Along Fern Avenue in the Tower District, businesses are boarded up, some lined with graffiti. There’s trash piled in the doorways. But on this sunny Saturday afternoon, volunteers move brooms along the sidewalk and sweep the debris into boxes. There’s an upbeat feeling about their work. One of the cleaning …
Read More »District By District, Some Valley Students Return To School – COVID-19 Update For Oct. 23
Now that most counties in the San Joaquin Valley have graduated out of the most restrictive “purple” tier of the governor’s reopening blueprint , many schools are preparing to bring students back to campus, and some already have. How are schools phasing in-person instruction back in, what’s the fate of …
Read More »San Joaquin Valley Congressional District Election Results, So Far
You can check the results for congressional races in districts throughout the San Joaquin Valley in the tables below, courtesy of CalMatters . The tables are using data from the California Secretary of State’s website . They will refresh every five minutes. Congressional District 4 Congressional District 16 Congressional District …
Read More »Some Bakersfield Residents Are Calling On Kern High School District Board To Defund Its Police
A s residents call for cities to defund police departments, some parents and students want the same in their school districts. The Kern High School District board is voting on its annual budget Monday and ahead of that meeting, community organizers have been circulating a petition to defund the district’s …
Read More »Bakersfield Police Chief Lyle Martin Named Kern’s Chief District Attorney Investigator
Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer has appointed Lyle Martin to be her Chief Investigator. Martin has been the Chief of Bakersfield Police since 2016, and has worked for the department for more than 30 years. Martin announced his retirement as police chief on the department’s Facebook page in a …
Read More »ACLU Files Complaint Against Fresno Unified School District For Racism Gone ‘Unchecked’
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed a discrimination complaint against the Fresno Unified School District Thursday on behalf of two black Bullard High School students, claiming the school failed to protect students from racial abuse. There’s been a pattern of racism and anti-blackness throughout the district, ACLU …
Read More »Valley Air District Approves Community-Led Plans To Improve Air Quality In Shafter, Fresno
Air quality stole a lot of headlines this week, as the Trump Administration moved to revoke California’s ability to set its own tailpipe emissions standards distinct from those mandated federally by the Environmental Protection Agency. Not only could the move prevent future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, it could also …
Read More »Selma City Council Split Between Two District Maps: ‘Are They Fair To The Community?’
The Selma City Council is torn between choosing a district map the community supports or picking one that keeps members from running against each other. At Monday night’s regular meeting, the council cast votes on a map created by the company it hired, the National Demographics Corporation (or NDC), and …
Read More »Selma Is Moving To District Elections. Some Say The Proposed Districts Don’t Represent The Community
The Selma City Council wants to change the way people vote for council members by creating districts versus at-large voting. But mapping those districts is a complicated process and community and council members have different ideas on how to make it fair. The first set of district maps that were …
Read More »District 22 Challenger Plans To Fundraise For Defendants Named In Nunes’ Lawsuit
Congressman Devin Nunes announced last week he’s suing a group of constituents who contend his title of “farmer” is inaccurate. Tuesday, democratic challenger Phil Arballo said he would help raise money for a legal defense fund to fight those lawsuits. Standing outside of Nunes’ Clovis Office, Arballo directed his words …
Read More »After TJ Cox Wins Congressional District 21, Forecasters Ask What They Got Wrong
Leading up to the November election, forecasters predicted that Republican incumbent David Valadao would win the 21st Congressional District. The District includes all of Kings County, and parts of Fresno, Tulare, and Kern Counties. It wasn’t until last week, as vote counts were finalized, that the race was decided in …
Read More »Following Horrific Shooting, District Attorney Reflects On Domestic Violence In Kern County
In the last 10 days, Bakersfield has been the site of two high-profile attacks: In one, a man and a woman were stabbed in a Starbucks; a few days later, another man gunned down his ex-wife and four other people in east Bakersfield before turning the gun on himself. On …
Read More »November Election Is First Test Of New Kern County District Lines, Latino Vote
Lidia Gonzalez still lives in the same part of Delano she did a year ago. But even though she’s in the same place, she says one big thing is different- the district she lives in and the Kern County supervisor who represents her. She says it’s not just the districts …
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