The Bakersfield Californian
‘This is going to become their home’
Starting in early December, Central Valley veterans will have a brand-new, 30,000-square-foot outpatient clinic in Bakersfield where they can receive their care. U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, flanked by U.S. Reps. Vince Fong,...
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Adventist Health unveils pavilion, consolidating advanced care of ferings
If Thursday’s unveiling of a $30 million healthcare center in downtown Bakersfield seemed more like a party than a ribbon-cutting, it’s because there was much to celebrate — more, anyway, than the obvious reason. Yes, Adventist Health’s new Advanced...
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Justices delve into constitutional questions swirling in river case
California Supreme Court justices wasted no time Wednesday jumping into the deep end of several complex issues at the heart of an ongoing lawsuit over flows in the Kern River. Within a few minutes of attorney Kevin Bundy’s opening address on behalf...
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Changing the narrative
Dignity Health and the Comprehensive Blood & Cancer Center highlighted an advancement in local cancer treatment Tuesday morning. However, this treatment, called cold capping or scalp cooling, doesn’t help patients beat cancer so much as it may help...
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National progressives rally for Villegas in Bakersfield
For the second time in a week, national politicians were in Bakersfield to stump for local candidates. On Sunday, it was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who urged local residents to vote for Randy Villegas, the progressive Democrat running for the 22nd...
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GET GOES PINK
The mood was both joyful and, at times, solemn, as Golden Empire Transit gathered nearly 40 employees, well-wishers and community partners Friday morning to launch its new GET GOES PINK bus designed to raise awareness of breast cancer and promote early...
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Valley needs more doctors. New medical schools are years away
California’s San Joaquin Valley needs more doctors. The roughly 250-mile region, stretching from Stockton to Bakersfield, has about 200 physicians per 10,000 residents, according to the California Healthcare Foundation. In the Bay Area, that ratio is...
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US House speaker stumps for Valadao in Bakersfield
Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on much these days but it seems both sides agree: California’s 22nd Congressional District is one of the most critical races of the 2026 election. “There’s not a stop that I will make that is more important than...
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‘Real work’
America certainly has its share of rock stars, but the Kern High School District’s Regional Occupational Center has Mario Lizarraga. ROC’s automotive collision teacher likely already had something approaching rock star status at the southeast...
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Students learn determination, poise under pressure and hard work showing their animals
Even as fairgoers munch down on funnel cakes and corn dogs, test their skill (or luck) at the balloon darts and ring toss, and maybe get a kiss at the top of the Ferris wheel, FFA and 4-H kids are spending countless hours this week working with their...
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Timeless connections
Three honorees graduated together from Ridgeview High School in 2005. And two of them were first grade classmates. A husband and wife were honored. So, too, was a woman whose husband was selected for the same honor last year. Bakersfield Life...
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Church growth often means moving to a larger space — but who’ll buy the old property?
A house of God isn’t like other real estate. It tends to have one large gathering space, for example, along with smaller classrooms, offices, a kitchen and other support space. So, what happens when a church that owns such a property decides it’s time...
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Fun around every corner at the Kern County Fair
When NaTesha Johnson addressed the media ahead of a tour of the Kern County Fairgrounds, she could have easily been speaking to the hundreds who would pour through the gates hours later when the Kern County Fair opened to the public. “It’s hot and I...
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Open for business
The Kern County fairgrounds were bustling with activity Tuesday morning as vendors, contractors, fair staff and hundreds of others worked to get ready for the fair’s opening. The Kern County Fair opens to the public at 4 p.m. today but a day earlier,...
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CRC, Chevron managers highlight value of permitting certainty, even amid tough regulations
Tough standards are one thing. Local oil producers may not like California’s ever-stricter regulations, but as a general rule, they don’t mind them nearly as much as they dislike uncertainties in permitting. It’s when oil companies do their best to...
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Neither Becerra nor Hilton will commit to AI safety guidelines laid out by Gov. Gavin Newsom
As governments and political leaders increasingly push for regulations to rein in artificial intelligence, neither candidate for California governor has committed to firm policies on AI safety, including two requirements Gov. Gavin Newsom called for...
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‘Give them their names back’
It was a lone worker who first realized that something unthinkable had occurred along the bank of a canal near Union Avenue in central Bakersfield. But the mystery that began on that April night in 1923 with the man’s discovery of the lifeless body of...
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High-speed rail consultants f lew f irst-class, visited bars and a nightclub on taxpayers’ money
California’s High Speed Rail Authority paid nearly $600,000 in unallowable travel expenses to “questionable locations that appear unrelated to state business,” including trips to gyms, a nightclub, an escape room, a tiki bar and a cigar lounge over a...
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‘A time to really reflect’
Bakersfield College kicked off its annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration Tuesday, bringing students, staff, faculty and community members together for an afternoon of food, live music, guest speakers and cultural activities at the Panorama...
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CSUB celebrates expanded food pantry, services center
Tucked in the corner of a new building on Cal State Bakersfield’s campus, The Nest looks more like a corporate convenience store for students and staff than a food pantry. But like all food pantries, everything on the shelves is free, donated to help...
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‘WE REMAINED RESILIENT’
“We will never forget.” It’s a pledge made countless times over the past 25 years, a solemn promise that America and Americans will always remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and will continue to honor the 2,977 people who lost their...
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WE REMEMBER, 25 YEARS LATER
Kern County resident Hal Friedman was a college student attending New York University. But that morning, exactly 25 years ago today, he was sleeping in because he didn’t have any morning classes. He and his wife at the time, Chelsea Zent, were living...
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‘A hard road for all of us caregivers’
Bakersfield has been without a free day program for adults with Alzheimer’s disease since April, but local advocates are hoping that could soon change. The Alzheimer’s Disease Association of Kern County closed its doors after 44 years in Bakersfield...
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‘We’re not finished making history yet’
Industry, government and academic leaders gathered at Cal State Bakersfield Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the award of $6.8 million in state grant money to support a series of aerospace and defense projects in eastern Kern. The brief event focused on...
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Foothill’s ‘Ned and Pat Show’ mixes Friday dining, football
Ned Permenter has never been at a loss for words. He loves to tell stories. Pat Carlotti has a passion for preservation of time, events, people and being accountable to the history that is created. So during Foothill High School’s football season, the...
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‘WE DON’T HAVE ANY WAY TO DEFEND OURSELVES’
Virtually every weekday, two batches of immigrants who have been held for months in federal custody are released directly onto the streets of downtown Bakersfield. Some have criminal backgrounds and can’t speak English. Many have little or no money,...
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With Becerra’s backing, Hurtado kicks off state Senate campaign
State Sen. Melissa Hurtado rallied supporters in Bakersfield Thursday backed by state and local Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra. The Bakersfield Democrat is seeking her third term as a state senator and told supporters she...
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Almond hulls may be headed to grocery store near you
Good news for almond lovers: There’s a part of the nut you probably didn’t even know about that might one day show up in cereals or even energy bars. Almond hulls — not the kernel, not the shell, but the part that most people never see — have been...
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‘Saved and celebrated’
The local nonprofit Citizens Preserving History is teaming up with Kern County’s director of airports to display 10 portraits of historic Bakersfield Sound musicians inside the airport terminal, where they will welcome travelers and visitors to...
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‘The dignity of work’
When the crew of three entered the block-long section of a downtown alley between 18th and 19th streets Monday, their truck bed and trailer were already heaped with large-item trash. But there was plenty of small-item trash, too, strewn up and down...
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‘Over our dead bodies’
A nascent proposal by Arizona to fill the water gap from its dwindling Colorado River and groundwater supplies by reaching into California’s rivers likely won’t go over well in the Golden State. “Over our dead bodies” was the response envisioned by...
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CAPK announces changes, donations during launch of Food Hunger Month
Hunger Action Month serves a critical purpose every year in Kern County, and the local community generally steps up to meet the need. But as attendees of Thursday’s kickoff event learned, a few factors make this year’s occasion especially...
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‘I was getting there’
He’s led the Kern County Sheriff’s office and the Kern County Coroner’s Office for nearly two decades, and served some 30 years previously as a sheriff’s deputy. In those 50 years, Donny Youngblood has celebrated success, navigated challenges and...
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End of an era
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood dropped a figurative bombshell at Tuesday’s meeting of the Kern County Board of Supervisors by announcing he will retire in January at the end of what would have been his current term had it not been extended. “Mr....
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‘We are praying for Bakersfield'
A teenager’s fatal shooting Friday night at a high school football game in southwest Bakersfield has prompted a crackdown on local gang activity and a communitywide soul-searching about youth violence. Gunfire shortly after 8 p.m. at Independence...
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Mosquito Control officials warn it may BE just A matter of time before dengue fever arrives
Some Kern County scientists and mosquito-abatement professionals are acknowledging that dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness also known as “breakbone fever,” will likely be seen in locally acquired cases in Kern County. But it’s impossible to say...
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‘Magic happens’
Something amazing is happening at the Bakersfield City School District as the fall term gets underway. Ten years ago, BCSD had 26 credentialed visual and performing arts teachers to cover arts education at the district’s more than 40 school sites....
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Beloved fabric store in east Bakersfield faces possible closure unless buyer steps up
Local shoppers are in mourning this week after owners of a popular fabric store in east Bakersfield warned they may have to close the shop unless it can be sold soon. Social media posts this week by Floraea and Marcel Sescu say they face medical...
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Downtown buildings getting attention as part of housing ef fort
Neighboring buildings that have seen better days in downtown Bakersfield are being transformed, however haltingly, into housing for the area’s young workforce. The properties — The Georgian Building at 2025 18th St. and the former Fountain Plaza...
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Pistachio growers brace for crop losses after difficult winter weather
Erratic weather earlier this year has disrupted the Central Valley’s pistachio industry to a degree not seen in more than a decade, slashing crop size estimates at a time of surging global demand for the nut. Growers say an unusually warm winter that...
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‘We love to watch them grow and learn’
The streets around Old River Elementary School were swarmed with children and their families Wednesday morning for the first day of the 2026-27 school year. In the campus courtyard, hundreds of students and their families greeted familiar teachers and...
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An oil field became California’s first carbon vault. Who’s responsible if something goes wrong?
Nearly four years ago, California lawmakers ordered state regulators to prepare for an industry that promised a new way to fight climate change: permanently burying carbon dioxide underground. The law called for rules governing how companies would...
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The sounds of freedom
Music, speeches and tributes in celebration of the United States’ semiquincentennial filled Beale Memorial Library on Friday afternoon. The America’s 250th Celebration Concert was a joint performance featuring Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra musicians...
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First work, then inspiration and play for Grimmway interns on National Intern Day
More than a dozen Grimmway Produce Group interns used garden tools, gloved hands and the sweat of their brow to clear weeds and old plants from raised beds Thursday morning at Cal State Bakersfield’s Edible Garden. It was National Intern Day, and also...
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‘Extraordinary generosity’
Dozens of Garces Memorial High School parents, students, alumni, faculty, friends and benefactors gathered Wednesday morning at the historic northeast Bakersfield campus to celebrate the near completion of the first phase of the high school’s...
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After 48 years, local cold case gets incredible, bittersweet breakthrough
It was a lone tractor operator who first realized that something terrible had occurred at the vineyard he was working in off South Wheeler Ridge Road near Arvin. It was June 1978, and when homicide detectives from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office...
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California can’t replant its forests fast enough to keep up with wildfires
Awindowless warehouse on the outskirts of Davis shelters pieces of California’s forests. Icy air swirls and fogs around 42,000 pounds of seeds — the past and the future of these trees, frozen in cardboard boxes. It smells like the woods on a snowy...
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Letter from desperate business owner may have inspired a partial solution
The ongoing 19th Street Improvement Project surely has great potential, maybe enough to dramatically transform a section of downtown Bakersfield that has struggled for decades with a negative public image. But a side effect of the construction for...
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Journey of discovery
More than 200 student artists had the rare chance to display their work in a real gallery Thursday afternoon during a special community art exhibition at the Arts Council of Kern in downtown Bakersfield. And their art is staying there for two...
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A river won’t run through city come end of July
The city of Bakersfield will shut off water to the Kern River through town as of July 31, according to a press release issued Wednesday. The city has kept the river flowing to The Park at River Walk since April using its river rights beyond what has...
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BE SAFE IN THE HEAT
Bakersfield’s summer heat can be relentless this time of year. And as temperatures rise, it’s important to know how to stay safe and to be able to recognize symptoms of overheating and dehydration. Blue Zones Project Bakersfield and Skye’s the Limit...
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Can the state do more?
It’s not quite the “Mississippi Miracle,” but California’s reading scores have been inching upward since the state poured billions into changing the way students learn to read. A shortage of literacy coaches, however, may be preventing students from...
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ICE has detained more than 650 children in California
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has detained more than 650 children in California under President Donald Trump’s second term, an EdSource analysis of federal data has found. Most arrests happened in California communities, rather than at the...
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Trump raises doubts about past elections
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used a primetime address to the nation Thursday to once again raise doubts about the results of past elections, reviving a subject he’s long used to make unproven claims and deny his loss in the 2020...
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Summer Nights with BPD
Local families braved the heat Wednesday evening to enjoy a community event put on by the Bakersfield Police Department. Officers at the two-hour Summer Nights with BPD event at Beale Park gave out free food and treats. Others demonstrated the...
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‘Psychological war’
Undercover police operations are proliferating in California jails — even after suspects invoke their rights When Jason Zapata was arrested for allegedly firing a gun into the air, he was thrown in a dimly lit holding cell with trash strewn across the...
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Indigenous technology restored
Sometimes life is like geometry, making things come full circle and causing the lines of people’s lives to intersect for a greater purpose. This is what appears to have happened in the case of an ancient Paiute artifact in the shape of a duck that was...
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tonight’s picks
Big Brother KBAK 8 p.m. During this latest episode, shifting alliances keep housemates on edge as confusion spreads and suitcases are avoided. Everyone hopes they aren’t next to be sent packing while host Julie Chen Moonves quietly trims names off her...
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Hear their stories
Documentary filmmaker Julian Wilson got his start in film by telling the stories of athletes competing at Cal State Bakersfield, his alma mater. But later, when he began listening closely to the personal stories of American military veterans, old and...
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Therapy in a tent
Like many people who are or have been homeless, Jessica Scott struggles with debilitating anxiety. When she finally moved from her stepfather’s car into a Sacramento apartment a few weeks ago, she said one thing played a major role in helping her take...
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Who is Steve Hilton?
When Steve Hilton first came to live in California, the political strategist had already gone through a few rebrands. It was 2008 and the British Conservative Party was ascendant after a decade of losses. Hilton, a top adviser to future Prime Minister...
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Independence Day block party extravaganza comes to an end after 40 years in Haggin Oaks
The crowd whose folding chairs filled Ed Thomas’ driveway Saturday witnessed quite a spectacle: spinning, crackling walls of fireworks; choreographed music and light displays; and an emotional unfurling to cap a full evening of Fourth of July...
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The search for 59563
The remains of a crew of 12 Americans have been waiting 81 years to be found in the lonesome waters off Indonesia. The families of those crewmembers have also been waiting. But one family in particular, the O’Kane family of Bakersfield, has for three...
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July 1 means fireworks sales begin
Wednesday marked the start of July and it was also the first chance for Mary Nava to check out the new offerings at the TNT fireworks stand in the parking lot of Fabulous Burgers at 3004 Airport Drive. “For me it’s a big deal, and I’m ready,” Nava...
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Amid slowed growth, county approves $4.4 billion budget
The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a $4.4 billion budget Tuesday as the county faces rising costs but modest revenue growth. Speaking to supervisors Tuesday, county staff said departments had worked hard to limit cost increases and still...
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