Listen to our weekly Valley Edition podcast...
World Refugee Day, Coalinga State Hospital patient update, Cal Fire investigation, FOOSA philharmonic
Improving teacher diversity, Pride poetry and dance, plus some of the KVPR news team's favorite stories.
On this week's Valley Edition: a look back at the life of Art Williams. The National League's first black umpire started off as a farm worker in Bakersfield. Plus, Fresno State students explore the history of Fresno's LGBTQ community in a new podcast. And we return to Woodlake for our final episode of The Other California.
On this week's Valley Edition: an investigation looks back at the deadly COVID outbreaks at Foster Farms plants. Plus, a new state program meant to help low-income people with asthma by removing carpets, mold and other respiratory triggers in the home, is off to a clunky start. And local filmmakers compete for a grant to document undiscovered stories of the San Joaquin Valley. Listen to these stories and more.
Plus, a Fresno State history instructor who lived in Russia and has studied the country for years talks about what's next as the war in Ukraine rages on. Listen to this conversation and more on the podcast above.
Plus, from KVPR's new podcast The Other California, a profile of the Kern County City of Taft. The oil town's future is uncertain as California turns toward green energy. Listen to this story and more on the podcast above.
Plus, a new pilot program from the city of Fresno equips street vendors with cameras in an effort to protect them against attacks or robberies. This comes a year after street vendor Lorenzo Perez was murdered on the job. Listen to this story and more on the podcast above.
An openly gay Navy veteran who is about to graduate from college reflects on his efforts to establish an LGBTQ club at a private religious university in Fresno. Listen to this conversation and more on the podcast.
The Bakersfield Museum of Art is bringing a national exhibition to the Valley that explores race and identity through the lens of African-American visual artists. Listen to this story and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition, a bonus episode – a collaboration from the California Newsroom entitled Climate Costs: A public radio special exploring the high price of climate change for California communities. Hosted by KVPR's Kerry Klein, with contributions from eight public radio newsrooms in California, we bring you stories of the challenges brought on by climate change. We'll visit the Northern hemisphere's largest geothermal field, a Native American reservation in the Eastern Sierra, a Central Coast city grappling with the loss of its coastline, and a region where acres and acres of orange groves are being replaced with warehouses.
A transgender advocate talks about how his drive to serve the community is inspired by his role as a father. Listen to this conversation and more on the podcast.
On this week's Valley Edition: A garden in Chowchilla brings hope to inmates at the Central California Women's Facility. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: In Tulare County, we take you on a tour of Woodlake's cannabis industry, where we smell-test some very unusual products. Listen to this story and more in the podcast above.
We introduce a new podcast from KVPR, the Other California. Listen to this conversation and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: An analysis by KVPR and the California Reporting Project looks at the Bakersfield Police Department's use of force with cases involving mental health or substance related disorders. That story and more.
On this week's Valley Edition: Why did a chain of pain management clinics abruptly close last year, leaving patients on their own when their prescriptions ran out? Listen to this conversation and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: an education researcher shares the surprising ways the pandemic may have benefited youth literacy. Listen to this conversation on the podcast.
On this week's Valley Edition: The World Ag Expo just wrapped up in Tulare, this year with more robots than ever. Listen to this story and more on the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: A first ever town hall for Fresno's unhoused community. What city leaders are learning and how they plan to address complaints. Listen to this story and more on Valley Edition.
On this week's Valley Edition: Over the past five years, a new program at Valley Children's has helped hundreds of kids with chronic diseases transition into adult medical care. What's changed since the program started? Plus, why the conflict between rooftop solar companies and energy utilities could have a lasting impact on the electric grid. And the San Pablo festival in the Kern County town of Taft. Listen to these stories and more.
On this week's Valley Edition: Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed $820 million to expand Medi-Cal to all undocumented Californians. Two farm workers in Riverdale say this could be life-changing. Listen to this story and more in the podcast.
On this week's Valley Edition: We speak with some of the researchers working to keep ag alive in a future of changing climate. Listen to this conversation and more on the podcast.
On this week's Valley Edition: Addressing safety concerns for Fresno's unhoused community after a deadly attack in the city's Tower District. Listen to this story and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: After a year of immense loss in their farmworker community, Catholic Latinos in Firebaugh celebrate the Lady of Guadalupe.
On this week's Valley Edition: Two local WWII vets travel to Hawaii to remember Pearl Harbor on its 80th anniversary. Listen to this and more.
On this week's Valley Edition: Fresno State students are blending music and history in a concert featuring violins that survived the holocaust. Listen to this and more.
On this week's Valley Edition: How the supply chain breakdown is impacting the region's biggest industry, agriculture. Listen to this interview and more.
On this week's Valley Edition: What's at stake for the future of transportation in Fresno County? Plus, how growers and academics are working to make Valley agriculture more resilient to climate change. And the TV show Glee made Clovis native Chris Colfer famous. This weekend he returns to the Valley to support a local theatre company. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
Valley Edition for November 5, 2021
On this week's Valley Edition: How is Fresno managing the challenge of a homeless encampment downtown in the face of limited shelter beds?
On this week's Valley Edition: An effort to change how Native American students, and their histories, are understood in California's schools.
On this week's Valley Edition: Why Fresno has become such a hot housing market, and how rising prices are deepening the affordable housing crisis.
On this week's Valley Edition: Rising temperatures have changed how wildfires behave - what that means for the future of the Sierra Nevada.
On this week's Valley Edition: The Youth Squad. A group of high school students who are working hard to get other teens vaccinated.
On this week's Valley Edition: How COVID-19 outbreaks in rural schools affect the surrounding communities.
On this week's Valley Edition: We continue our podcast Escape From Mammoth Pool. This week: the heroes, big and small, who helped more than 200 campers survive being trapped by the Creek Fire.
On this week's Valley Edition: We continue our series Escape From Mammoth Pool, about the dramatic rescues of hundreds of campers during the first days of the Creek Fire.
On this episode of Valley Edition: One year after the Creek Fire broke out, we debut a new series all about last year's dramatic rescue of hundreds of people from Mammoth Pool Reservoir.
On the next Valley Edition: The latest in the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, and why Latino voters could play a deciding role in the election's outcome.
On this week's Valley Edition: Fresno's homeless and affordable housing crisis has exploded in the wake of the pandemic. We take a closer look at the struggle to find shelter for the unhoused and the city policies in place to offer relief.
On the next Valley Edition: Access is not an issue, so what is stopping some Tulare County residents from getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
On the next Valley Edition: Now that pandemic restrictions on places of worship have lifted, some temples serving Punjabi Sikhs have partnered with COVID-19 vaccine clinics.
On the next Valley Edition: With the recent excessive heat wave and the drought, small farmers worry about the survival of their crops. Plus, the legislative effort to overturn a state law that allows some workers with disabilities to earn less than the minimum wage. And Fresno's Cambodian community launches a weekly night market. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On the next Valley Edition: Rural communities throughout California lack vital healthcare infrastructure: how some local counties are grappling with vaccine deserts. Plus, the political fight to bring safe drinking water to San Joaquin Valley communities. And how to prepare for yet another summer of dirty air. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On the next Valley Edition: In 2020, more patients died at a psychiatric hospital in Fresno County than at many prisons three times its size. An FM89 investigation looks into why. Plus, State Legislators and Governor Gavin Newsom arrive at a deal that will allow undocumented residents 50 years and older to apply for Medi-Cal. And a new book by a Fresno State history professor looks at the Declaration of Independence from the perspective of those who stayed loyal to Britain. Later, a museum exhibit celebrates the Bakersfield Sound. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On the next Valley Edition: When was the last time you really listened to someone with a different political view? We introduce our collaboration with StoryCorps' One Small Step. Plus, author Mark Arax discusses how history intersects with race and real estate in the city of Fresno. And how the pandemic forced one LGBTQ entertainer to assess his mental health. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On the next Valley Edition: A state law requires schools to track attendance during the pandemic, but the frustrations of teachers and students at one Madera high school tell a different story than the numbers. Plus, we discuss how school districts are planning to make up for the learning loss students experienced during the pandemic? And a local historian tells us why he thinks Juneteenth should be a national holiday. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: Why one small town in the San Joaquin Valley is a destination for unaccompanied minors crossing the Southern border, and how it's preparing for an anticipated increase this year. Plus, how has the pandemic impacted the Central Valley's LGBTQ+ community? And a new podcast tells the story of a Stanislaus County defense attorney accused of murder. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Valley Edition: Beginning last summer, dozens of Fresno County non-profits came together to fight COVID-19. They've been so effective at community outreach, other counties are following their lead. And, Corcoran is sinking. The local author of an article explaining it in the New York Times tells us why. Plus, Fresno State's new president shares his vision for the university. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.
On this week's Best of Valley Edition: In honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we revisit the story of an immigrant family from Vietnam whose generosity and foresight helped them get through the past year. Plus, we take a look back at important conversations we’ve had in the past few months about anti-Asian rhetoric and violence during the pandemic, as well as the rise in misinformation and conspiracy theories. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.