Aug 27, 2026
Updated 6:52 am PT
Graduate student Gavin Chaboya Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, at the UC Davis agrivoltaics test site in Davis.
Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, August 27, 2026
Water shortages, climate change and rising production costs are a few of the many challenges California agriculture has been facing in recent years. But researchers at UC Davis are looking at whether combining farming and solar energy could help farmers adapt. It’s a relatively new approach called agrivoltaics.The Timber Fire is approaching 20,000 acres as it moves deeper into the Ventana Wilderness.When it gets really hot, like right now in many parts of the state, emergency room visits spike. For the first time, though, new data is showing the effects on unhoused populations.Many firefighters battling the Big Sur Timber Fire have befriended cuddly canines at their base camp on the Cal State Monterey Bay campus.
As California farmers face worsening drought, extreme heat and rising costs, the state is racing to expand solar energy infrastructure. But both agricultural production and solar harvesting depend on one increasingly scarce resource: land.
Researchers at UC Davis are looking at whether combining farming and solar energy could help farmers adapt.
The approach, called agrivoltaics, combines farming below or alongside solar panels. Scientists are studying whether strategically placing panels could provide enough shade to help crops withstand some of the stresses of climate change — while also giving farmers another potential source of income.
At UC Davis, a proof-of-concept site is in its first year of operation and gives researchers a larger setting to test whether agrivoltaics can be applied to typical farms.
The Timber Fire has burned 17,817 acres and is 23% contained, as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to Cal Fire.
It’s moving deeper into the Ventana Wilderness.
Carol Olson is executive director of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, which maintains backcountry trails. She says most of them are now closed.
“These closures could be expanded. They could last a very long time,” Olson said. “We’ve had some trails closed for years after a fire.”
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office added more evacuation orders on Monday.
Visits to the emergency room spike when it gets really hot, according to public health data. But for many years one of the populations most affected by extreme heat — the unhoused — have been left out of that data.
Now, we know this: Californians experiencing homelessness are 38% more likely to visit the emergency room because of extreme heat, despite accounting for less than half a percentage point of the total population.
For nearly a week, firefighters battling the Timber Fire have headed back to their Marina base camp and found support from therapy dogs.
“ There’s just something about having that animal that has unconditional love,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Josh Silveira. He says the endorphin release that comes from interacting with these dogs has been a huge benefit.
“And you’re watching pretty gruff firefighters that have been up all night fighting fire, have every interaction from coming to their knees and just loving on the dog [to] crying.”
The nonprofit First Responder Therapy Dogs provides the animals. Silveira says many of the handlers are retired first responders.