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News from across San Joaquin
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PORT OF STOCKTON GOES AFTER WATER HYACINTH: STOCKTON  (AP) — Port officials in Stockton have removed hundreds of thousands of pounds of an invasive plant that has clogged their waterway and other waterways and harbors in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

More  than 375,000 pounds of water hyacinth have been removed from the Stockton Deep Water Channel in the past several weeks.

Port officials are trying to avoid a repeat of last year, when ships stopped navigating the channel at night because they could not differentiate land from mats of hyacinth.

Port officials say a state spraying program failed to control the hyacinth, so they hired a Bay Area company to remove it.

When left unchecked, water hyacinth forms a solid carpet across the water surface that can clog propellers, rudders and water intakes.

AUTHORITIES FIND 2 DEAD BODIES IN DELTA HOUSEBOAT: \SACRAMENTO . (AP) — Two bodies have been found on a houseboat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and authorities are investigating the deaths as suspicious.

The Sacramento Bee reports members of a sheriff's river patrol came upon the apparently abandoned boat Monday afternoon in the northwest side of the deep water channel of the Sacramento River.

After getting no response the Contra Costa County deputies boarded the boat and found the bodies of two men.

The deputies called Solano authorities because the boat was on the Solano County side of the river.

The bodies were sent to the coroner's office, which has yet to identify them or conduct an autopsy.

MAN DIES AFTER EXCAVATOR FALLS INTO SACRAMENTO RIVER

SACRAMENTO  (AP) — Authorities say a worker was killed when the excavator he was operating slipped off a barge and fell into the Sacramento River.

The Sacramento Bee reports (the accident happened Monday afternoon in the Three Mile Slough, a few miles south of Rio Vista.

The excavator fell off the side of the barge and became partially buried sideways in several feet of silt some 15 feet under water.

It took two rescue divers several hours to access the cab of the excavator and pull out the operator.

Solano County Sheriff's officials identified the victim as 49-year-old Richard Wayne Alexander of Pittsburg.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Drowning Accident Recovery Team responded.