Valley News

Since 1989, October has been designated as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. But misperceptions about domestic violence continue to permeate our culture. To learn more, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with Tracey Salsibury, assistant professor of interdisciplinary and ethnic studies at California State University, Bakersfield. https://www.kvpr.org/sites/kvpr/files/styles/big_story/public/202110/tracey_salisbury__2_.jpg

Joe Del Bosque has owned his farm west of Mendota for 36 years. He’s grown cherries, tomatoes and asparagus. But the crop closest to his heart is melons. His dad began growing melons in the Mendota area in the 1950s. “They’ve been in my blood for all my life, you …

The first thing you notice in the livestock pavilion at the Big Fresno Fair is the sound. There are the animals, of course: The cows and goats being steered to their enclosures, the squeals of hogs less than excited about being bathed, and the blow dryers fluffing up freshly shorn …

If there’s one thing Leland Decker will teach you, it’s this. People who love to be around horses, they really love to be around horses. There’s no gray area. “My work is horses, my spare time is horses, my hobby is horses,” he says. His vacation is horses. “I don’t …

While working as an elementary school teacher in the Central Valley, Marie Casao was disturbed by how her fellow educators taught indengous history to their students. So after earning a master’s degree in education from Fresno State, she curated a curriculum of resources for teachers looking to challenge stereotypes about …

The Central Valley’s reputation as an affordable place to live has been challenged by skyrocketing housing prices. To learn what is behind the sharp increase in home and rental prices, and what this means for the ongoing affordable housing crisis, Valley Edition host Kathleen Schock spoke with Amber Crowell, associate …

A University of North Carolina study found that roughly 1,800 newspapers have closed in the United States since 2004, the vast majority of which were weekly publications that served small communities. But here in Central California, the Mariposa Gazette, is still going strong. In fact, it’s the state’s oldest weekly …

The surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19 has created new risks for children, especially those with special needs. To better understand the risks, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with Dr. David Sine, medical director for the pediatric palliative care program at Valley Children’s Hospital. https://www.kvpr.org/sites/kvpr/files/styles/big_story/public/202109/dr.david_.sine-small-500×500.jpg

For the first time in recorded history, wildfires breached the peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains this year – terrain long considered to be well equipped to fend off encroaching fires. To learn more about the significance of this milestone, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Crystal Kolden, a …

Dangerous Air, an investigation by NPR’s California Newsroom into the rise of western wildfire smoke and the extent it harms health, is based on more than a decade’s worth of data. To learn more about its findings, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Alison Saldanha, the data journalist who …

The annual San Joaquin Valley Town Hall lecture series returns to Fresno’s Saroyan Theatre on Oct. 20 with a talk by historian Jon Meacham. Travel writer Rick Steves, violinist Vijay Gupta and restaurant critic Ruth Reichl are also among the lineup of six speakers for the 2021-22 season. To learn …

The West Fresno Regional Center is designed to be a one-stop-shop for social services in a community where many are reliant on public transportation. But community activists claim that Fresno County eliminated many of the services once available, forcing people to find rides or take long bus trips to Clovis, …

In the new book “Freedom to Discriminate,” author Gene Slater explores how during the civil rights era, realtors exacerbated segregation and fought against fair housing efforts by redefining freedom. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to him about this history and its connection to the City of Fresno. https://www.kvpr.org/sites/kvpr/files/styles/big_story/public/202110/freedom_to_discriminate.jpg