Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria says she’s running against Democratic Rep. Jim Costa for the state’s 16th Congressional District. Meanwhile David Valadao filed yesterday to run against Democratic Rep. TJ Cox. In 2018, Cox defeated Valadao for the 21st Congressional seat by less than 1,000 votes. Moderator Kathleen Schock gets the latest from political science professors Lisa Bryant from Fresno State and Ivy A.M. Cargile from CSU Bakersfield as well as GV Wire News Director and Columnist Bill McEwen and Bakersfield Californian columnist Robert Price. 

Mayor David Cardenas of Fowler wants his small city to be at the forefront of education. That’s why he spends his lunch break passing out fliers, urging families who can’t afford preschool to consider an alternative. His target audience is families with children who won’t be attending kindergarten until Fall of 2020. 

“We’re here because I’m trying to bring this program, but I want to make sure it’s going to be a program for young little kids,” Cardenas says as he drives from the local senior center to the Presbyterian church to drop off a stack of fliers.

Renowned PBS Filmmaker Ken Burns will visit the Valley next week as part of a national tour to preview and discuss his most recent long-form documentary “Country Music.”

The Ken Burns Country Music Roadshow will make stops July 25th at the Saroyan Theater in Fresno and July 26th at the Fox Theater in Bakersfield. I spoke with Burns about the role the San Joaquin Valley plays in what composer Harlan Howard described as “three chords and the truth.”

On this week’s Valley Edition: The emmy award winning filmmaker Ken Burns is coming to Fresno and Bakersfield next week. He tells us about his newest project Country Music, including his take on one of Oildale’s finest, Merle Haggard.

Also on the heels of the Ridgecrest earthquakes, a producer from KPCC takes us inside their podcast about quakes called ‘The Big One.’

Earthquakes have likely been on many Californians’ minds recently, ever since two big quakes focused in the rural Mojave Desert jolted California over Independence Day weekend.

If you’re someone thirsty for more knowledge about the kinds of earthquakes that could strike California, and how to be prepared, you might enjoy a new podcast out of KPCC in Los Angeles called The Big One. Part first-person narrative, part survival guide, it’s all about being prepared for that huge quake that could devastate Southern California.

Earlier this month, the state of California announced it’ll forgive student loans for hundreds of medical providers. The move should benefit underserved patients in the San Joaquin Valley.

Michael Galvez is a pediatric hand surgeon and plastic surgeon at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera. Between a bachelor’s degree, medical school, residency and two specialized fellowships, he says he spent 18 years studying after graduating high school. “I actually tell families that I meet here that I went to thirtieth grade,” he jokes.

Immigrant communities in Parlier were on high alert Tuesday after reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents knocking on doors.

The United States Department of Homeland Security assisted various Fresno County law enforcement agencies in an operation “held strictly” to identify gang members involved in eastern Fresno County shootings, according to a statement from the Parlier Police Department. 

The Raisin City School Board is meeting today to discuss the consequences of a surprise active shooter drill that terrified students and involved a staff member going around campus with a mask and fake gun. The board is considering whether to discipline or remove the school’s superintendent. 

Iconic names such as the Ahwahnee Hotel and Badger Pass are returning to Yosemite National Park signaling the end of a lengthy lawsuit over the park’s trademark names. 

The lawsuit was filed back in 2016 by the park’s former concessionaire Delaware North claiming it owned the rights to trademark names like the Wawona Hotel and Curry Village. But a settlement reached Monday means the federal government and the current concessionaire Aramark will pay Delaware North close to $12 million to return the names to the park.