Clovis layoffs sign of struggling local governments – Throughout the Valley, cities and counties are shedding workers at a pace unseen in years. Government jobs, which used to be considered stable, are becoming nearly as endangered as private-sector jobs. Fresno Bee article
Valley teachers, parents, students protest budget cuts – Valley teachers and their supporters joined thousands across the state in public demonstrations highlighting state budget cuts to education. Fresno Bee article; Bakersfield Californian article; Visalia Times-Delta article; Hanford Sentinel article; Merced Sun-Star article; Modesto Bee article; Stockton Record article; Lodi News-Sentinel article
Rural Kings water district squeezing to make every drop count – Actually, the delivered amount from the State Water Project is only 15 percent this year, but Dudley Ridge managers have cobbled together water transfers and water bank carryovers to eke their way up to the 55 percent equivalent. Hanford Sentinel article
Stanislaus doctors program loses its funding – The Stanislaus Family Medicine Residency Program, which has trained young doctors since 1975, has lost its federal funding and that has put its future in doubt. Modesto Bee article
Lodi nets $2.2 million in funding – With terms like "stimulus" and "shovel-ready" being tossed around, one thing is clear: Cities are pitching project proposals to anyone and everyone who will look at them. Lodi News-Sentinel article
San Joaquin homeowners obtain lowered property assessments in droves – Some 52,000 homeowners in San Joaquin County had their property tax lowered last year due to the decreasing value of their homes. That's about one-third of all the houses in the county. Lodi News-Sentinel article
Tough economy: Some child care spots open as parents lose jobs – It's tough to pinpoint the region's precise child care capacity because commercial and home-based centers open and close every month, but there's anecdotal evidence that vacancies are on the upswing. Bakersfield Californian article
Forest City ends downtown Fresno project – Forest City Enterprises on Friday abandoned the proposed South Stadium Project, a $300 million mix of housing and commercial businesses in downtown Fresno. Fresno Bee article
Central High athletes show strengths as reading mentors -- Central High School football players have traded weight-lifting time to read books to elementary students throughout the district, part of a new program to encourage reading and good health in their younger peers. Fresno Bee article
Effort to save Tulare rail line leads to change in Measure R – During the county's One Voice trip to the Capitol last month, local officials were told the rail line should be a top priority for federal funding requests, according to meeting minutes of the Tulare County Association of Governments, the agency charged with overseeing Measure R — the half-cent county sales tax dedicated to transportation projects. Visalia Times-Delta article
Web site keeps an eye on San Joaquin carbon – For years, scientists have struggled to pinpoint the many sources of carbon dioxide, a leading cause of climate change. For the first time, you can see some answers on your computer screen. A team of researchers has developed a Google Earth map that cuts up the carbon pie for every county in the United States. Stockton Record article
Growers seek prominence for Valley grapes – The valley group aims to raise the reputation of grapes grown between Stockton and Bakersfield. This stretch produces most of California's harvest, but at prices far below what growers get in Lodi, Napa and other premium areas. Modesto Bee article
Hay prices take a dive -- Alfalfa growers in the state, is experiencing one of the biggest price drops in recent memory. Last year, premium hay was selling for about $250 a ton. And early prices for premium hay from Imperial Valley, one of the state's leading producers, now are about $100 less a ton. Fresno Bee article
California canneries pay record tomato prices – After an extraordinary jump in tomato exports in 2008, California canneries are paying record prices and asking farmers to deliver a record crop. But drought is squeezing planting in key parts of the Central Valley, and it's not clear the state will be able to deliver on the 26.6 billion-pound request. Sacramento Bee article
Broadband gets boost in rural San Joaquin areas – Dozens of San Joaquin County households in areas near Lodi and Oakdale will gain access to high-speed Internet broadband services under incentive grant projects approved this week by state utility regulators. Stockton Record article
California's flu season is lightest in years – The flu season in California this winter is turning out to be one of the mildest in recent years. The number of severe influenza cases resulting in deaths in children is also down. There have been three pediatric influenza-associated deaths so far this winter, including one in Fresno County. LA Times article
Clinical trials slowed by lack of patients – Enrollment shortages have delayed or canceled trials on experimental therapies. Researchers are trying to reverse that trend, in part by using databases to connect patients with possible new cures. LA Times article
County Bank's demise leaves many questions – It didn't have to be this way. Maybe County Bank could have made it. Maybe a Dutch white knight could have rescued Merced's only publicly traded corporation. Merced Sun-Star article
Some feel burned as media spotlight shines of Sacramento homeless camp – Sacramento's humble "tent city" has gone international. Across the country and around the world, newspaper readers and television viewers are being introduced to the sprawling campground where 100 to 200 homeless men and women sleep each night. Sacramento Bee article
Marylee Shrider: Absence of newspapers hurts communities -- Love it or hate it, the local paper is the personality of a place and its people; a presence that aggravates, uplifts and informs. A presence many won't appreciate until it's gone. Shrider column in Bakersfield Californian