Fresno Police Chief Accused of Racism A lawsuit, filed in Fresno Superior Court in February, says that Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer’s ringtone for Cynthia Sterling, an African-American former City [...] Continue Reading
Water
Lawsuit Challenges Approval of Friant Ranch Project
Three local organizations have sued Fresno County to challenge the Board of Supervisors’ approval of the Friant Ranch project. The Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters of Fresno and Revive the San [...] Continue Reading
UN Expert Investigates the Valley’s Troubled Water
The UN Expert on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation came to the unincorporated Central Valley town of Seville on March 1 to investigate contaminated groundwater and broken delivery systems. It [...] Continue Reading
Unreasonable Use of California’s Most Precious Resource
Nearly a century ago, Fresno County widow Amelia Herminghaus set off a revolution in California’s water world that fundamentally altered how water could be used. Herminghaus and her late husband had [...] Continue Reading
George “Elfie” Ballis: A Personal Recollection
Few residents of Fresno County earn freestanding obituaries in the Washington Post, as did George Ballis when he died last month. That obit recounted an interesting but odd career, with moments of [...] Continue Reading
Smiling Seriously: Creative Genius at Work
[Editor: This article was originally printed in the October 2004 Community Alliance newspaper.] If you are a progressive political activist in Fresno, you have seen him with his video camera at your [...] Continue Reading
Revive the San Joaquin
Revive the San Joaquin is hosting the San Joaquin River Faire at Lost Lake Park on Saturday, August 21. The event will have live music, food, fishing, canoeing, environmental education booths and [...] Continue Reading
Scrap the Water Bond
Whether you call it "the water bond" or Proposition 18, the California legislature should scrap this proposed bond measure currently slated for the November 2010 ballot-not postpone it to 2012. Passed [...] Continue Reading
A Major Pollutant Goes Unregulated
Nearly three decades ago, federal scientists discovered the cause of a massive die-off of fish and birds at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in Merced County, 10 miles north of Los Banos. [...] Continue Reading
Whose Water? Our Water!
Water Management--or Mismanagement--in Canada and California They say water is the new oil-the likely cause of future wars, and some current wars as well. Everywhere in the world water is an issue one [...] Continue Reading
Water Everywhere–But Not a Drop to Drink
Communities across the San Joaquin Valley joined together on May 4 to demand help with the drinking water crisis faced by many of the San Joaquin Valley's unincorporated towns. Events were held in [...] Continue Reading
Nuclear Power in the Valley: Energy Reality or Speculative Myth?
Local proponents of nuclear power are leading a campaign to create a new generation of energy production based in the San Joaquin Valley. This effort seeks to build, somewhere in the west side of the [...] Continue Reading