About the Collaborative:
The Central Valley News Collaborative was announced in late 2020 and began its work in 2021 with the Collaborative's reporters shining a light on how the Central Valley’s communities of color have been disproportionately impacted, physically and financially, by COVID-19. The Collaborative is now exploring how the drought and climate change could reshape the Valley, and the lives of the people who work in the agriculture industry. The Collaborative is supported by the Central Valley Community Foundation, with technology and training support by Microsoft Corp.
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Digesters that capture methane from manure have been shown to be one of the state’s most cost-effective tools for fighting climate change, but community advocates warn the emissions savings don’t make up for the harm that dairies pose to nearby communities.
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More than 50 advocacy organizations have sent a letter to state agencies demanding safer conditions for immigrants held at two detention facilities in Kern County.
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Last week Governor Gavin Newsom, proposed expanding Medi-Cal to all low-income, undocumented Californians. That would fill a critical gap, as undocumented people ages 27 to 49 don’t currently qualify for the health insurance. A Fresno County family says gaining access to Medi-Cal would be life changing.
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State law now requires some farmers to pay their workers overtime after 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Farmworker advocates are celebrating this change, but it’s also created some unintended consequences.
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During the holiday season, many Latinx families try to get their hands on warm tamales. It takes a while to make this beloved dish and not everyone is up for the challenge. One woman in Fresno is turning her passion for cooking this dish into a small business that’s already reached tens of thousands of people on social media.
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Every December, Catholic Latinos across the state honor the Virgen de Guadalupe. The celebration of Las Posadas commemorates the appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to an indigenous man named Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531. Honoring that tradition was especially important this year for Firebaugh, a community that’s been hit hard during the pandemic.
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Before becoming an advocate for pesticide regulation, Maria Alejandra Reyes worked as a farmworker in the Central Valley for 15 years.
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June Moua started growing cherries, tomatoes and grapes in east Fresno County 10 years ago. Now she grows a few different types of crops. But her most…
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Drought and climate change are presenting big challenges to California farmers.
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A D.J. blasts music across the McLane High School campus in east Fresno. In the cafeteria nearby, medical professionals are administering the COVID-19…