SACRAMENTO - California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial...
Stock Market Today: Wall Street Leaps and Halves Its Losses From What Had Been a Dismal Week
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are rallying Friday to more than halve their losses in what had been one of their worst weeks of the year. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% and was on track for its best day in six weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 741...
Farmers, Business Owners, Fire Survivors Face Uncertainty After $100B in Disaster Relief Flounders
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — American farmers, small business owners and wildfire survivors are among those who will suffer if Congress cannot agree on a new spending bill after President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan that included more than $100 billion in disaster aid. A mayor in Hawaii is watching...
Closures, Social Security Checks, Furloughs: What a Government Shutdown Might Mean
WASHINGTON – Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government or federal agencies will shut down, meaning hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be sent home — or stay on the job without pay — just ahead of the holidays. Republicans abandoned...
Tesla Recalling Almost 700,000 Vehicles Due to Tire Pressure Monitoring System Issue
Tesla is recalling almost 700,000 vehicles because of an issue with the warning light on the tire pressure monitoring system. According to a letter Thursday from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall includes certain 2024 Cybertruck, 2017-2025 Model 3, and 2020-2025 Model Y vehicles. The issue is that...
Trump Wants Debt Ceiling in the Budget Deal. If Not, He Says Let the Government Shutdown.
WASHINGTON — Hours before the start of a federal government shutdown, President-elect Donald Trump doubled-down Friday on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — and if not, let the closures “start now.” Trump, who is not yet even sworn into the White House, issued...
Visalia Police Arrest 8, Seize Guns and Drugs
Eight people were arrested and four firearms were seized in a citywide operation Thursday morning, the Visalia Police Department said in a statement. The targeted enforcement involved compliance checks at 29 locations, spearheaded by the department's Violent Crimes, Special Enforcement, Property Crimes, Narcotics, and Youth Services units. Among those arrested,...
Starbucks Workers Plan Strikes That Could Spread to Hundreds of US Stores by Christmas Eve
Workers at Starbucks stores plan to go on a five-day strike starting Friday to protest lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company. The strikes by baristas and other workers were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across...
Did You Know Fresno County Doesn’t Have a Tax Assessor?
In this festive season, as I gather with friends and acquaintances, discussion inevitably centers on what I do not do as Assessor, which is the one thing almost everybody thinks I do — I do not collect taxes! The person responsible for collecting taxes has a very intuitive title: the...
Next Phase of Friant-Kern Canal Repairs Begins With Intense Scrutiny of Study Contract
Negotiations focusing on how Friant Water Authority will repay the Bureau of Reclamation for a $22.2 million study mapping out how to fix the northern and southern portions of the sinking Friant-Kern Canal began Wednesday in Fresno. "We anticipate these talks should go smoothly, and we look forward to the...