Joe Moore

Late last year the California Department of Justice launched a "patterns and practices" investigation into the Bakersfield Police Department, after a series of incidents and officer involved shootings that drew national attention. New police chief Lyle Martin has been on the job for about as long, and now he has another issue to deal with: an encounter a few weeks ago between his officers and 19-year-old Tatyana Hargrove. It left the African-American woman with injuries from punches and a police K-9.

Lost in the coverage of the extension of California's cap-and-trade system is another bill that aims to reduce local air pollution in communities like the San Joaquin Valley. AB-617 aims to increase oversight of major stationary sources of pollution that are also regulated by cap-and-trade. Under the law, the state will now make public more data on pollution sources, and local air districts will be required to develop plans to bring these facilities into compliance with the latest available emission control technology.

This week on Valley Edition our team reports on the Detwiler Fire burning around the mountain town of Mariposa. We also hear from Julie Cart With CALmatters about the passage of AB-617. Later we hear from Bakersfield Californian Reporter Harold Pierce about his latest reporting on a case of police brutality in Bakersfield. Ending the program we are joined by Fresno Bee Reporter Mackenzie Mays about her new series looking at the lack of sex education in the region. 

The Detwiler Fire  has now burned over 70,000 acres and is 10 percent contained, but officials say they are making progress in the firefight, and say Mariposa residents may soon be able to return to their homes.

Ken Pimlott is the Director of Cal Fire. He says cooler temperatures have helped the effort. 

“Our goal is to the use the next several days while the weather has somewhat moderated to really try to get containment lines in, but we’re really not out of the woods,” says Pimlott.

Last week it made national headlines: a company with ties to Google is releasing 20 million mosquitoes in Fresno. It might sound like a bad idea, but it's actually part of an innovative plan called "Debug Fresno" that aims to stop the local spread of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can spread dengue fever and the zika virus.

On this week's program our team reports on drones, a summer camp for diabetic youth and how potential cuts to the USDA could hurt some in the region. We also hear from Steve Mulligian with the Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District about a project funded by Google where 20 million mosquitoes will be released this summer throughout the Fresno area. Ending the show we hear the latest installment of our podcast Outdoorsy. This time it's all about the stars. 

For decades Trout's Nightclub has been a fixture in the Oildale neighborhood of Bakersfield. It was the musical home of people like the late Red Simpson and others who helped make the "Bakersfield Sound" incredibly popular among country music fans in the decades following World War II.  The venue was also considered one of the city's last original honky-tonk clubs. But earlier this spring the bar closed, and doesn't show any signs of reopening soon.

It could be California’s biggest water infrastructure project in two generations – a plan to build two massive, 35 mile-long tunnels deep beneath the Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta. Dubbed California WaterFix, it would send water from Northern California to farms and cities in the south, bypassing the fragile delta ecosystem.

This week on Valley Edition or team reports on stories about private well owners, Boyden Cavern, homelessness and cap and trade. We also hear from The Stockton Record's Alex Breitler about the Delta tunnel plans. Later we hear from the Bakersfield Californian's Stephen Mayer about the case of a missing sign in Kern County that means a lot to the South Valley. 

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday endorsed an effort to cut the size of Giant Sequoia National Monument by over 70 percent. The proposal to shrink the monument came from Supervisor Steve Worthley, who used to work in the timber industry. He says the Forest Service isn’t doing a good job managing the monument, increasing the risk of wildfire.

“Leaving it as a national monument will only make it that much more difficult to engage in active management which is what is necessary,” said Worthley.

The Fresno City Council has unanimously approved a new lease agreement with the Fresno Grizzlies baseball team for Chukchansi Park. The move could help clear the way for a new ownership group to take over the team.

The new lease would have the owners pay the city $500,000 a year in rent, compared with roughly $750,000 a year in the current agreement. It also includes a provision requiring both the club and the city to set aside $300,000 a year to pay for repairs and maintenance at the 15-year-old stadium, starting in 2020. 

This past weekend flood water released from Pine Flat Reservoir breached levees on the Kings River near Kingsburg, at the Kings River Golf and Country Club. The Tulare County Sheriff's Office evacuated residents of around 90 homes in the area, some of which have reportedly sustained flood damage. Now as releases from the lake have dropped and the waters have started to recede, officials are beginning to assess the destruction to homes and local infrastructure.

This week on Valley Edition our team reports stories on Fresno's Garden of Innocence, a farmer's desire to sell tiny peaches and what Valley hospitals are doing to prevent damage if an earthquake hits. We're also joined by Tulare County Public Information Officer Carrie Monteiro about flooding on the Kings River because of high flows from Pine Flat Lake.

Fresno Mayor Lee Brand focused on job creation as he delivered his first state of the city speech today at the Fresno Convention Center. Brand says he wants to build upon this year’s announcements of new fulfillment centers for retail giants Amazon and Ulta Beauty, which are both now under construction.

The plan is to create 10,000 new jobs in the city in the next 10 years with similar operations, and another 10,000 spillover jobs in other sectors.  

BRAND: “The goal is to make Fresno the e-commerce capital of the west coast.”