Last year, the western states were hit with a double-whammy of natural disasters: Not just the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a historically long and intense wildfire season that blanketed the region with plume after plume of noxious smoke. The confluence of those two was deadly: A study published recently in …
Read More »Why The San Joaquin Valley Is Home To Many Of The Nation’s Vaccine Deserts
Vaccine rollout is proving far more challenging in rural communities, creating what are called vaccine deserts. And according to the Documenting COVID-19 project, a national effort to make pandemic related data more transparent, vaccine deserts are springing up across the San Joaquin Valley, causing concern among public health professionals. Valley …
Read More »Report: Groundwater Overhaul Could Threaten Drinking Water Of More Than A Million Valley Residents
As drought settles over the San Joaquin Valley, a new report warns of other circumstances that could result in entire communities losing drinking water. More than a million Valley residents could lose their public water in coming decades under the sweeping groundwater legislation known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act …
Read More »LGBTQ+ Leaders In The Valley Discuss Pride Month And The Impact Of The Pandemic
As communities in the San Joaquin Valley grapple over the recognition of Pride Month, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock got reactions from local leaders in the LGBTQ+ community. She spoke with Estevan Parra, coordinator of LGBTQ+ and gender programs and services at Fresno State, Kathleen Arambula-Reyna, festival director and board …
Read More »Valley High School Students Debut Films Produced In CMAC Youth Voices Program
Since January a group of San Joaquin Valley high school students have been part of the CMAC Youth Voices documentary filmmaking training program. Their films, which range in topics from immigration to the digital divide, debut Sunday at 1 p.m. in a live showcase on CMAC’s YouTube channel . Valley …
Read More »San Joaquin Valley Asian-American Women Speak Out About Racism And Discrimination
Members of the Asian American community have been sounding alarms over the dramatic increase in anti-Asian rhetoric and violence over the course of the pandemic. But it was another tragedy, the mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight dead, six of whom were women of Asian descent, that centered a …
Read More »It’s Been A Year Since COVID-19 Hit The Valley – Virus Update For Mar. 19
Like in so many places across the U.S., the coronavirus pandemic crept up on the San Joaquin Valley. Some of the region’s first official cases were linked to outbreaks on cruise ships that came into port in March, but as we later learned, the virus was already circulating long beforehand. …
Read More »How COVID-19 Has Complicated The Response To Valley Fever – Virus Update For Mar. 12
Even though COVID-19 has been the dominant public health threat for a year, first with a summer surge, then a winter surge, and now with the rollout of much-anticipated vaccines, other public health problems haven’t just disappeared. One long-standing health concern in the San Joaquin Valley is valley fever, a …
Read More »Central Valley ICU Nurses On The Toll Of Treating COVID-19 Patients
Now that vaccines have become more widely available, it’s easy to forget that ICUs are still full of COVID-19 patients fighting for their lives alongside battle-weary nurses who have been deep in the trenches of this pandemic for nearly a year. To learn more about the toll it has taken, …
Read More »Vaccine Supply Whiplash, Plus The Latest On COVID In Valley Prisons – Virus Update For Feb. 26
Ever since the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began, every week has brought news of extremes, with success stories followed by supply problems and other hiccups in access and distribution. This week was no different, and included supply disruptions due to winter storms as well as an unexpected boost from the governor. …
Read More »New COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Delivers Big Boost To San Joaquin Valley
Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that the San Joaquin Valley will get a major boost to its COVID-19 vaccine allocation. That’s due in part to the region’s food and ag workers, who now are also receiving some priority access to the vaccine. Valley counties will now be receiving thousands …
Read More »Severe Weather Delays 15,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses En Route To Valley
Shipments of more than 15,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine promised to the San Joaquin Valley have been delayed this week, thanks to severe weather that has snarled shipping and distribution networks in the central and eastern parts of the country. “All of our doses for last week were held …
Read More »The Future Of Valley Politics In A Post-Trump Era
The transfer of U.S. presidential power from Trump to Biden, and the confirmation of Kamala Harris as vice president, has had political ripple effects stretching to California and the San Joaquin Valley. To discuss what has changed in our political landscape, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Dezie Woods-Jones, …
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