Valley News

Almonds are a nearly $ 3 billion industry here in the San Joaquin Valley—but without honeybees to pollinate the trees, there would be no harvest. By some estimates, as much as 90 percent of the country’s bees are trucked to California for the almond bloom. In 2014, however, beekeepers nationwide …

Fresno’s no-camping ordinance — aimed at sprawling tent cities — has been in effect for about a year and a half. Since then, the homeless population has slowly increased, and the city recently received millions in state funds to tackle homelessness issues. However, some would argue that policies like the …

When you think of civil rights leaders from the Central Valley, names like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta probably come to mind, but another fundamental figure in the farm-labor movement was Larry Itliong. The Filipino activist co-founded the United Farm Workers of America and was pivotal in the Delano Grape …

The frenetic energy of William Harder’s life is palpable before you even enter his home—with his dogs, their little heads crowding the front window to shout at visitors. Inside, Harder himself joins in, singing “Oh no!” in harmony with their excited cries. At the Ouija board welcome mat—I’ll learn later …

These days, Crystal Giles negotiates dinner options for her two kids alone. There’s Talon, her four-year-old son, and Riley, her eight-year-old daughter. Giles moves a plate of burritos out of the microwave for Talon, and eventually settles on pizza rolls for Riley. “That is way too many pizza rolls, little …

Last week, the Supreme Court took a step toward allowing President Donald Trump to ban transgender troops from serving in the military. Trump originally tweeted this policy back in July of 2017, but federal courts stopped the ban in early 2018. With the recent Supreme Court ruling to put lower …

The partial government shutdown caused all sorts of headaches for Congress, and it may have tipped the scales when it comes to support for one law that deals with water diversions to the San Joaquin Valley from the San Francisco Bay Delta. The law is known as Water Infrastructure Improvements …

The San Joaquin Valley is home to a number of renowned poets, past and present. Just yesterday, Juan Felipe Herrera, a former U.S. Poet Laureate, got a shoutout during Governor Gavin Newsom’s inauguration . Earlier this month, Fresno City College professor Lee Herrick came out with his own new book …

Earlier in January, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office announced a case of a mistaken drug in Fresno. Three men who thought they were snorting cocaine turned out to have been using pure fentanyl , an opioid that’s 100 times as potent as morphine and many times stronger than heroin. Two …

Law enforcement and health professionals in Fresno are reeling after three people overdosed last week on the opioid drug fentanyl. The men snorted what they thought was cocaine, said Fresno Deputy Police Chief Pat Farmer in a press conference on Monday. The three men, who took the drug together on …

Of all the ground Governor Gavin Newsom covered in his first week in office, he already appears to be showing a commitment to improving the state’s drinking water. On Friday, Governor Newsom took a road trip to Monterey Park Tract, an unincorporated community in Stanislaus County. There, he and his …

A few weeks ago, the Fresno Police Department put out its end-of-year data on crimes in the city over the last year, and many instances of crime went down from 2017 to 2018. For example, homicides were down 43 percent, there were about a third fewer shootings, and violent crimes …

The sun is fading on a Wednesday night and people are trickling quietly into an office behind an unassuming parking lot in Northern Bakersfield. Inside, bright yellow chairs and plastic flamingoes lean against turquoise walls and Tom Petty’s on the radio. A chipper administrative assistant named Mary Lora greets people …