© 2024 KVPR | Valley Public Radio - White Ash Broadcasting, Inc. :: 89.3 Fresno / 89.1 Bakersfield
89.3 Fresno | 89.1 Bakersfield
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
76 new monthly members to go to reach our March goal! Start a new monthly gift today, or increase your existing monthly donation to help us reach the goal.

On Valley Edition: Summer Scoop; Fresno State President; Fresno Bikes; Police Violence

This week on Valley Edition we talk to the new president of Fresno State, Joseph Castro; kickoff our summer-long series on ice cream traditions in the San Joaquin Valley with a look at small town scoops; question the future of Fresno's plan to become more bicycle friendly and talk about what's being done to prevent miscounduct by law enforcement.

We begin the program with the first in a series of reports about a cool topic, ice cream. The Central Valley gets hot, and everyone likes to cool down with a frozen treat.  FM89's series "Summer Scoop" digs into the Valley’s ice cream history, its role as one of the top ice cream producing regions in the nation, and how this sweet street helps unite many small rural towns.

For generations, residents of small towns in the San Joaquin Valley have gathered at Foster's Freeze. Sure, people love Foster's soft-serve ice cream, especially once it's dipped in chocolate. But why has this chain withstood the test of time in rural communities and continues to be the place people flock to to celebrate after the big football game or graduation night? To kick off our new series Summer Scoop, Valley Public Radio's Rebecca Plevin examines the role of this ice cream shop in the Valley's small towns.

Also on Valley Edition, host Joe Moore interviews Joseph Castro, the next president of California State University, Fresno. Castro, who days ago was named the first Latino president of the university, speaks about what he hopes to bring to the campus and the region. 

In the second half of the program we talk about the future of Fresno's vaunted bicycle master plan. A recent vote by the city council  has some asking whether the plan can survive efforts to eliminate portions of the planned bike lane network. Our guests are Byron Watkins from I Bike Fresno, and Bryan Jones, the man who helped develop the plan, a former city traffic engineer who is now the Deputy Transportation Director for the City of Carlsbad. 

We close the program with a discussion about law enforcement misconduct in Central California. The recent case of David Sal Silva, who died in custody after an altercation with Kern County Sheriff's deputies in Bakersfield has many concerned about police brutality. We talk with Camila Chavez, the executive director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which is pushing for Kern County to take steps to prevent future cases like the one involving Silva, and with police auditor Rick Rasmussen who heads the Office of Independent Review for the City of Fresno. 

Guests

  • Fresno Bike Lanes 

Byron Watkins- I Bike Fresno 

Bryan Jones - Deputy Transportation Director for the City of Carlsbad 

Police Brutality

Camila Chavez - Executive Director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation 

Rick Rasmussen - Fresno Independent Reviewer 

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).
Rebecca Plevin was a reporter for Valley Public Radio from 2013-2014. Before joining the station, she was the community health reporter for Vida en el Valle, the McClatchy Company's bilingual newspaper in California's San Joaquin Valley. She earned the George F. Gruner Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism and the McClatchy President's Award for her work at Vida, as well as honors from the National Association of Hispanic Publications and the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Plevin grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She is also a fluent Spanish speaker, a certified yoga teacher, and an avid rock-climber.
Ezra David Romero is an award-winning radio reporter and producer. His stories have run on Morning Edition, Morning Edition Saturday, Morning Edition Sunday, All Things Considered, Here & Now, The Salt, Latino USA, KQED, KALW, Harvest Public Radio, etc.
Related Content