “And if you get rid of your good operators, where are you going to get your food?”