Paper Trail Podcast

Paul is joined by Hand in the Community CEO Lester Moon. Lester founded the organization who puts all of their efforts into their mission of helping those in need.

Hands in the Community maintains a database of volunteers over a diverse skillset and industries. When a community member needs their lawn mowed, a ramp installed, light bulbs replaced Hands in the Community reaches out to their database to see who is available to help.

Paul and Lester talk about Hands in the Community vets the people who reach out for services, and why the list of those in need have begun to outpace the list of volunteers.

Paul and Ryan are joined by Serena Bettis, who has been conducting dozens of candidate interviews at the congressional, assemby, county and city council level between Tulare and Fresno Counties.

Obviously unable to go over each one, readers can find these interviews under the election tab at thesungazette.com and midvalleytimes.com. And here, Serena talks about the questions she asked, and a few of the interviews she conducted.

Fresno City College PoliSci professor Nick Hernandez rejoins the podcast to talk about the election.

Nick speaks to his experience with young students/voters in his class. What he's found is students care about what the economy will be like after the graduate, but also abortion. Many don't believe they'll have access to an abortion proceedure under a second Trump presidency.

But another concern is finding reliable news coverage. Although that isn't to say they don't understand that they are indeed viewing the world's news through a fun-house-mirror affect.

As far as predictions go, Nick believes it will be a tight election. And Kamala Harris will need to win the Rustbelt states to win the election.

Paul and Ryan are joined by Karis Caddell who recently talked Paul into a story on a new cafe and community services center in Tulare. Karis discusses her interview with co-owner Mimi who works in the cafe with her husband Marc.

The native French couple are living out their dream of hosting a community coffee/bakery shop in the US, because of the onorous taxes in France. And they are providing second chances for adults to get back on their feet, and help kids get their start with their first job.

COS Theatre Director Chris Mangels joins the podcast today.

Chris and Paul talk about what it was like to grow up in the ultra-insular town of Exeter. Chris shares how people would worry about whether he was doing well having taken theatre as his profession. But in reality he was getting a lifetime's worth of experience on sets in San Diego, New York and Chicago before becoming a theatre professor at College of the Sequoias.

Together Paul and Chris talk about the grind of being a young actor, the stress about where they will get their next meal and the anxiety of whether another job might be arou the corner -- or not.

Then they talk about the writers strike from 2023, and Artificial Intelligence creeping it's way into the classroom.

Paul and Ryan are joined by reporter Serena Bettis to talk about her story about Selma's new camping ordinance that stresses removing homeless individuals from public areas. Serena got the opportunity to speak with Governor Gavin Newsom about the matter during his stop in East Orosi to sign a bill on water infrastructure.

Paul, Ryan and Serena also talk about the bill Newsom signed that is set to address administrative struggles facing smaller community services districts in charge of water and sewer systems.

CEO for Self Help Enterprises, Tom Collishaw, joins Paul on the podcast today.

Self Help Enterprises has built homes and other types of multifamily units for decades in the Valley. They have a heavy presence in Tulare County with all of it's housing needs.

Paul and Tom talk about the different means by which residents locate housing with Self Help, sweat equity, and mortgage assistance. They eventually move on to homelessness, affordable housing options and NIMBY-ism in local communities.

Paul and Ryan talk about the recent law suit filed by the city of Porterville against the Tulare County Regional Transit Agency. Porterville states that TCRTA owes the city $3 million for having to provide their own transit services when TCRTA would not.

Then they talk about Sheriff Mike Boudreaux's testimony on a House justice committee hearing. Boudreaux says that he has had a "front row seat" to the Biden-Harris administration's policy on border security, and that communities in Tulare County have been victimized as a result.

Central Valley Journalism Collaborative reporter Brianna Vaccari joins Paul on the podcast.

Brianna once worked for the predecessor papers to the Mid Valley Times, before moving onto larger network papers. Her last stop before the CVJC was the Fresno Bee where she covered the Fresno City Council for several years.

Paul and Brianna swap war stories, share their thoughts on news marketing, compare nonprofit news with online and for profit news, and more.

The CVJC news product, The Merced Focus can be found here.

Due to a technical snafu Sam Ramirez graciously agreed to come back to the table to talk with Paul about The Hyde brunch spot.

And at the risk of raking over some of the topics they went over during their last interview, Sam and Paul talk about the bravery it takes to open a small business in town, and what makes that successful. They also discuss the progress coming for Sam's new restaurant.