LOS ANGELES — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dipped this week to just below 7% for the first time since mid April, a modest boost for home shoppers navigating a housing market dampened by rising prices and relatively few available properties. The rate fell to 6.94% from 7.02%...
General Sherman Passes Health Check but World’s Largest Trees Face Growing Climate Threats
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK — High in the evergreen canopy of General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, researchers searched for evidence of an emerging threat to giant sequoias: bark beetles. They descended the towering 2,200-year-old tree with good news on Tuesday. “The General Sherman tree is doing fine right now,” said...
Sheriff’s Memorial for Fallen Officers: In Valor There Is Hope
A formal groundbreaking for a memorial for Fresno County Sheriff's officers killed in the line took place Wednesday morning. The memorial is at the Area Two Substation, 1129 N. Armstrong Ave. In addition to building the memorial, the nonprofit foundation supporting the project is putting together an endowment to benefit...
Charlie Colin, Founding Member of Train, Dies at 58 After Slipping in Shower
BRUSSELS — Charlie Colin, bassist and founding member of the band Train, best known for their early-aughts hits like “Drops of Jupiter" and “Meet Virginia,” has died. He was 58. Colin’s sister Carolyn Stephens confirmed her brother's death to The Associated Press on Wednesday. He died after slipping and falling...
Cavaliers Fire Coach J.B. Bickerstaff Despite Making Second Round of Playoffs
CLEVELAND — J.B. Bickerstaff was fired as Cleveland's coach on Thursday despite leading the Cavaliers through a major rebuild, an injury-ravaged 2023-24 season and into the second round of the NBA playoffs. Bickerstaff's dismissal came one week after the Cavs were eliminated in five games by the Boston Celtics in...
Carr Brothers Donate $250K to Valley Children’s Hospital
A $250,000 donation from New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr and retired NFL quarterback David Carr will go to Valley Children's Hospital and its endowment. The gift is designated for the hospital's Guilds Center for Community Health, according to a hospital news release. "The Central Valley is home for Derek...
Cal Chamber’s Job Killer List Shrinks, but Does Its Influence?
When the California Chamber of Commerce added Sen. Steve Glazer’s SB 1327 — a proposal to tax revenue from the sale of digital advertising as a way to help fund local newsrooms – to its annual list of “Job Killer” bills on May 7, the measure became only the 14th this...
Supreme Court Finds No Bias Against Black Voters in a South Carolina Congressional District
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Thursday preserved a Republican-held South Carolina congressional district, rejecting a lower-court ruling that said the district discriminated against Black voters. In dissent, liberal justices warned that the court was insulating states from claims of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. In a 6-3 decision, the...
49ers Assistant Brandon Staley Looks for a Coaching ‘Reset’ After Firing by Chargers
SANTA CLARA — Brandon Staley's rise up the coaching ranks was meteoric, going from a Division III defensive coordinator to head coach in the NFL in a dizzying five-year span. Staley's stay at the top of the football coaching profession proved to be brief as he was fired before the...
Stock Market Today: AI Stocks Leap as Interest-Rate Worries Hold Back the Rest of Wall Street
NEW YORK — Technology stocks propelled by a blowout profit report from Nvidia are working against weakness elsewhere in the market on Thursday to keep U.S. stock indexes mixed. In the latest example of how good news for the economy isn't necessarily good for Wall Street, strong economic reports are...