Bakersfield
She Had a Broken Arm, No Insurance — And a $97,000 Bill
As soon as she fell, Deborah Buttgereit knew she couldn’t avoid going to the hospital.
Stefi Mar September 30, 2025
As soon as she fell, Deborah Buttgereit knew she couldn’t avoid going to the hospital.
California’s Senate Bill (SB) 694 — written to protect veterans and service members from predatory practices — is expected to receive a full vote by the Senate when the legislative session reconvenes in January 2026, according to the bill’s author, Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Los Angeles).
The Conrad Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., pulsed with history and urgency as the Black Press of America gathered for its Annual National Leadership Awards and Reception. The evening honored House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, and Communications Workers of America President Claude Cummings Jr. Cummings, who now serves on the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee, put the night into sharp focus.
Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has now broken a few records with his return to the air after doing battle with the Trump Administration.
facebooktwitterinstagram The California Legislature just concluded its legislative session on September 13, 2025, and sent Governor Newsom many significant and consequential legislation that can alter
When I first walked the streets of Bakersfield as a California Local News Fellow with the Bakersfield News Observer, I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond what I had read online. The drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to Bakersfield left me in awe of the beauty of the place I will now call home, stunning landscapes of the Central Valley, vast farmlands, and a desert-like climate where the air grew warmer with every mile. Still, I wondered if my time here would be easy or filled with challenges. Only the weeks ahead would tell. What I did know, though, was that to truly settle in, I had to “dance” with the community by introducing myself – “Hi, I’m Cecil Egbele, your new Bakersfield reporter” — and asking one essential question: What stories matter to you?
For a while, walking the dog felt hazardous.
Earl Vickers was accustomed to taking Molly, his shepherd-boxer-something-else mix, for strolls on the beach or around his neighborhood in Seaside, California. A few years ago, though, he started to experience problems staying upright.
Washington Post opinion editor Karen Attiah posted on her Substack, The Golden Hour, that she was fired last week by The Washington Post. According to Attiah, she was the last full-time Black opinion columnist at The Post, where she was employed for 11 years.
The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) released new data on Sept. 18 indicating a continuous demand for support and resources through California (CA) vs Hate, the state’s multilingual statewide hotline and online portal.
Both the California Assembly and Senate voted this month to advance Assembly Bill (AB) 1263, authored by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC).
When Judith Miller had routine blood work done in July, she got a phone alert the same day that her lab results were posted online. So, when her doctor messaged her the next day that her overall tests were fine, Miller wrote back to ask about the elevated carbon dioxide and low anion gap listed in the report.
Black student enrollment at Harvard Law School has rebounded. The incoming J.D. Class of 2028 includes 46 Black students, nearly returning to the averages seen between 2020 and 2023. That recovery comes only one year after the number collapsed to 19, the lowest since the 1960s.
“This is the worst I’ve felt about this country in years,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, standing on the House steps and talking about the state of play in the U.S. “I can’t imagine anyone voting against this resolution,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as members of the House, led by Republicans Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, considered a resolution to honor Charlie Kirk. Kirk was murdered on September 10 during an outdoor appearance at Utah Valley University.
For more than five years, Dr. Olumuyiwa Bamgbade carried the weight of lies that he should never have borne. He is a Black doctor, a healer by training, acquitted of false accusations that Canadian authorities and media were eager to trumpet but too arrogant, too complicit, to retract. The silence after his vindication was louder than the slander that preceded it. The cruelty is not simply in the malicious lies about him, but in the determination of a system to criminalize his very existence.
Gov. Gavin Newsom joined Democratic leaders and national influencers to rally support and funding for a November California ballot measure that seeks to redraw the state’s congressional maps, positioning it as a counter to Republican gerrymandering in Texas and other GOP-led states.
Devon Price, a 15-year-old boy with autism, has attended the largest school district in North Carolina for 10 years, but he cannot read or write. His twin sister, Danielle, who is also autistic, was bullied by classmates and became suicidal.
Incarcerated firefighters serving time in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation system are on edge as they await Gov. Gavin Newsom decision to sign or reject Assembly Bill (AB) 247.
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In the wake of the credible threats against nine HBCUs on Thursday, the UNCF Condemns Threats Against HBCUs and renews calls for federal government support to protect those historic majority Black schools.
It wasn’t someone from “the radical left.” It wasn’t an “illegal immigrant,” and it wasn’t a person of color. The suspect in the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a white Salt Lake City man whose father, according to reports, is a law enforcement officer who helped convince his son to surrender.