It’s November 27, 2017 at about 3 p.m. when Hanford Police Officer Jeff Davis first hears a dispatch about a deadly shooting in the small Central Valley town of Lemoore. Minutes later, he notices a blue Dodge Charger at a traffic stop. He checks the license plate numbers against those …
Read More »Nunes Files $150 Million Defamation Suit Against McClatchy: ‘It’s Baseless’ Says Company
Congressman Devin Nunes is at the center of another social media fray, after filing a lawsuit that inspired the trending hashtag #yachtcocaineprostitutes. On Monday night, Nunes sued publishing company McClatchy for $ 150 million in damages, over an article published in the Fresno Bee last May that he claims was …
Read More »Sheriff Mims One Of Two Valley Officials To Address Trump At Border
For the second time in a year, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims has appeared alongside President Trump at a press event. The two spoke today from the border city of Calexico. The press conference primarily served to reinforce the president’s desire for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. …
Read More »What One Man’s Brush With Death Reveals About Access To Health Care
About five years ago, Jesus Gomez spent a month in the hospital. As he pulls out his phone to show me photos, he stops and smiles. “They’ll scare you,” he jokes. Gomez scrolls through pictures of his head and torso covered in red splotches and thick brown scabs. “If they …
Read More »Social Justice At The Heart Of Fresno Gas Tax Debate
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand has pulled a proposed spending plan that would have funded road repairs in the city, after criticism that it would have perpetuated inequality. Brand’s plan would have distributed $ 12 million from the SB1 gas tax roughly equally among the city’s seven council districts, but the …
Read More »Human Trafficking In Fresno: A Huge Problem And Hard To Prosecute
Last week, Fresno Mayor Lee Brand introduced a new initiative aimed at combating a huge problem here in the Valley: Human trafficking. The initiative brings together city government, law enforcement, and aid organizations, many of which have been addressing trafficking for years. In this interview, we hear from Miiko Anderson, …
Read More »Amid Teacher Salary Negotiations, Madera Unified Struggles With Overcrowding, Limited Resources
Representatives from Madera Unified School District, just north of Fresno, met on Monday to discuss a new offer regarding salaries and health benefits. If needs aren’t met, the teachers’ union has said it could be one step closer to a strike, following in the footsteps of Los Angeles and Oakland …
Read More »‘Oildale’ Film Features Community As Backdrop For Story About Loss And Healing
Four years after the Hollywood blockbuster McFarland, USA, another film is featuring a small town in Kern County. This time it’s right outside Bakersfield in the unincorporated community of Oildale. The movie’s a fictional family drama, but the filmmakers say it pays tribute to the community’s musical heritage and its …
Read More »Governor Newsom’s Clean Water Tax A ‘Moral Imperative’ To Some, A Burden To Others
Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he will introduce a tax of up to $ 10 a month to water customers in order to fund safe drinking water in disadvantaged communities. Valley Public Radio has reported in the past about how many of those communities are right here in …
Read More »Why President Trump’s Fast-Tracked Water Allocations Are Raising Alarm
“Fish vs farms”: It’s the perennial tug-of-war for water between environmentalists, who want to see stable ecosystems in the Sacramento-San-Joaquin River Delta, and farmers, who feel slighted that they need to fight with endangered fish in order to irrigate their fields. Now, that fight is playing out in Washington, DC, …
Read More »After Heated Public Outcry, Fresno City Council Votes Down Ordinance To Limit Giving To Panhandlers
The Fresno City Council voted down an ordinance Thursday that would have fined people in their cars attempting to give money or food to those standing at busy intersections. The proposal in question is called the Safe Transfer of Objects to Pedestrians, or STOP, and was authored by Council President …
Read More »Following Scathing Report, Air District’s Emissions Banking Program Faces Scrutiny
Kevin Hamilton was surprised when he learned that, for decades, industries that pollute have been able to trade emissions reductions under a San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District program. It’s like a bank: If a company installs a new technology that reduces its pollution—and that’s the program’s goal—the company …
Read More »ACLU Sues Madera County School For Calling Student Yearbook Quotes ‘Politically Divisive’
Attorneys with the ACLU filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a school district in Madera County, saying it violated two students’ right to free speech and right to anti-LGBTQ bias in California schools. When Minarets High School students Steven Madrid and Mikayla Garaffa submitted their senior quotes to the yearbook, they …
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