Category: Valleys

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

America’s Maternal and Infant Health Crisis Deepens

The March of Dimes has released its 2025 Report Card, and across the United States, the findings tell a story of mothers and infants facing preventable risks that too often lead to tragedy. The national preterm birth rate remains at 10.4 percent. Babies born to Medicaid-insured mothers experienced an 11.7 percent preterm birth rate, while babies born to mothers with private insurance recorded a 9.6 percent rate. For Black mothers, the rate climbed to 14.7 percent, the highest of any group in the country.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

What To Know About the CDC’s Baseless New Guidance on Autism

The rewriting of a page on the CDC’s website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wrecking the credibility of an agency they’ve long relied on for unbiased scientific evidence.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Do You Know About California’s Vehicle Safety and Disaster Mortgage Assistance Programs? Get Details

On Nov. 20, the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC) hosted an online forum with ethnic media outlets across the state to highlight two statewide programs that benefit all Californians: the CalAssist Mortgage Fund, which provides disaster-related mortgage relief, and Check to Protect, a vehicle-safety campaign led by the National Safety Council and supported by the California New Motor Vehicle Board.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

A Revolutionary Voice Falls Silent, but Questions About His Conviction Grow Louder

H. Rap Brown did not wait for permission to define himself. Long before federal agents called him a menace and politicians wrote laws in his name, he was a young man from Baton Rouge who believed the country needed an honest confrontation with its own history. Long before he died at 82 in a federal medical facility in North Carolina, he had already become Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a name he adopted after turning to Islam inside Attica.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Black Friday Frenzy: Deals That Matter and Smart Spending During Tough Times

Black Friday has officially evolved from a single-day frenzy to a full-month shopping marathon, and this year, the deals span from big-screen TVs to your grocery cart. Whether you’re price-checking online or supporting small businesses in Bakersfield, the savings are deep, early, and everywhere.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

The Perfumed Hand of Hypocrisy: Trump Hosted Former Terror Suspect While America Condemns a Muslim Mayor

They had the audacity, the gall, the hypocrisy to condemn Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, while opening the White House to a man their own government once called a terrorist. It was not long ago that the U.S. Embassy in Syria published a “Rewards for Justice” notice for Muhammad al-Jawlani, offering ten million dollars for his capture. His face, his name, and his crimes were displayed for the world to see. That poster remains online even now, an unaltered monument to America’s selective memory.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

‘They Don’t Return Home’: Cities Across US Fail To Curb Traffic Deaths

Kris Edwards waited at home with friends for his wife, Erika “Tilly” Edwards, to go out to dinner, but she never made it back to the house they had purchased only four days earlier. Around 9 p.m. on June 29, a hit-and-run driver killed Tilly as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Hollywood.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Her First Years, My Everything

facebooktwitterinstagram Pamela shared her story with ZERO TO THREE’s Believe In Babies national storytelling campaign. She reflected on the joy and growth of her daughter Ainsley while underscoring

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

COMMENTARY: Generation Z is the Battleground

Nine years ago, millennials reached a major milestone. Based on population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 was the year millennials officially surpassed baby boomers in becoming America’s largest living generation. Born between 1981 and 1996, the millennial generation includes anyone aged 29 to 44 in 2025. While Gen Z is now the second largest generation, by nat