Last Updated07/28/22 1:15 PMDate Started07/22/22 2:10 PMLocation InformationHwy 140 and Carstens Rd, near MidpinesLat/Long[37.5509366, -119.9234728]Administrative UnitUnified Command: CAL FIRE Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit and Sierra National ForestCommand TeamCAL FIRE Incident Management Team 5CauseUnder InvestigationReportsClick here for prior status reports Status Updates Situation Summary Fire behavior was moderate overnight with most of the …
Read More »Valley fever researchers have developed a vaccine—for dogs
Each year, the fungal disease valley fever infects tens of thousands of people in the American Southwest. Studies suggest infection rates could be even higher among dogs, however, and researchers in Arizona are now announcing progress on a canine valley fever vaccine. Valley fever is caused by a fungus that …
Read More »In TED Talk, Irma Olguin Jr. shares how Bitwise uses tech to revitalize underdog cities
TED Talks, the popular videos about “ideas worth spreading,” invited Fresno’s Irma Olguin Jr. to take the stage this year to share her ideas about how to connect people from marginalized communities to training and jobs in the tech industry. It’s work she champions as a co-founder of Bitwise Industries, …
Read More »For agriculture, a changing climate brings challenges—but also opportunities
In many ways, climate change has already hit home here in the San Joaquin Valley—especially for the agricultural industry, which produces as much as a third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts and brings in billions of dollars each year to the local economy. Already, …
Read More »The new state law that could end Tooleville’s fight for clean water
For more than two decades the small Tulare County community of Tooleville has been without a secure supply of safe drinking water. The simplest solution would be to connect the town’s water system to that of its neighbor, the City of Exeter. It would take less than a mile of …
Read More »Fresno poet Mai Der Vang explores a forgotten history in new book
Fresno poet Mai Der Vang looks back on a dark chapter of history in her new collection “Yellow Rain.” Hmong refugees fleeing Laos at the end of the Vietnam war reported being attacked with chemical and biological weapons that led to thousands of deaths, but American scientists dismissed refugee accounts, …
Read More »How public input is dramatically shaping what local legislative districts could look like
The clock is ticking to redraw legislative boundaries following the 2020 census. This week California’s redistricting commission released a preliminary map of what the state’s congressional districts could look like. If finalized the new map could make it a lot more difficult for some incumbent representatives like Devin Nunes to …
Read More »What to expect as state water officials weigh in on local groundwater sustainability plans
In 2014, California’s state legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), a sweeping law with the goal of balancing the amount of water pumped out of underground aquifers with the amount returned through recharge. How that balancing act would actually work was left up to hundreds of locally governed …
Read More »Six years in, dairy producers and conservation groups together are protecting endangered blackbirds
The tricolored blackbird, native almost exclusively to Central California, gained protection under the state’s Endangered Species Act in 2018. Since then, the most at-risk colonies have successfully been protected, thanks in large part to San Joaquin Valley dairies. Sporting distinctive red and white shoulder patches, tricolored blackbirds have a nasal …
Read More »California Reporting Project develops tool to explore police misconduct files
The California Reporting Project has been gathering police misconduct files from departments around the state, including Bakersfield. The collaboration, which includes dozens of newsrooms including KVPR, is developing a web tool that will allow community members to explore misconduct files. They are also seeking feedback from the public to enhance …
Read More »Photojournalist captures a Fresno family’s journey out of poverty
Photojournalist Ryan Christopher Jones spent five years documenting one Fresno family’s transition from poverty into the middle class. His images were recently published in “The Atlantic.” Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Jones about how the project evolved from its initial concept of exploring the growing tech scene in …
Read More »Who will replace the nurses driven out of the profession by pandemic stress?
The physical and emotional toll of treating COVID-19 patients is driving many nurses to leave the profession, and it’s raising alarms about the state’s capacity to educate their replacements. To learn more about why nursing programs are so impacted, and how to fix them, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke …
Read More »Author Margarita Engle explores Cuban history in two new books for young readers
Margarita Engle, the celebrated author and poet who calls the Central Valley home, published two new books in 2021. The first, “Your Heart, My Sky,” is a young adult novel written in verse. The second is a children’s picture book titled “A Song of Frutas.” Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock …
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