Ferocious over-pumping that has caused huge swaths of the San Joaquin Valley to sink, damaging key water arteries including the Friant-Kern Canal and California Aqueduct must stop, according to the state Department of Water Resources. It’s one of the main reasons the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was passed in 2014....
Was Anyone Spared the Ax in Fresno County’s Budget Squeeze?
On Monday, Fresno County Supervisors unanimously approved a proposed $5.3 billion budget. This year, the county's biggest departments presented to supervisors publicly how financial changes will affect operations and people receiving social services. County department heads had to deal with sales tax declines and payroll costs outpacing increased property tax...
California May Help Solar Bloom Where Water Runs Dry
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Ross Franson stood on the road between two fields, where nothing grows under the Fresno County sun. As a teen, Franson hauled a water tank to spray down the dust on roads like this — rolling past rows...
As Garnet Fire Nears, Memories of Creek Fire’s Destruction Flare Up for Mountain and Foothill Folks
SHAVER LAKE — It was only five years ago that vast parts of the Sierra and foothills were incinerated by the Creek Fire, which scorched nearly 380,000 acres before it was finally extinguished. Although Shaver Lake was largely spared, residents and business owners there and in surrounding areas are keeping...
Project 2025 Think Tank Takes On the Constitution in New Book
WASHINGTON — With a preface by Justice Samuel Alito and contributions from more than 30 conservative judges, the Heritage Foundation, the influential think tank that has helped shape the Trump administration’s second-term agenda, will soon publish an 800-page, clause-by-clause analysis of the Constitution. “The Heritage Guide to the Constitution” is...
Dyer Threatens to Block Constituent’s Emails. Experts Say It May Be Legal
The First Amendment guarantees the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." However, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer says he will block a constituent's emails, and the city attorney is backing him. First Amendment experts say Dyer may have that right. AJ Rassamni, president of the Blackstone Merchants...
Fresno’s Blackstone Avenue Plan Is Here. Will Fewer Vehicle Lanes Entice Cyclists?
The city of Fresno will begin work in 2026 to transform southern Blackstone Avenue. Heading south from Dakota Avenue to Highway 180, City Hall will shrink the vehicle lanes to make room for wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes. Eventually, the city wants to also slow the street down to...
Watch: Legislator Warns California Gas Could Reach $8 to $10 a Gallon
California needs to produce more oil to keep gas prices from hitting $8 to $10 a gallon, a Republican assemblymember said during a virtual news conference Monday. Ten years ago, California produced 468,000 barrels of crude oil a day throughout the state, said Assemblymember Stan Ellis, R-Bakersfield. His city is...
How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart
A group of Navy SEALs emerged from the ink-black ocean on a winter night in early 2019 and crept to a rocky shore in North Korea. They were on a top secret mission so complex and consequential that everything had to go exactly right. By Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole...
How Pickleball Took Over Thousands of US Tennis Courts
n 2022, the Santa Monica Tennis Center in Southern California had a lone tennis court. Today, that court is gone. In its place are four pickleball courts, attached to what is now called the Santa Monica Pickleball Center. In 2019, Cincinnati’s Sawyer Point Park had eight worn-down tennis courts. Today,...