Visalia Parks and Recreation Foundation has officially stepped away from the Fourth of July Freedom Celebration after 12 years of running the event. According to Carol Hoppert-Hays, Foundation president, the Foundation told the city and larger community about five years ago that it didn’t have the resources to put on such an elaborate celebration. The […]
Choosing a final district map for the 2016 elections was put on hold during Visalia City Council’s May 4 meeting. Councilmember Bob Link could not attend due to illness, and the other council members felt that this historic decision that should not be made without him. Three public hearings have been held since March, when […]
An enthusiastic pro-goat rally took place in front of Visalia’s City Hall before the May 4 City Council meeting. After the rally, participants entered the chambers to speak during public comment. At issue was the city’s ordinance on household pets. Many Visalia residents came to the meeting to encourage the council members to change the […]
Chris Ekk had his eye on the top job at the Hanford Fire Department for a long time. As far back as 2003, when Ekk was promoted to engineer after three years as a firefighter for HFD, he was thinking about his far future with the department. “I made the decision this is something I […]
Judge Valeriano Saucedo is one of Tulare County’s longest-serving family law judges. Saucedo became Tulare County’s first Hispanic judge when he was appointed to the bench in 2001. His wife Teresa concurrently served as Tulare County Counsel during her husband’s reign “of power”. Judge Saucedo’s infamous rise to office as a California judge ended (for all […]
Get ready for a captivating discussion on current events and news makers when Mark Keppler, the CEO and Director of the Maddy Institute, is the special guest of the Annual Meeting for the League of Women Voters. The League Annual Meeting will be Tuesday, May 19 at noon in the LampLiter Inn. Keppler will be […]
The Sequoia Cycling Classic returns to downtown Visalia, Sunday, April 26 with 400-500 riders expected to participate. “Everything is on track,” said Eric Henson, event organizer. And, as in the past, the Sequoia Cycling Classic “is more than a race,” Henson said. “It is an event!” In general, when cyclists compete, they are on a […]
At the April 7 Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting, Jean Rousseau, county administrative officer, presented the county’s mid-term budget. The General Fund Fiscal Outlook for 2015-16 looks cautiously positive as the county is steadily recovering from the Great Recession. Rousseau attributed Tulare County’s positive financial position to its conservative approach to spending and saving […]
With the worsening drought much on the minds of Californians, Visalia has added another voice in the state’s approach to water regulation with the appointment of Maria Herrera, 32, to the California Water Commission (CWC). “I’m very excited,” Herrera said of the announcement by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office late last month. “I’m honored to be […]
On April 6 the Visalia City Council held a marathon city council meeting that included several public hearings, increased developer’s impact fees and rejected a change to a city ordinance. The meeting took place at the convention center in anticipation of larger-than-normal crowds for the public hearing about dividing the city into voting districts. That […]