Today on Valley Edition we get a preview of tonight’s gubernatorial debate, learn about efforts to control an invasive mosquito in Fresno and Clovis, and go surfing in Lemoore. We also talk with the organizers of a new museum exhibit about the epidemic of tree mortality in the Sierra, and with former Kern County author Howell Hurst about his new book.

On this week’s Valley Edition, we learn why open field agricultural burning has increased in recent years, and what’s being done about it. We also look at the race for the 22nd Congressional District, and find out why what has long been considered a “safe” seat for Republicans is drawing more attention and money this year. Later in the show we get an update on political unrest in Armenia, and on Tulare County’s connections to Joseph James DeAngelo – the accused Golden State Killer.

A long-standing Fresno County hospital is closing. Coalinga Regional Medical Center announced Tuesday it will shut its doors within six weeks.

The hospital’s facilities are set to close by June 15. CEO Wayne Allen came on only three weeks ago, shortly before S&P Global Ratings put the hospital on CreditWatch due to the deterioration of its financial situation.

Allen was hired to turn the hospital’s finances around but he says he was too late. "What’s happening is the business is financially broke; insolvent," Allen says. "And we had to go into a closure mode."

Air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley has improved dramatically over the last few decades, partly thanks to a set of sweeping clean air laws passed in the early 2000s. Over the last few years, however, one major polluting practice has risen steadily. And although it’s unclear if the increase has had an impact on air quality, advocates are concerned it will if the trend continues. We report from a family farm outside Fresno on what’s being done about open agricultural burning.

California's June Primary is around a month away, and some local races are starting to heat up. One of them is in a congressional district that hasn’t seen a close race in years, and now the 22nd Congressional District is drawing renewed national and local attention.

The arrest of the man suspected of being the Golden State Killer shocked the nation last week. 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo is accused of being behind a string of murders, rapes and robberies that have been attributed to a suspect also known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker.

Last week protests clogged the streets of Armenia’s capital Yerevan, in what some are now calling the “April Revolution.” The demonstrations resulted in the resignation of the republic’s prime minister Serzh Sargsyan. The change in power marks a turning point in Armenian affairs, and the end of the 20-year-long streak in power for Armenia’s Republican Party. So what does this mean for Armenians in America, and for the rest of the world? And given the context of recent Russian involvement in Ukraine and Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, what role is Russia playing in the turmoil?

The Civil War ended over 150 years ago, but the battle over interpreting it has never really stopped. A new book by Fresno State history professors Ethan J. Kytle and Blain Roberts looks at the way attitudes and interpretations of the war and slavery have changed over the decades in Charleston, South Carolina.

A medical school at UC Merced has been on the table since before the university was even built. Now, the University of California and a local legislator are renewing their efforts to make it happen.

A report published this week by the University of California Office of the President estimates a medical school at UC Merced would cost $150 million in up-front costs alone. That doesn’t include the roughly $30 million dollars needed annually to run it.

One of the nation’s top political forecasting groups has announced that the forecast for one Central Valley district is shifting.