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Patrick Ahrens’ career in public service started with a parking ticket. It was 20 years ago and he was a full-time student at De Anza College in Northern California. He worked at Starbucks, TGI Fridays and a movie theater. But the former foster youth often didn’t have enough to eat and was living in his […] The post California Foster Youth-Turned State Lawmaker Fights for Social Services appeared…
Vanessa Barahona received a call this past spring from Angelica at Kern Family Health Care in Bakersfield, California, telling her it was time to renew her coverage under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. Angelica helped Barahona, 41, schedule an appointment to complete her paperwork in person at Kern Family’s offices before she submitted it […] The post AI Is Being Used to Boost Medicaid…
ATWATER – U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled a new funding stream for health clinics nationwide, $102 million aimed at expanding access to primary care, including in rural communities. Kennedy, accompanied by federal Health Resources and Services Administrator Thomas Engels, made the announcement Thursday afternoon at Castle Family Health Services […] The post…
Transgender people experiencing homelessness in multiple San Joaquin Valley cities are traveling to Modesto for emergency housing because, according to one advocate, providers there are better prepared to accommodate them than shelters in places such as Merced. In the last five years, Katalina Zambrano, the executive director at CalPride Valle Central, an LGBTQ+ resource center in […] The post…
The number of people confirmed to be infected with West Nile virus in the San Joaquin Valley is creeping higher, wrestling in California’s first death from the mosquito-borne virus in Kings County. The death was announced Aug. 3 by Rose Mary Rahn, director of the Kings County Department of Public Health. No details were released […] The post California’s first West Nile virus death of 2026 is in…
California public school teacher Mollie Blustein planned her pregnancy so that her daughter would arrive during summer break. But when the elementary school teacher went into premature labor and delivered her baby two weeks before the end of school, she faced another stressor: a huge pay cut. The majority of California’s roughly 300,000 teachers don’t […] The post Newsom Reverses on Long-Sought…
MERCED, Calif. — A new report by the policy research group Urban Institute says recent federal policy changes to healthcare under the Trump administration could cause irreversible impacts to rural hospitals and the overall healthcare system. Analysts forecast the number of uninsured people could rise in the coming years as policies take effect. The report […] The post Researchers cast gloomy…
West Nile virus, a disease that is typically transmitted to people by mosquitos that have fed on blood from infected birds, has infected six people in California so far in 2026, including the San Joaquin Valley’s first three human cases of the year in Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties.. By this time last year, the […] The post Valley’s first human cases of West Nile virus in 2026 arise in Tulare,…
CLOVIS, Calif. — Mac McIntosh started singing when he was 8 years old. He’s 77 now, but his glory days are far from over. “Performing is everything when you’ve done it as long as I have,” McIntosh said. McIntosh competed as part of a barbershop quartet for most of his life. A barbershop quartet is […] The post Senior performers in the Valley say they feel young on stage. Science backs that up…
Almost 167,000 San Joaquin Valley residents who are enrolled in health insurance plans under Covered California will see their premiums climb by an average of almost 11% or more in 2027. Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, announced that its enrollees statewide would face an average rate increase of […] The post Covered California health…
