STOCKTON , CA - The city of Stockton said work should begin Thursday to clean up a massive pile of water hyacinth and garbage that's at the main entrance to this weekend's Asparagus Festival.

The debris is at the dead end of the channel where thousands of people will enter the festival Friday through Sunday. 

Festival board member Doug Wilhoit said it's "very frustrating" after "constant phone calls to the city," that the mess was there on Wednesday.

But late in the afternoon, city spokesperson Connie Cochran said removal work will start Thursday and the man being hired will stay on the job throughout the weekend.

It's a bureaucratic mess, because the city said the California Department of Boating and Waterways is supposed to remove the hyacinth.  But that agency said Wednesday it sprays hyacinth to kill it, but removal is not part of the agency's responsibility.

STOCKTON, CA - A four-month collaboration between the Bureau and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Stockton police yielded 55 arrests, 84 firearms and 36 pounds of methamphetamine, among other narcotics, authorities say.

PHOTOS:  ATF confiscates contraband in large-scale Stockton operation

"Operation Gideon IV" involved undercover ATF agents and Stockton officers as well as county and federal prosecutors.

According U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, the 44 facing federal firearm, narcotic and robbery allegations have a combined nearly 500 years in federal prison time served.

SACRAMENTO - Is it time to get your Powerball tickets yet?  The current estimated jackpot stands at $116 million. 

Two weeks ago, when the state joined Powerball, California immediately set a record, selling more than $8 million worth of tickets in the first three days.

A week ago, the grand prize was $80 million and the last six times that happened, it rose by the minimal increment, going from 80 to 90, then to $100 million.  But this time, it went from 80 to 95, to $116 million.

California is just one of 43 Powerball states, but the state also accounts for about 12 percent of the population.  Long-term, the jackpots will grow faster.  But the odds of someone hitting the jackpot is now greater as well.