taft

Plus, from KVPR’s new podcast The Other California, a profile of the Kern County City of Taft. The oil town’s future is uncertain as California turns toward green energy. Listen to this story and more on the podcast above.

Taft was described in 1912 as “perhaps the liveliest town in the state,” a frontier community of the sort that movie fans once expected Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable to brawl in. Of course, it’s changed tremendously since its early frontier years, but one thing remains the same: it’s still an oil town through and through and the people who live here want it to stay that way. In this episode, we meet some of oil’s biggest supporters. And a high school culinary teacher helps students understand each other through local recipes: Native American, Samoan, Oaxacan.

The rural city of Taft is perched directly on top of the state’s most productive oilfield.

Donna Barba Higuera recently took home the Newbery Medal. KVPR's Kathleen Schock talks with Higuera about the inspiration she drew from her childhood growing up in Taft.

On this week’s Valley Edition: Over the past five years, a new program at Valley Children’s has helped hundreds of kids with chronic diseases transition into adult medical care. What’s changed since the program started? Plus, why the conflict between rooftop solar companies and energy utilities could have a lasting impact on the electric grid. And the San Pablo festival in the Kern County town of Taft. Listen to these stories and more.

Kids with chronic diseases transition to adult medical care, electric grid, Taft festival

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The Kern County Sheriff's Office recommended evacuation Wednesday afternoon for those within a 6-mile radius of Taft Manufacturing Co. at 19705 South Lake…