Paper Trail Podcast

Reggie joins Paul and Ryan on the podcast today to talk about the new deal struck between Rawhide and the city of Visalia on MLB mandated stadium improvements. The deal allows Rawhide to stay in the stadium until their original lease end date of 2029. And splits some of the cost of improvements, but includes a rent increase on the part of the Rawhide.

Ben Moore, CEO of the Valley's own The Ugly Company, joins the Paper Trail Podcast today.

The Ugly Company takes the fruit growers and grocery markets won't/can't sell and puts it to good use. Instead of letting it rot on the ground, or sit in a landfill, or just become compost, The Ugly Company dehydrates slices of peaches, cherries, mangos and plenty more and turns them into delicious snack food.

Instead of having Ben come on to give his well rehearsed spiel on the company he founded and grew from quite literally the ground up, Ben and Paul talk about a smattering of topics. Ben was a victim of the CrowdStrike update that halted air travel while he was in Mexico, his tough conversation with a Valley nay-sayer and why people in the Valley are so down on themselves.

If you want to know more about The Ugly Company visit their website here.

Paul and Ryan are joined by the very familiar Reggie Ellis for their discussion over a recent deal to help local journalism in California. The deal was cut between Google, Gavin Newsom, Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks and others, but leaves local journalism as an industry wanting.

CEO and founder of Spade Entertainment, Todd Speelman joins Paul on the podcast today.

Spade Entertainment will operate the newly renovated Zumwalt Park Ampitheater in Tulare. According to Todd, he was to go-to guy for city manager Marc Mondell when mulling over the long term entertainment plans for the city of Tulare.

Todd has been running his entertainment company since before the pandemic, and named his company after his daughter's love for the shape of spades.

You can find out more about Spade Entertainment here.

Paul and Ryan are joind once again by Serena Bettis. Serena wrote last week's piece on Sheriff Mike Boudreaux's complaint on appearing in a Harris for President advertisement.

The ad, linked here, features Tulare County law enforcement officials (Visalia PD's Jason Salazar, DA Tim Ward and Sheriff Boudreaux) at a press conference where Harris was speaking on gangs, drugs and crime. Boudreaux appears in the ad for exactly 1 second, and issued a statement noting that he was upset about appearing in it at all, and claimed that it was unethical to use the photo.

The question we sought to answer though, was whether her ad was indeed unethical.

Reedley Chamber of Commerce CEO, Erik Valencia joins Paul on the podcast today.

Paul and Erik has been friends since 2016, and he has played a major role in Mineral King Publishing's expansion into Reedley. In fact, as a former reporter for what was formerly The Reedley Exponent, Erik had a vested interest in the future of the community paper.

And so in 2022 he was the one who introduced Paul and Reggie to the former Mid Valley Publishing board.

However, Erik has been a proponent for his community for nearly the entirety of his career. He has been a mainstay for the Reedley Opera House as a director and actor, he worked for the Kings Canyon Unified School District as their PIO and he's been spending hours upon hours as the chief promoter for his chamber members.

You can find more on Erik and the Chamber on Facebook, Instagram, and their website.

Serena Bettis joins Paul and Ryan on this podcast.

Serena attended a ceremonial event that ushered in an expanded flight school program at Reedley College. With nearly 300,000 more pilots needed by the year 2030, Reedley College is seeking to do their part by bringing more candidates into the cockpit in the Valley.

For more on the story visit midvalleytimes.com

Component Coffee co-owner, Jon Anderson joins the podcast today.

Jon and Paul met during their time on the Young Professionals Network for the Visalia Chamber of Commerce. Since then they've stayed in touch through the pandemic, and now well after the pandemic has ended.

And on this episode they talked about leadership, Component's expansion into Fresno and Tulare, their employment histories and the roles that managers now have to play for young employees.

You can find more Component Coffee Lab on Facebook, Instagram and on their website.

Paul and Ryan are joined by Karis Caddell, who has been following the unfolding situation between Springville residents and their water provider company, Del Oro.

Karis visited Janette Hardman's home to see for herself what the situation is like on the ground for a family of six, subsisting on only 6 gallons of water per week. She goes into the businesses that Janette lost as a result, and the exhorbitant cost of water Del Oro Water Company imposes on their customers.

Paul is joined by Adrianne Hillman for part 2 of their conversation.

Continuing on from their part 1, they discuss the much broader prospects that lead people to homelessness. They talk about why some people heavily involved in politics are so unhappy. And what are some of the keys to happiness in life.

You can find Salt + Light on Facebook, Instagram, and on their website.