The Porterville City Council found itself embroiled in another proclamation-related controversy when LGBT rights advocates protested in front of City Hall during its Oct. 7 meeting. Coming Out Proclamation Shot Down The protest was aimed at the council’s new proclamation rules and the failure of a recently-submitted request for a Coming Out Day proclamation to […]
Porterville has once again found itself in the spotlight: video of its mayor making a colorful, off-the-cuff remark at a city council meeting while discussing an anti-bullying proposal, has become fodder for news stations and the internet commentariat. During discussion of a “safe zone” proposal at the the city’s May 6 council meeting, Porterville’s mayor, […]
Tulare County for Families, a local pro-immigration reform group, delivered over 650 white crosses to Representative Devin Nunes’ office on Tuesday, May 13. The crosses were made to honor 684 people whose remains were found after their attempts to cross the border, and each name was read aloud outside Nunes’ office on a megaphone in […]
Felipe Martinez is one of four candidates vying to win the District 5 seat on the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, and he believes he’s able to bring a breath of fresh air to the area. Martinez, 57, is an insurance agent and owns Felipe Martinez Insurance Solutions in Porterville. In addition, Martinez is a […]
Candidates for Tulare County District Attorney and Tulare County Sheriff came together on Thursday, April 24 to take part in a forum at College of the Sequoias. The forum, sponsored by the ACLU of Northern California and the College of the Sequoias Young Democrats, drew approximately 150 people, filling the college’s large Ponderosa Lecture Hall. […]
On Monday, February 10, staff and students were told that after a year’s work, the College of the Sequoias was taken off of ‘show cause’ status and put on ‘warning,’ a much less severe status. The ‘warning’ status is the least serious the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) is able to give; […]
In early December, Virginia Gurrola threw her hat into the ring as a contender for the Fifth District seat on the Tulare County Board of Supervisors. Gurrola, a Porterville city council member, faces off in the June 3 election against two-term incumbent Mike Ennis and recent entry Felipe Martinez, both Porterville residents. If any single […]
Following the last few months of controversy, Porterville’s City Council and those in its LGBT community are looking ahead to the future. Proclamation Debate and Controversy Beginning in June, the council placed itself in the middle of considerable controversy over its LGBT Pride Month proclamation and the actions following it. In June, then-mayor Virginia Gurrola […]
Porterville Councilmembers Virginia Gurrola and Pete McCracken were removed from their posts as mayor and vice-mayor, respectively, during a Sept. 17 City Council meeting. Newly-minted Mayor Cameron Hamilton, Vice-Mayor Brian Ward and Councilman Greg Shelton voted to reorganize the council and make Hamilton mayor during the meeting in a 3-2 vote, with Councilmembers Gurrola and […]
The College of the Sequoias, at best, found itself marking the beginning of 2013 with a bang – but the wrong kind: it was informed that the college was on shaky ground with its accreditation; and, if left unimproved, could be forced to shut down. As the college readies itself for its second round of […]