Nine people were arrested Friday morning during a narcotics operation at the Sequoia Lodge in Visalia, police said. At about 7:30 a.m., the Visalia Police Department’s Narcotics Unit, Special Enforcement Unit and HOPE teams carried out two narcotics-related search warrants and a probation search at the complex, located at 1400...
Wildfires Explode in California’s Gold Country, Ravage Historic Town
A cluster of lightning-sparked wildfires raged across portions of two Northern California counties on Wednesday, forcing widespread evacuations and engulfing part of an historic Gold Rush mining town once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants. Wind-whipped flames from nearly two dozen separate blazes have scorched more than 13,000 acres of sun-baked dry...
Trump Brings Back the War Department. What to Know
By renaming the Defense Department the Department of War, President Donald Trump has restored the name that had been used until shortly after World War II. The executive order on the name change, which Trump signed Friday, makes good on a pledge he had made for months. Trump has argued...
Visalia Construction CEO Mackey Arrested in $4 Million COVID-19 Loan Fraud
A Visalia construction company CEO was arrested Friday on a federal complaint accusing him of fraudulently obtaining more than $4 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using the money to build a real estate empire, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said. Court documents allege that between April and June 2020, Joey...
US Judge Blocks Trump From Canceling Legal Status for Venezuelans, Haitians
A federal judge in San Francisco ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump's administration violated federal law by moving to cancel temporary protections from deportation granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians living in the United States. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi...
Fresno Gangs’ High Price: Son Gunned Down, Mom Headed to Prison
The multi-generational trauma of Fresno gangs was on full display Wednesday in U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd's courtroom. Dale A. Drozd found Jawana Washington, 45, of Fresno, guilty of giving her gang member felon son a 9mm handgun. That's the story other Fresno media reported. But it's only half...
Kennedy to Link Tylenol Use in Pregnancy to Autism, WSJ Reports
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce that use of Kenvue's popular over-the-counter pain medication Tylenol in pregnant women is potentially linked to autism, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, without including evidence for the claims. Kennedy, in a report,...
Wall Street Indexes Ease Amid Slowdown Concerns After Jobs Data
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell on Friday on worries about the U.S. economic outlook after data showed job growth weakened sharply in August. Bank shares fell, with the S&P 500 bank index last down 2.3%. The U.S. economy created 22,000 jobs last month instead of an estimated 75,000, confirming...
New York Governor Issues Order to Bypass Trump Administration’s COVID Vaccine Limits
NEW YORK — New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Friday authorizing pharmacists in the state to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to anyone who wants a shot, becoming the latest Democratic governor to try to countermand the Trump administration’s new limits on inoculations. The order, which Hochul signed...
‘Clever’ Clarence Is Ready and Willing to Bring Joy to Your Home
Five little kittens only weighing a few ounces when they were picked up by local animal control came to The Cat House and immediately went into a highly experienced foster home so that they could get the constant care needed as bottle-fed kittens. Local animal shelters don't have staff that...