KVPR News Podcast

In 2014, California’s state legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), a sweeping law with the goal of balancing the amount of water pumped out of underground aquifers with the amount returned through recharge. How that balancing act would actually work was left up to hundreds of locally governed water agencies, which are now beginning to receive feedback from the state Department of Water Resources on the sustainability plans they submitted in late 2019 and early 2020.

The clock is ticking to redraw legislative boundaries following the 2020 census. This week California’s redistricting commission released a preliminary map of what the state’s congressional districts could look like. If finalized the new map could make it a lot more difficult for some incumbent representatives like Devin Nunes to hold on to their seats. To learn more about this process and its timeline Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock checked in with the non-profit California Common Cause. She spoke with the organization’s executive director Jonathan Mehta Stein and Central Valley redistricting organizer Luis Huerta-Silva.

The clock is ticking to redraw legislative boundaries following the 2020 census. This week California’s redistricting commission released a preliminary map of what the state’s congressional districts could look like. If finalized the new map could make it a lot more difficult for some incumbent representatives like Devin Nunes to hold on to their seats. To learn more about this process and its timeline Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock checked in with the non-profit California Common Cause. She spoke with the organization’s executive director Jonathan Mehta Stein and Central Valley redistricting organizer Luis Huerta-Silva.

The clock is ticking to redraw legislative boundaries following the 2020 census. This week California’s redistricting commission released a preliminary map of what the state’s congressional districts could look like. If finalized the new map could make it a lot more difficult for some incumbent representatives like Devin Nunes to hold on to their seats. To learn more about this process and its timeline Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock checked in with the non-profit California Common Cause. She spoke with the organization’s executive director Jonathan Mehta Stein and Central Valley redistricting organizer Luis Huerta-Silva.

Fresno poet Mai Der Vang looks back on a dark chapter of history in her new collection “Yellow Rain.” Hmong refugees fleeing Laos at the end of the Vietnam war reported being attacked with chemical and biological weapons that led to thousands of deaths, but American scientists dismissed refugee accounts, claiming that the mysterious substance raining down on them was the feces of honeybees. Through exhaustive research of once classified documents, Vang reveals the truth of what happened, giving voice to the victims of the attacks. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Vang about how she uncovered their forgotten stories.

Fresno poet Mai Der Vang looks back on a dark chapter of history in her new collection “Yellow Rain.” Hmong refugees fleeing Laos at the end of the Vietnam war reported being attacked with chemical and biological weapons that led to thousands of deaths, but American scientists dismissed refugee accounts, claiming that the mysterious substance raining down on them was the feces of honeybees. Through exhaustive research of once classified documents, Vang reveals the truth of what happened, giving voice to the victims of the attacks. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Vang about how she uncovered their forgotten stories.

Fresno poet Mai Der Vang looks back on a dark chapter of history in her new collection “Yellow Rain.” Hmong refugees fleeing Laos at the end of the Vietnam war reported being attacked with chemical and biological weapons that led to thousands of deaths, but American scientists dismissed refugee accounts, claiming that the mysterious substance raining down on them was the feces of honeybees. Through exhaustive research of once classified documents, Vang reveals the truth of what happened, giving voice to the victims of the attacks. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Vang about how she uncovered their forgotten stories.

For more than two decades the small Tulare County community of Tooleville has been without a secure supply of safe drinking water. The simplest solution would be to connect the town’s water system to that of its neighbor, the City of Exeter. It would take less than a mile of pipe to get it done. But years of red tape and failed negotiations have kept the consolidation from taking place. Now the state has stepped in with a new law, SB 403, which could bring safe drinking water to Tooleville and hundreds of communities like it throughout the Central Valley. To learn more, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Michael Claiborne, directing attorney for the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.

For more than two decades the small Tulare County community of Tooleville has been without a secure supply of safe drinking water. The simplest solution would be to connect the town’s water system to that of its neighbor, the City of Exeter. It would take less than a mile of pipe to get it done. But years of red tape and failed negotiations have kept the consolidation from taking place. Now the state has stepped in with a new law, SB 403, which could bring safe drinking water to Tooleville and hundreds of communities like it throughout the Central Valley. To learn more, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Michael Claiborne, directing attorney for the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.

The tricolored blackbird, native almost exclusively to Central California, gained protection under the state’s Endangered Species Act in 2018. Since then, the most at-risk colonies have successfully been protected, thanks in large part to San Joaquin Valley dairies.