Daily Business Report: Thursday, May 8, 2025
Timeline: U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty and Disputes
By Greg Collard and James Rushmore | Racket News
The Rio Grande River received a lot of attention during the border crises. Migrants frequently entered the country illegally by crossing the river along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Governor Greg Abbott had a floating border installed on the river, which Mexico argued violated a 1944 water treaty between the two countries.
The U.S. contends that Mexico was already violating that treaty, but for a different reason. Mexico is supposed to send 1.75 million acre-feet of water (1 acre-foot is nearly 326,000 gallons) to the U.S. every five years from the Rio Grande and six tributaries. In return, the U.S. gives Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet each year from the Colorado River.
But Mexico is way behind schedule. By late April, it had only released about 531,000 acre-feet during the current five-year cycle, which ends in October. After some political hardball by the Trump administration — which included rejecting Mexico’s request for a Colorado River water transfer — the two countries agreed to a compromise on April 28: Mexico will send up to 420,000 acre-feet by October, depending on hydrology conditions. U.S. and Mexican officials will meet in July to assess those conditions, according to a State Department fact sheet.
California Gas Prices Could Rise 75 Percent by End of 2026: USC Analysis
By Brad Jones | The Epoch Times
California gas prices could skyrocket by as much as 75 percent by the end of 2026 with the expected shutdown of oil refineries in the state, according to an analysis released May 5 by a researcher at the University of Southern California (USC).
Regular gasoline prices could rise from an average of $4.82 in April 2025 to as high as $8.44 a gallon by the end of next year, according to the report, which was authored by professor Michael Mische at the Marshall School of Business.
Two Phillips 66 refineries in Los Angeles—representing about 8 percent of the state’s oil refining capacity—are slated to close by the end of 2025. Valero Energy Corp. separately announced in April that it will shut down or restructure its Benicia refinery in the San Francisco Bay area—which accounts for about 9 percent of the state’s refining capacity—by April 2026, increasing concerns over gas prices and supply.
CA Democrats come back with amended sex solicitation bill. What would it do?
By Katie Wolffe | The Sacramento Bee
Less than a week after weathering blowback from Republicans for “siding with predators” on a bill that would strengthen penalties for people who solicit sex from 16 and 17-year-old minors, California Democratic lawmakers have returned with an amended bill that closely resembles the author’s original intent.
Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, originally included a measure that would have made felony charges possible for any adult who solicits, or exchanges goods or services for, sex with people 16 or 17 years old. Soliciting sex with anyone younger than 16 is already a felony, and a number of other laws prohibit buying and having sex with minors.
The newly amended bill would make felony charges possible on the first offense for offenders more than three years older than the victim. For those within three years of age of the victim, the crime would remain a misdemeanor.
