Joe Moore

It's Thursday night, and inside a small classroom at a church in Clovis, a handful of actors have gathered to put the finishing touches on a new original production. 

“Let’s go to the piece where this builds up before you take off into this speech,” shouts the director.

It's a theatre production of a four vignettes plus an original song, all focused an issue that's having a big impact on many Valley residents - obesity.

In October 1991, Vikki Cruz was just 11 years old, but the current curator of the Bakersfield Museum of Art remembers one trip up Interstate 5 that year very well.

It’s Saturday afternoon, and the normally quiet park in the middle of downtown Exeter is packed, nearly shoulder to shoulder with people enjoying kettle corn, something called the tornado potato, and of course, a little barbeque.

“This is the barbeque chicken plate, it’s six dollars and it’s fantastic!,” says Wanda, an Exeter resident.

“There’s also some pulled pork over there that people are really waiting in line for and the bratwurst over here by The Dorksmen, if you want a really homemade bratwurst, that’s the place to go.”

One hundred years ago this month, California’s experiment in direct democracy was born with the introduction of the ballot initiative and referendum process. Now, a century later, Californians are again looking at new ideas to fix what many feel is a broken system in Sacramento. So what might the next 100 years have in store?

Audiences throughout the world know Audra McDonald as a star of both the stage and screen, a three time Tony Award winner, a two time Grammy winner, and until recently a star on the hit ABC television series Private Practice. Her latest project finds her returning to the world of musical theatre, starring in a new production of Porgy and Bess, currently on stage in Cambridge Massachusetts, and scheduled to make its way to Broadway in December.

Part 1: Obesity - We hear the term "obesity epidemic" often in the news these days. It's an issue that hits close to home. About 40 percent of Fresno County kids ages five to 19 are overweight or obese. And so are their parents. 57 percent of Fresno adults are overweight. On this edition of Quality of Life, reporter Lauren Whaley brings us the story of one Fresno teenager who suffers from obesity, and how getting sick changed his life - for the better.

Segment 1: Human Trafficking - On Monday the US State Department released a report that estimates that up to 100,000 people in the US are victims of human trafficking. They range from those working in forced labor, to women and children trapped in the world of sex trafficking. California is one of the top three states in the nation for human trafficking, according to Cal EMA. Joining us to talk about the extent of this problem in the San Joaquin Valley is Ronna L. Bright, from the group Central Valley Against Human Trafficking and the Central Valley Freedom Coalition.

Segment 1: California's long running budget battle entered a new chapter last week, when Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a budget sent to him by the Democratic controlled Legislature. On this edition of Quality of Life, we talk with Democrat Assembly member Henry T. Perea of Fresno, and Republican Assembly Leader Connie Conway of Tulare about what's next in the budget debate. We also get political analysis on the budget from Professor Jeff Cummins of Fresno State and Nathan W. Monroe of UC Merced.

Segment 1 – County Jails & State Prisons - Last month the US Supreme Court ruled that California must reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates by 2013, to improve inmate health care. And a new state law plans to shift much of that burden to county jails. We talk about the future of the state's corrections system and what it means for the Valley, with Kern County Sheriff Joel Youngblood, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims and prisoner rights advocate Rebecca Evenson of the Prison Law Office.