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 […]
After receiving frequent complaints from retailers about aggressive panhandling and the homeless, the Downtown Visalia Alliance and local police officers met to come up with some solutions. Don Sharp, the president of the Downtown Visalia Alliance, said, “It’s a growing problem and we have to try and alleviate it.” The problem is the growing number […]
As a fairly new resident to Visalia, Michael Brown, 33, is motivated and ready to get involved in city government. Why Visalia? First, his wife, Sarah, is a Mt. Whitney alumna, so the connection is homegrown. As newlyweds, they have chosen to settle and possibly start a family in Visalia. Sarah is currently employed by […]
Interest among baseball-playing Visalia families is already heating up over who will be assigned the playing rights at four baseball diamonds at Visalia’s popular Riverway Sports Park. The only real problem, according to city leaders, is that the baseball fields won’t even exist for at least another 3-5 years. The four as-yet-to-be-developed diamonds are at […]
Tulare County officials are unsure of just how a federal court’s order for an early release of an additional 9,600 inmates from the state’s overcrowded prisons would affect Tulare County if it were carried out. Hoping to block the court’s order to release the inmates, attorneys for Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration filed papers with the […]
To understand how our board members are elected, you need to know a little about Visalia Unified School District history. VUSD was unified in 1965, pulling together Visalia City Schools and outlying small schools. The district reaches from Goshen to Ivanhoe. Until the 2011 election, there were seven board members representing five districts. With a […]
Anyone interested in running for the Visalia City Council or the Visalia Unified School District Board can file papers until August 9. In the event that an incumbent does not file by 5 p.m. on August 9, the filing period is extended to August 14. As far as the city council is concerned, all three […]
“It’s the second year in a row that we had the highest-ever crop and livestock value,” Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner Marilyn Kinoshita told the Tulare County Board of Supervisors at its July 23 meeting. She was there to unveil and present The 2012 Tulare County Agricultural Crop and Livestock Report, which showed that last year […]
When I met with Vincent Salinas for this interview, he was full of information and ideas, and his love for the city of Visalia was apparent. Although a non-incumbent seeking a Visalia City Council seat, he is an old face to Visalia, proud to trace his family roots back to 1872 when his great-grandmother first […]
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 […]