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Category: Bakersfield

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

OP-ED: Kemet Immigration PSA Debuts at National Press Club, Earns Congressional Honor and NNPA Support

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), whose Black Press USA network carries the Kemet Youth Activity Sheets weekly to member publications nationwide, spotlighted a significant milestone for the youth-centered franchise this weekend. Supported in part by Washington Informer executive and NNPA leader Ron Burke, creator and executive producer Joe Young premiered his new PSA, Kemet: One Nation, Many Journeys, at the National Press Club on Saturday, December 9.

Stefi Mar December 16, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

California’s First Mobile Immersive Classroom Brings Virtual Reality Learning to Kern County

Kern Community College District (KCCD) has launched a new immersive learning initiative designed to bring cinematic, multisensory education directly to students across the region. Housed inside a mobile classroom equipped with vibrating seats, 360-degree visuals, and virtual controllers, the experience introduces students to a high-impact approach to learning science, technology, engineering, and math.

Stefi Mar December 10, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

LIHEAP Funds Released After Weeks of Delay as States and the District Rush to Protect Households from the Cold

The federal government has released $3.6 billion in home heating assistance after a delay that left states preparing for the start of winter without the program’s annual funding. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, helps eligible households pay heating and cooling bills. The release follows a shutdown that stretched 43 days and pushed agencies across the country to warn families of possible disruptions.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

A World Pulled Backward: Child Deaths Rise as Global Health Collapses Under Funding Cuts

The signs were visible to anyone willing to look. Clinics running out of medicine, health workers sent home in silence, and governments bracing for a wave they could no longer afford to stop. Now the evidence is written in hard numbers. For the first time this century, the number of children dying before their 5th birthday is rising. The Gates Foundation’s 2025 Goalkeepers Report states that 4.6 million children died before age 5 in 2024 and projects that the total will reach 4.8 million this year, reversing decades of progress in child survival.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

A Nation in Freefall While the Powerful Feast: Trump Calls Affordability a ‘Con Job’

There are seasons in this country when the struggle of ordinary Americans is not merely a condition but a kind of weather that settles over everything. It enters the grocery aisle, the overdue bill, the rent notice, and the long nights spent calculating how to get through the next week. The latest numbers show that this season has not passed. It has deepened.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Support Your Child’s Mental Health: Medi-Cal Covers Therapy, Medication, and More

When children struggle emotionally, it can affect every part of their lives — at home, in school, with friends, and even their physical health. In many Black families, we’re taught to be strong and push through. But our kids don’t have to struggle alone. Medi-Cal provides mental health care for children and youth, with no referral or diagnosis required.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
African Americans
Stefi Mar

2025 in Review: Seven Questions for Black Caucus Chair Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson

In November 2024, Dr. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) became the first African American south of Los Angeles County to be elected to the California State Senate. She is also board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist and founder of the Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology Division at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
African Americans
Stefi Mar

Race Shadows Every Assault on the Affordable Care Act

The battles over the Affordable Care Act were never only about policy or the price of insurance. They were never simply arguments about federal subsidies, individual mandates, or the markets that hold the system together. From the moment America elected a Black president and that president dared to place the health of the poor and the marginalized at the center of national law, a deeper truth rose to the surface. That truth has followed the country for centuries. It was waiting for its next target. The target became Barack Obama. The instrument became Obamacare.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

FBI Report Warns of Fear, Paralysis, And Political Turmoil Under Director Kash Patel

Six months into Kash Patel’s tenure as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a newly compiled internal report from a national alliance of retired and active-duty FBI agents and analysts delivers a stark warning about what the Bureau has become under his leadership. The 115-page document, submitted to Congress this month, is built entirely on verified reporting from inside field offices across the country and paints a picture of an agency gripped by fear, divided by ideology, and drifting without direction.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
African Americans
Stefi Mar

Congressional Black Caucus Comes Out Hard Against NCAA-Friendly Bill on College Athlete NIL Money

“It is a shame that organizations like the NCAA, who last year touted $1.4 billion in revenue — a $91 million increase from the prior year — have for so long been able to benefit from college athletes’ hard work and sacrifice while the athletes themselves are often exploited and mistreated,” a blunt Dec. 3 statement by the Congressional Black Caucus, in part, asserted. 

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

The Numbers Behind the Myth of the Hundred Million Dollar Contract

Odell Beckham Jr. did not spark controversy on purpose. He sat on The Pivot Podcast and tried to explain the math behind a deal that looks limitless from the outside but shrinks fast once the system takes its cut. He looked into the camera and tried to offer a truth most fans never hear. “You give somebody a five-year $100 million contract, right? What is it really? It is five years for sixty. You are getting taxed. Do the math. That is twelve million a year that you have to spend, use, save, invest, flaunt,” said Beckham. He added that buying a car, buying his mother a house, and covering the costs of life all chip away at what people assume lasts forever.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Teens Reject Today’s News as Trump Intensifies His Assault on the Press

The American press is facing a crisis deeper than shrinking newsrooms or digital disruption. A new study from the News Literacy Project finds that teenagers overwhelmingly believe the nation’s news media is fake, chaotic, and dishonest, a view that threatens the foundation of an informed society at the same time a sitting president intensifies his attacks on journalism. The findings land in an era where corporate consolidation, political pressure, and presidential intimidation collide with the public’s fading confidence in the institutions meant to hold power accountable.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

ACA Deadline Nears as 20 million Brace for Higher Health Costs

The Affordable Care Act subsidies that help more than 20 million people pay for health insurance are set to expire at the end of the month. Congress is running out of time to prevent steep premium hikes across the country, and families who rely on marketplace coverage face growing uncertainty while political leaders argue over what to do next.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

5 Tips for Strengthening Social Bonds During the Holidays

For many, the holiday season provides a unique opportunity to pause from daily responsibilities and focus on the people who matter most. While gift-giving and festivities are often the center of celebrations, the true value of the season lies in nurturing meaningful connections with friends, family, and community. Research shows that strong social ties are associated with improved mental and physical health, making connection powerful and lasting gifts we can share.

Stefi Mar December 9, 2025
Bakersfield
Kathleen Untalan

Traffic Advisory for Bakersfield Residents

facebooktwitterinstagram Drivers are encouraged to use alternate routes to bypass these areas during the specified times or to allow for extra travel time.    

Kathleen Untalan December 8, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

LIHEAP Funds Released After Weeks of Delay as States and the District Rush to Protect Households from the Cold

The federal government has released $3.6 billion in home heating assistance after a delay that left states preparing for the start of winter without the program’s annual funding. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, helps eligible households pay heating and cooling bills. The release follows a shutdown that stretched 43 days and pushed agencies across the country to warn families of possible disruptions.

Stefi Mar December 2, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

From Tulsa to Ghana, Mother Fletcher’s Long Journey Comes to a Close at 111

Mother Viola Fletcher, who carried the memory of Tulsa’s shame and the nation’s unfinished business longer than any other living soul, died on November 24 at age 111. She stood as the oldest known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the burning of Greenwood, and the attempted erasure of Black prosperity that white mobs tried to silence forever.

Stefi Mar December 2, 2025