Kerry Klein

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.

This past Wednesday, local environmental groups hosted a bus tour like no other: The theme was environmental justice, and it involved stops in unincorporated Tulare County communities including Matheny Tract, East Orosi, and Ivanhoe, where residents have been struggling to access clean drinking water and reduce exposure to harmful pesticides.

On the next Valley Edition: Fresno ranks low in terms of park access and acreage. But a grassroots movement is hoping to change that with citizens building their own parks. 

We also look at rural Tulare County as environmental justice groups showcase their efforts to improve water and air quality. And, we go on the road with some people whose California Dream is living in a van.

Later, we talk about student absence. It’s worse in rural areas, so what are some districts doing? 

For more than a decade, lawsuits have been piling up against California from inmates who contracted the fungal disease valley fever while incarcerated in state prison. Most plaintiffs have lost. Now, many of them are turning to a higher court.

Say you’re taking a walk after work and you notice a strange smell in the air. Maybe it’s nothing, or maybe it’s a chemical or a spill of some sort. Should you report it? Although many cities offer reporting apps and services, not all are available in county areas. That’s where environmental reporting comes in, and one network already being used in some San Joaquin Valley areas is now available in Tulare County.

When people think about California earthquakes, what likely comes to mind is the San Andreas Fault. But most of the state is not near the San Andreas, and yet there are still plenty of opportunities for seismicity.

The two damaging earthquakes that shook the Ridgecrest-Trona area over Independence Day weekend may have taken locals by surprise, but the same may not be said for geologists.

In mid-June, Fresno State announced that one of its nursing programs – the Master’s of Science in Nursing – had lost its accreditation. It’s the first Fresno State program that’s ever had its accreditation withdrawn, but it’s actually the second accreditation-related snafu to hit the university’s nursing school in the past year.

In this interview, FM89 health reporter Kerry Klein explains what’s happened, how the university plans to rectify these two situations, and what it means for the graduates of these programs and the patients of the San Joaquin Valley.

On this week’s Valley Edition: He hadn’t been to Fresno in 78 years, but this week Walter Imahara visited the site of the Fresno Assembly Center. It’s where he and his family were sent first before going to an internment camp in Arkansas. 

Later, what if you’re a low income, first generation college student? Where do you turn to get the mentoring and support you need? We meet students who are finding assistance with a program at Fresno City College. 

The U.S. Forest Service estimates 147 million trees in California died following the state’s prolonged drought. New research out of UC Merced suggests a culprit: Extremely dry soil.

The unincorporated Fresno County community of Lanare has long been a poster child for California’s widespread contaminated drinking water. For the past 13 years, Lanare’s water had tested higher than the state limit for arsenic, but that changed in February, when the water received a passing grade after a $3.8 million state grant paid for two new drinking water wells.

Earlier this spring, a few dozen people sat in a Bakersfield conference room in front of a table piled high with nondescript white boxes, each a little wider than a shoebox. Among those was Heather Menzel, who, along with three colleagues, couldn’t wait to grab as many as possible. When the man behind the table asked how many she wanted, Menzel answered simply, “as many as we can all collectively get together.”

The opioid crisis has been a national focus for years, but new state data show another family of drugs has eclipsed opioids in the San Joaquin Valley.