The Porterville City Council will continue working on two ordinances that have sparked significant outcry: a new “Parental Rights in Education” ordinance, and a “Protect Women’s Safe Spaces” transgender bathroom ordinance previously discussed on March 4. Mayor Greg Meister directed city staff at the council’s March 18 meeting to craft both proposals into ordinances that […]
Teachers and schools in Porterville may soon be required to inform parents if their children request to be referred to by alternative pronouns – including “a gender different from their biological sex” – or if they request “access to gender-specific facilities,” according to a draft ordinance being considered by the Porterville City Council. The proposed […]
After protests and nearly two hours of public comment on March 4, the Porterville City Council is still working on an ordinance that would make it unlawful for someone to use a bathroom, locker room, or other “private facility” that does not match with their sex at birth. The city may soon also consider using […]
The Porterville City Council will discuss the first draft of a “Protect Women’s Safe Spaces” ordinance at its March 4 meeting. The ordinance would make it illegal for someone in Porterville to use a bathroom, locker room, or other “private facility” that does not match with their sex at birth. A public hearing at a […]
Legal wrangling over the status of a family planning clinic that provides abortion pills in Tulare has continued into the new year. FPA Women’s Health opened last year in the Tulare Medical Center, a complex of offices near Adventist Health Tulare but unrelated to the hospital or the Tulare Local Healthcare District. The center’s property […]
Former Tulare hospital executive Dr. Yorai “Benny” Benzeevi will avoid jail time and serve 463 days of probation in Los Angeles County after pleading no contest to six felonies and two misdemeanors. The charges stemmed from acts undertaken when he and his company, Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, managed Tulare Regional Medical Center and the Southern Inyo […]
Former Lindsay Police Chief Richard Carrillo and former Lindsay Finance Director Salvador Guzman have separately sued the City of Lindsay. Both claim they were fired wrongly in retaliation for whistleblowing on alleged financial malfeasance by city staff. In his lawsuit, Carrillo says he reported what he found to the Tulare County District Attorney’s office, and […]
Minor solicitation charges against Chris Harrell, a one-time chairman of Tulare’s Board of Public Utilities and former candidate for Tulare City Council, have been dismissed after almost four years of court proceedings. He was charged with one count of meeting a minor for lewd purposes and one count of contact with a minor for a […]
A grand jury has indicted attorney Bruce Greene on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts related to actions he allegedly took while representing the Tulare Local Healthcare District and Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, the district’s former hospital management partner. The grand jury handed down its indictment with eleven felony counts and five misdemeanor counts on April 30. […]
Dr. Yorai ”Benny” Benzeevi is now a felon. On Friday, the 61-year-old pleaded no contest to six felony and two misdemeanor charges stemming from crimes committed while acting as CEO of the Tulare Local Healthcare District from 2014 to 2017. Tulare County Superior Court Judge Michael Sheltzer accepted the plea agreement during a hearing on […]