Primary Predictions In the May 15th issue of the Valley Voice, I published my predictions for the June 3rd primary. I made predictions for the first and second place winners for six races, and first place winners for District Attorney and Sheriff. Out of my fourteen predictions I got twelve correct. Of the two predictions […]
The June 3rd primary election ushered into office heavily favored candidates, but also produced a few surprises. The biggest surprise of the night was the race for Tulare County District Attorney. In a duel that was difficult to call during its final days, Tim Ward pulled off a solid defeat of former Assistant DA Ralph […]
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted 5 – 0 on June 3rd to ban all medical marijuana cultivation by cooperatives or individuals. Previously it was legal for cooperatives to grow 99 plants, and for individuals to grow up to 24 plants within an enclosed structure and out of public view. The board was presented […]
People’s Sexiest Men Alive It’s old news who the Tea Party hates more than a Democrat–the same person who a Democrat loathes, a moderate Republican. Actually, Democrats don’t hate them: They fear them. Enter stage right, Neel Kashkari. If Mr. Kashkari decides to run again in 2018, no one will be more of a threat […]
John Hernandez, running for the 21st Congressional District, is confident of a victory in June. He isn’t trying anything flashy during this campaign, just going back to the basics. Referring to his last match-up with Fresno City Council member Xiong Blong he said, “This time it’s a little different but we still think we can […]
Tulare County Supervisors came out with swords drawn during their May 13th meeting. At issue was the imposition of a fine on a Porterville landlord, Monique Yang, for 150 pot plants cultivated on her property by her tenants last September. On September 10, 2013, Yang received a “10-day notice to abate ordinance code violations” from […]
Nate Silver is notorious for his uncanny accuracy in predicting presidential elections. Between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Mr. Silver correctly predicted the winner of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. But local elections can be a bit trickier. Mr. Silver had the advantage of many national polls from which to choose and […]
Two years before the drought compelled Governor Brown to declare a state emergency, Visalia was already ahead of the game, planning demonstration gardens to educate its residents about drought-resistant landscaping. Now the first of four of these gardens is ready to be part of the May 3rd Earth Day celebrations. Nathan Garza, Natural Resource Conservation […]
Decoding City Council Elections Why is Porterville having its city council election in June instead of November like everyone else? Well, according to Juan Duran, they don’t really know. Mr. Duran, one of the candidates himself and president of Centro Mexicano American Latino, said, “The city council election used to be in November, but a […]
To the relief of the Visalia City Council, and Visalia’s animal lovers, a contract has finally been approved to build the new Animal Control Facility. During their April 7th meeting, the Visalia City Council voted 5-0 to accept Forcum/Mackey Construction, Inc.’s unexpectedly low bid of $4,550,000. According to the Visalia Times-Delta, Mayor Steve Nelsen said, […]