Valley Public Radio

'God Help You If You Have A Car Crash Today' – Health Officials Warn Of Overflowing Hospitals Aug 31, 2021

Coronavirus infections are now spreading faster in the San Joaquin Valley than in any other region of the state . And as hospitals reach critical capacity, health officials are warning that patient care is at risk. With more than 1,100 patients being treated with COVID-19 in area hospitals right now, rates of pandemic-related hospitalizations are rising almost as fast as they did during the devastating winter surge. “Our healthcare system is in a state of paralysis,” said Fresno County Emergency Medical Services Director Dan Lynch during a press briefing last week. Health agencies reported more than 11,300 new cases of the virus in the last week, a 7-day average not reported since the January surge. Seventy-five new COVID-related fatalities made this the Valley’s deadliest week since April. Unlike during previous surges, however, there’s a smaller pool of traveling nurses available to fill in gaps in care, and local hospitals don’t have the benefit of military doctors who were deployed

With Loved Ones Stranded In Afghanistan, Afghan Families In Fresno Face An Excruciating Wait Aug 27, 2021

An Afghan woman who asks to be called Sana places a spread of dried fruit and nuts on the dinner table in her small apartment. It’s in keeping with Afghan culture. “When we have guests, it's must,” she says, getting ready to pour a cup of tea. “You should serve them green tea or black tea.” She is still following tradition for the guests in her home tonight, even though all she can think of is her mother, sister, brother and sister-in-law. Sana’s family has been making the dangerous trip to the Kabul airport every night since mid-August, desperately trying to get inside, ahead of August 31, the U.S. deadline for withdrawal. “My sister-in-law is pregnant now. And they went there and then they had very trouble and bad time there because it was gun shooting everywhere,” she says. The Kabul airport is the only way out for civilians trying to flee the country. All the borders are closed. “So the flight is the only way that they have right now and I don't know what's going to happen,” she

CalMatters Reporter Laurel Rosenhall On Newsom Recall Election And Power Of Latino Voters Aug 27, 2021

Gov. Gavin Newsom has less than three weeks to convince voters to keep him in office, and recent polls indicate that the electorate is almost evenly split. To learn the latest on the recall, and why Latino voters could decide the election, Kathleen Schock spoke to Calmatters political reporter Laurel Rosenhall.

California Prison Poetry Contest Encourages Creativity Among The Incarcerated Aug 27, 2021

High school teacher and Fresno-based podcaster Jordan Mattox recently founded The California Prison Poetry Contest. He’s currently collecting short poems from incarcerated men and women throughout the state. Entrants have a chance to win cash prizes and be published in a literary magazine. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to Mattox about what he hopes to accomplish with the contest, and how the idea grew from conversations with his wife, who works as a psychologist at Avenal State Prison.

Kids Discovery Station Brings New Learning Opportunities To Merced Aug 27, 2021

A new children’s museum is opening to the public next month in Merced. It will be the first of its kind in the city’s history. To learn more about the Kids Discovery Station , Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke to one of its co-founders, UC Merced professor of applied mathematics, Mayya Tokman.

Valley Edition - August 27, 2021- Latino Voters And Recall, Local Music Venues, Poetry In Prisons Aug 27, 2021

On the next Valley Edition: The latest in the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, and why Latino voters could play a deciding role in the election’s outcome. Plus, we explore the return of live music to local venues and how those venues are dealing with the pandemic. And poetry written from inside California’s prisons . Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.

Bakersfield Police Department Agrees To Adopt Broad Policing Reforms Following State Investigation Aug 24, 2021

The California Department of Justice has reached an agreement Monday with the Bakersfield Police Department to implement a wide-range of policing reforms. The state began its investigation in 2016 following a surge of citizen complaints, said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The California Department of Justice launched an investigation that in our estimation revealed that the Bakersfield Police Department failed to uniformly and adequately enforce the law, leading to a pattern or practice of conduct that deprived Bakersfield residents of their constitutional protections.” The investigation alleged that the Bakersfield Police Department’s conduct resulted in unreasonable use of force, unreasonable stops, searches, arrests and seizures. Among other actions, the investigation found the use of unreasonable deadly force against those with mental health disabilities, failure to adequately address civilian complaints, failure to provide meaningful access to police services to individuals with

Crisis Of Homelessness And Affordable Housing In Fresno; Transitioning From The Streets To Shelter Aug 20, 2021

Reggie Bess has been building his coin collection for the past 30 years. “And so this is my penny collection, this is what I'm working on today,” he says unfolding a cardboard panel with rows of coins. When he lost his home two years ago, he parted with a lot of other things but his coin collection? It mattered too much. “That there is 1884,” he says pointing to a penny in his collection. But now he doesn’t have to drag it from place to place. He’s relieved to have a motel room to himself. He just moved into the Travel Inn off Parkway Drive. “It's been a struggle. It's really good to be in a place where there's running water and light and air conditioning,” he says. Before he received a room, he was living in a tent off Highway 99. “If you lived in the dirt for any period of time, this is a Godsend, this is a blessing and I know that,” Bess says. An outreach team from the Poverello House contacted him about getting a room about a month before the move happened. It was all part of the

Wildfire Smoke In 2020 Led To More Valley COVID Cases, Deaths, Says New Study Aug 20, 2021

Last year, the western states were hit with a double-whammy of natural disasters: Not just the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a historically long and intense wildfire season that blanketed the region with plume after plume of noxious smoke. The confluence of those two was deadly: A study published recently in the peer-reviewed research journal Science Advances estimated that wildfire smoke in 2020 exacerbated the effects of COVID by leading to as many as 20,000 cases and more than 700 deaths in just California, Washington and Oregon. According to county-level data provided to KQED by the researchers, one of the most affected regions was the San Joaquin Valley . In this interview, KVPR’s Kerry Klein sat down with senior author Francesca Dominici, a biostatistician at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the co-director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative, to learn more about the study and its implications for public health.

Valley Edition - August 20, 2021 - Wildfire And COVID Deaths, Redistricting, Fresno Art Museum Aug 20, 2021

On this week's Valley Edition: Fresno's homeless and affordable housing crisis has exploded in the wake of the pandemic. We take a closer look at the struggle to find shelter for the unhoused and the city policies in place to offer relief. And a new study from Harvard explores the link between wildfire smoke and COVID deaths last year. Plus, how will the decennial process of redistricting shape politics in the Valley? And the Fresno Art Museum reopens to the public .

Fresno Art Museum's Executive Director On Weathering The Pandemic And Reopening To The Public Aug 20, 2021

Last week, the Fresno Art Museum reopened its doors to the general public. It was a long awaited moment for the institution and art lovers in Fresno. To learn how it went and what new exhibits are on the horizon, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with the museum’s executive director and chief curator Michelle Ellis Pracy.

Breaking Down How California Redraws Its Political Maps Aug 20, 2021

Now that the 2020 census data has been released, the work is on to redraw California’s political maps. To learn how the process is going and the political implications for the San Joaquin Valley, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with Lori Pesante, director of civic engagement for the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Allen Bolar, political science professor at Bakersfield College and Don Simmons, retired sociology professor at Fresno State.

In Mariposa County, An ‘Explosive’ Jump In COVID-19 Cases Since July Aug 18, 2021

In the last month, Mariposa County has surged from one of the state’s lowest rates of new COVID-19 cases to one of its highest. As a result, county supervisors recently approved mask and vaccine mandates for county employees. As of July 15, Mariposa County had reported 472 total cases of COVID-19 among its 17,000 residents. By August 15, that total had risen to 662 – a jump of more than 40 percent in just one month. “You’re seeing just an explosive increase in the number of COVID patients, and then seeing a similar rise in the number of patients being hospitalized,” said County Health Officer Dr. Eric Sergienko. Six county residents are currently being treated in hospitals, up from lows of one and even zero COVID-positive patients during most of the spring and early summer. This week, the county also reported its first COVID-related death since February, bringing the total now to eight fatalities since the pandemic began. Sergienko attributes the recent surge to the loosening of mask

ICE Violated Its Own Medical Standards, USC Study Shows; Mesa Verde Detainees Aren’t Surprised Aug 13, 2021

Gabriel has been detained at the Mesa Verde Processing Facility for 15 months. He agreed to speak with KVPR but only if we didn’t use his last name. He says he’s afraid of retaliation from ICE. Detention has been especially hard during COVID. It was a battle, he says, just to get tested. “It was bad, so bad,” he says in Spanish. “They were supposed to be testing us and the employees when I got there, but they weren't.” A judge agreed it was bad. On August 6th, 2020, after several protests including hunger strikes occured, a judge issued a second temporary restraining against ICE. It stated that the agency had “avoided widespread testing of staff and detainees at the facility, not for lack of tests but for fear that positive test results would require them to implement safety measures.” The order required ICE to provide weekly COVID-19 testing and to return rapid test results to all detainees. Gabriel’s medical file shows he took a COVID test on August 3rd, three days before the order

A Wave Of Excitement As Valley Schools Reopen But COVID Concerns Still Loom Aug 13, 2021

The school bell is ringing, signaling the end of the first day back at school at Lowell Elementary near downtown Fresno. Parents gather just outside the gates of the campus, eagerly waiting to pick up their children. Some stand under the shade, while others wait in a line of cars. Slowly, students begin filing out of class. The once-empty playground is now filled with kids and the bustle of parents and siblings arriving to pick their student out of the crowd. Martha Samaniego is a teacher on special assignment. Today, she’s the crossing guard on duty. With a watchful eye, she maneuvers groups of students and families safely across the busy street. “Felicity, how was your first day?” Samaniego asks a student as she helps her and her family cross the street. “Awesome! So glad to hear that.” Samaniego says she’s relieved that kids are finally back on campus. “This is our first day with students after being away for so long, so it’s been great,” she says as she scans the traffic on Poplar

Valley Edition - August 13, 2020 - Disability Equity Project, Mesa Verde, Stonewall Art Exhibition Aug 13, 2021

On the next Valley Edition: In Fresno County, the Disability Equity Project is offering targeted support to those impacted by COVID-19. Plus, a new study from the USC Medical Center shows ICE violated its own internal medical care standards during a seven-year period. Current and former detainees at Mesa Verde in Bakersfield tell us they’re not surprised. And an art exhibition on the Stonewall uprising opens at Fresno State . Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above.

Stonewall Uprising Art Exhibit Travels To Fresno State Aug 13, 2021

In 2019 the Brooklyn Museum in New York hosted an exhibition looking at art 50 years after the Stonewall uprising, a landmark moment in LGBTQ history. And on Thursday that exhibit will open for a second time at the Phebe Conley Art Gallery Fresno State. The exhibition, which runs through October, is presented by the university’s Center for Creativity and the Arts. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with its director, Cindy Urrutia, and Liz Looney with The James B. McClatchy Foundation, which is funding the exhibit.

Fresno County Nonprofits Provide COVID Support Through Disability Equity Project Aug 13, 2021

This week the Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted to extend funding for the Disability Equity Project, a coalition of six local organizations that serve individuals and families living with a wide-range of disabilities. For the past year, these organizations have worked in partnership to help their clients through the pandemic. Exceptional Parents Unlimited, which supports children with special medical and developmental needs, has served as the project’s lead agency. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with its chief executive officer, Lowel Ens, about how how the coalition was formed and what its future holds.

KQED Reporter Alexandra Hall On Vaccine Hesitancy Aug 13, 2021

As the Delta variant continues to spread throughout the San Joaquin Valley, so do calls from public health officials to increase vaccination rates. But as KQED’s Central Valley reporter Alexandra Hall has learned, the reasons why some are avoiding the shot can be more complicated than many think. Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with her about what she’s found.

From New York To Tehachapi: A Traveling Nurse On The Trauma Of Treating COVID Aug 06, 2021

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve relied not just on the medical providers based at our local hospitals, but also traveling nurses who move from place to place, filling in wherever help is needed. One such nurse, Grover Nicodemus Street, is a military veteran based in Colorado. So far during the pandemic, he has served in five different states, ranging from major population centers like New York City and Miami to the rural town of Tehachapi. He recently published a book about traveling from COVID hotspot to hotspot called Chasing the Surge . In this interview, FM89’s Kerry Klein spoke with him about his experience, first by asking why he said in another recent interview , that “war doesn’t even compare to COVID.”

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