KVPR News Podcast

Last week, CapRadio, along with NPR’s California Newsroom, reported that Governor Gavin Newsom dramatically overstated the amount of wildfire prevention efforts that had taken place leading up to this year’s fire season. CapRadio's Scott Rodd was the journalist behind that investigation. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with him about how lawmakers are responding.

As drought settles over the San Joaquin Valley, a new report warns of other circumstances that could result in entire communities losing drinking water. More than a million Valley residents could lose their public water in coming decades under the sweeping groundwater legislation known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), according to the paper published earlier this month by the non-profit Pacific Institute. Signed into law in 2014, SGMA aims over the next two decades to reduce

Wherever you are in the Valley, you’ve likely been enjoying the reprieve from the heat wave that left us all sweaty and guzzling water earlier this month. Beginning Saturday, unfortunately, most of us are in for another round of triple-digit days, this one even longer. So how can we stay safe in such oppressive heat? In this interview, FM89’s Kerry Klein learned how to prevent and keep an eye out for heat-related illnesses from Dr. Rene Ramirez, an emergency physician at Community Medical

Paul Hernandez designs and sews his own costumes and entertains audiences through the art of drag with his alter ego Leilani Price. He also does his own makeup before performing at LGBTQ night clubs like Fab in Fresno’s Tower District. But the pandemic ended those performances for over a year forcing Hernandez to slow down; he’s also a community activist and has a day job in health administration. Spending so much time at home gave him a chance to evaluate his mental health. As part of our

T ake a minute and think back to the last time you really listened to someone whose political opinions were very different from your own. Was it a few weeks ago, a few months ago, was it ever? Valley Public Radio and the public history project StoryCorps are inviting you to meet the challenge. It’s called One Small Step ; meet a stranger with a different political view for a personal, 50 minute conversation about your lives. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock speaks with FM89's News Director

Writer Mark Arax has been working to uncover some of the forgotten history that explains how many neighborhoods in Fresno were established. What he discovered was that some of the city's largest housing developers used restrictive real estate covenants to prevent Armenians and people of color from living in certain neighborhoods. Valley Edition host Kathleen Schock spoke with him about the legacy of this practice and what it might mean for Fresno’s future.

To learn how school districts plan to make up for the lost learning that occurred for many students in the past academic year, Valley Edition Host talked with Alyson Crafton, director of student services for Madera Unified, Natalie Wheatfall-Lum, director of P-16 education policy at The Education Trust-West, and Heather Hough, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). Also joining the conversation from Fresno Unified were Jeremy Ward, the assistant superintendent of

Yesterday, President Biden signed a bill to make June 19th, known as Juneteenth, a federal holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers brought word to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas that they were free, roughly 2 ½ years after the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. UC Merced Associate Professor of History Kevin Dawson published a column in the Sacramento Bee last year calling on the federal government to recognize the day as a holiday. Valley Edition

Over a four year period, police officers in Bakersfield broke 45 bones in 31 people, and in no case did the officers involved in those encounters violate departmental policy. That’s the finding of an investigation from the California Reporting Project, a public-radio led collaboration looking into police misconduct. Molly Peterson, the manager of the California Reporting Project who edited this story, talked with Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock about the investigation.

After 15 months of pandemic-related restrictions, California is back open for business. In downtown Clovis, reactions ranged from cautious optimism to elation. “I still think we should keep our precautions, just to be on the safe side,” says emergency room nurse Angelica Martinez. She’s grateful she hasn’t contracted COVID, but knows the risks aren’t completely gone. Business owner Sherri Cooley’s teenaged children have struggled with social restrictions and distance learning. “I’m super