The Bakersfield Californian
Homelessness increases 3%, latest Bakersfield count shows
Homelessness in the greater Bakersfield area increased by 3.2% in the last year, according to the 2026 Point in Time count, representing what local officials called a flattening of the curve of homelessness. A total of 2,690 people were counted as...
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Three honored as Kern County Teacher of the Year finalists
More than 50 Kern County teachers who were named Teacher of the Year in their school districts were honored Thursday evening at the annual Kern County Education Champions of the Year celebration at Bell Tower Plaza in downtown Bakersfield. But near...
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‘Funding food’
Food banks and pantries in Kern County and up and down the state have been under stress following federal cuts to food assistance last year. Early Wednesday morning, food bank advocates and administrators met at the Bakersfield College Renegade Pantry...
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They answer the call for Californians in mental distress. The money is running out
On an early spring evening in Glendale, a 37-year-old woman is withdrawn and weak from refusing food and water for several days. Her mother calls for help. She tells a crisis counselor her daughter has been hearing voices, and has expressed needing to...
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The ‘fun’ in fundraising
Thousands of people participated in the 35th running of Relay for Life Bakersfield on Saturday and Sunday at the Kern County Fairgrounds. Cancer survivors led the way on the opening lap of the annual fundraiser as cheerleaders celebrated and...
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Fourth local legend honored
It’s been three years since local country music icons Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, and NASCAR racing legend Kevin Harvick, became the first local figures to be honored on the Oildale Wall of Fame. At the time of the 2023 unveiling of those three...
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Early 20th century exhibition racers at Minter Field will be back Friday and Saturday
Minter Field Air Museum is known for highlighting the history of the warbirds of World War II and the men who flew them. And why not? More than 11,000 combat pilots learned to fly at what was then known as Minter Field Army Airfield. But on Thursday,...
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Little libraries club promotes community engagement at West High
It probably came as no surprise that in 2024 West High formed a “little libraries” club, given the lack of free book distribution sites in the surrounding area and the school’s need to raise students’ reading skills. But who knew a group that has...
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End of Watch
VISALIA — A powerful show of unity and respect filled the sanctuary of First Assembly of God as hundreds gathered to honor Tulare County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Hoppert, who lost his life in the line of duty on April 9 in Porterville. Law enforcement...
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Public Health seeks volunteers to help spread valley fever facts
Valley fever remains a constant risk in Kern County, and to that end, county public health officials are recruiting volunteers to help spread awareness. “Our county consistently reports the highest number of valley fever cases in California, and the...
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It’s good to be No. 1
Winners of The Bakersfield Californian’s 2026 Best of Readers’ Choice Poll were the guests of honor Thursday evening at a grand party at the Kern County Museum’s Neon Plaza. “Enjoy being No. 1 for the next year!” Publisher Terri Leifeste said,...
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‘We’re here for each other’
Hundreds of people, many of them carrying signs and wearing shirts bearing images of lost loved ones, gathered in downtown Bakersfield Thursday for the annual victims’ rights vigil and march. “Tonight, we pay special emphasis on (victims of) homicide...
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Retiring BPD Chief Greg Terry honored for decades of service
The City Council and staff honored Bakersfield Police Chief Greg Terry for his decades of service to the community Wednesday, ahead of his retirement at the end of the month. “I don’t know anyone in my professional experience who has demonstrated a...
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‘Into modern times’
School officials celebrated the renaming of a student lounge inside Cal State Bakersfield’s Student Union for The Wonderful Company Tuesday after the ag giant made a $1.5 million donation to rehabilitate an aging building on the west side of...
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Taking responsibility
More than 2,000 volunteers in myriad crews tackled the responsibility of spiffing up Bakersfield on Saturday at the 23rd annual Great American Cleanup. Volunteers swept up litter, took care of community gardens and supported beautification...
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CSUB opens doors to STEM tutoring center
Kern County’s increasing need for students who excel at math, engineering, technology and science received extra attention Friday morning as Cal State Bakersfield officially opened an educational support center partly funded by money from...
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Pastoria Solar Project completes ‘trifecta’ of solar, battery and efficient natural gas generation
Hundreds of energy industry leaders, officials from the California Department of Water Resources, elected officials and labor leaders gathered Thursday at the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains south of Bakersfield to mark the completion of the largest...
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‘Building their future’
Families will soon start moving into the new Auburn Vista Apartments in northeast Bakersfield after local officials celebrated the project’s completion with a ribbon-cutting Wednesday. Work began on the 60-unit complex in December 2024, and about half...
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‘An absolute time machine’
British-born World War II veteran Ron Holdsworth handled Friday morning’s flight in an open-cockpit Stearman biplane like he was 22 again. Maybe that’s because the 104-year-old earned his wings more than 80 years ago when he flew dozens of combat...
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After 30 years, Adventist Health’s mobile immunization clinic still on the road
The children’s mobile immunization clinic, operated by Adventist Health and funded by First 5 Kern, has been around for decades — and on Wednesday morning, the medical team aboard was already busy with walk-in traffic in the parking lot of the Kern...
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A Small legacy
For decades many local families felt it necessary to take their seriously ill children out of Kern County to find the kind of pediatric care that wasn’t available at home. But on Tuesday, there was evidence of seismic change in that arena, said Ken...
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Hop on in for candy!
A stampede of egg-hunters turned out Saturday for North of the River Recreation & Park District’s annual Easter egg hunt. Little ones got occasional assistance from their parents as they fanned out across Emerald Cove Park searching for goodies. The...
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Stations of the Cross at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church
Parishioners gathered at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church on Good Friday for a traditional reflection on the Stations of the Cross. The stations symbolize the path Jesus walked from the Lions’ Gate to Mount Calvary. They help Christian faithful...
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Vandal hits Chavez mural already slated for removal downtown
The words “believe survivors” have been spraypainted in gold beneath the eyes of César Chávez, the now-disgraced labor leader, on a mural in downtown Bakersfield near the corner of 18th and L streets. Building co-owner JohnPaul Lake declined Thursday...
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Next big project at Kern County Museum could be a honky-tonk event center
The Kern County Museum board has OK’d a preliminary plan by Executive Director Mike McCoy to turn a building in Pioneer Village into a much-needed events venue. The Red Bank Jack Plant building, just north of the old jail and courthouse, is actually a...
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Porter pledges softer approach to oil, still leans toward green transition
During a visit to the heart of California’s oil patch, Democratic candidate for governor Katie Porter said Tuesday the state isn’t in a position to be decreasing its energy production, including from fossil fuels, but that it should still transition to...
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Vietnam War Army triage nurse shares war stories during downtown Bakersfield ceremony
By June 1968, Donna C. Rowe was a captain and a nurse at one of the largest and busiest military hospitals in Vietnam, 3rd Field Hospital, near Saigon. On Saturday, a lifetime later, the Georgia resident was in downtown Bakersfield fulfilling the role...
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Fun and fundraising
Build a boat out of cardboard and you’re bound to get wet. Race 12 boats built out of cardboard and it may be the funniest thing you’ve seen in a while. Garces Memorial High School hosted its fifth annual Engineering Day at the Salvucci Aquatic Center...
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‘So much variety’
It’s not always easy for high school students when they are expected to turn their attention toward a future career, not just an education. But Julian Bonner, 17, a junior at Golden Valley High School, says the process has become easier for him thanks...
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Feeding God’s creatures
First they fueled up early Wednesday morning at Dagny’s Coffee downtown. Then the Monsibais girls, Olivia, 8, and Sophia, 9, piled into their papa’s 1960 Ford pickup with Bocephus, a sweet golden doodle, as their furry companion. The mission: Hand out...
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Lack of quorum forces supervisors to hold off on occupancy agreement for Family Justice Center
The Kern County Board of Supervisors was unable to vote Tuesday morning on an occupancy agreement for the Family Justice Center after state conflict-of-interest laws reduced the voting board to only two members from the usual five, not enough for a...
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Race inspires purposeful moments for everyone
Every participant in Sunday’s ninth running of the Bakersfield Marathon — whether it was the full, the half, the 10K or the 6K — did so with purpose. Runners young and old competed. Kids filmed with their mom’s cellphone as she crossed the finish line...
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Adventist Health Bakersfield invites 4 new doctors to second year of its residency program
Dr. Sagar Mehta is originally from Pomona in Southern California, but his journey toward becoming a practicing physician has brought him to Bakersfield, and according to Mehta, he would like to stay for the long term. “I’ve been here for almost 3½...
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State to rename holiday as Chávez fallout continues
California lawmakers are moving quickly to rename César Chávez Day before the March 31 state holiday following publication of allegations the late United Farm Workers labor leader sexually abused minors and union co-founder Dolores Huerta. “This...
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Reports of abuse by César Chávez spur reactions
The legacy of labor leader César Chávez appeared to implode Wednesday following allegations he committed repeated sexual assaults against victims including United Farm Workers union co-founder Dolores Huerta, fathering two of her children. The New...
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Everyone wants to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day
At age 7, Declan Dailey was the youngest patron at Sandrini’s Public House on Tuesday. But Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day, and the boy was a dead ringer for a leprechaun in training with his toothy grin and a green T-shirt that read, “Happy go...
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‘We’re on fire for this’
Hall Ambulance emergency medical technicians Jonathan Martin and Joshua Ovalle were on a call at a patient’s home. The man described his symptoms as feeling weak and dizzy, needing to sit down. And there was more. The two EMTs began thinking...
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Soaring to Sacramento
The 2025-26 Bakersfield Christian High School boys basketball team will play Fresno’s San Joaquin Memorial in the CIF State Division 2 championship game at 4 p.m. today at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. But first, on Friday morning, Eagles players...
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Nonprof it of fers life-changing scuba training to veterans at CSUB
Cal State Bakersfield computer science major Daniel Harris admitted feeling a bit “apprehensive” Thursday morning. The 30-year-old U.S. Army veteran is no stranger to facing new challenges — in fact, he thrives on doing just that. But something about...
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Liberty High students learn from vets at annual Veterans Appreciation Day
There are many ways to help teens gain a true appreciation for the service and sacrifice made by American military veterans. One of the best ways is to simply put them in the same room together and let them talk. That’s what happened Wednesday at...
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Let’s hear it for music!
Band, choir and orchestra students are putting their skills to the test this week as the Bakersfield City School District hosts music festivals at Bakersfield College’s Simonsen Performing Arts Center. Tuesday and again today the district is...
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Serving others
Get out the mops and brooms, the brushes and paint and the kitchen utensils! That’s what hundreds of neighbors across Kern County did — along with plenty of other tools — on Saturday for the second annual Volunteer Big Kern, the county’s oneday...
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Trump’s Medicaid work mandate could kick thousands of homeless Californians of f coverage
On a brisk January morning, physician assistant Brett Feldman searched the streets of Los Angeles for patients, knocking on car windows and peering into tents. It was the day after a winter storm had doused the city, and many of the unhoused people...
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Could air taxis be the next big thing in Kern County?
Flying cars, better known these days as air taxis or advanced air mobility, have become Kern’s latest economic diversification target in recognition of the county’s edge in aerospace and defense, logistics and clean energy. An agreement announced this...
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Farm Day in the City
Busloads of young elementary school students and teachers from throughout the southern valley gathered Wednesday at the Kern County Fairgrounds for the annual Farm Day in the City, hosted by the Kern County Farm Bureau Foundation. The event provides...
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Bloom brings out tourists, and leads to a lot of trespassing
Cars were pulled over to the side of Snow Road Saturday as dozens of people — many of them wearing photo-ready outfits — wandered among the rows of almond trees in full bloom. Recent rains had spouted lush green grass in between the rows and enough...
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Lifetimes of achievement
An accomplished group of 20 local change-makers who have bolstered Bakersfield and beyond were honored Thursday night during a festive event at Coconut Joe's Private Beach Club. The inaugural members of Bakersfield Life magazine's 20 Over 60 built...
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Hart Park volunteers celebrate completion of murals on five historic standpipes
It all started when the Hart Park Working Group, a nonprofit organization made up entirely of volunteers, began a discussion last year about how to shine a light on the historic value of five standpipes that have stood in Hart Park for nearly 100...
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Celebrity priest Mike Schmitz draws thousands of faithful to Garces Memorial event
Central California Catholics came by the thousands Wednesday to Garces Memorial High School in Bakersfield to see one of the most sought-after Catholic speakers in the United States. The Rev. Mike Schmitz, host of the No. 1 religion podcast “The Bible...
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Blessed are the creatures ... GREAT ... and small
There were pets of all shapes and sizes at Garces Memorial High School's pet blessing Tuesday at the the northeast Bakersfield campus. The animals were amazingly well-behaved — and so were the students. “I think it's just such a good tradition that...
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Beauty on Bena
Recent storms produced a vision of late-winter beauty on Friday along Bena Road east of Edison. Snow on local mountains served as an almost surreal backdrop as a freight train traveled west on the Union Pacific Railroad past emerald-green...
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He is the Egg Man at 24th Street Cafe, and hehas no plans for stoppin'
Each morning, Sebero “George” Perez shows up to work early and ordered from top to bottom. He parks two to three blocks away from 24th Street Cafe, where he has worked since 1987, and walks to the cafe to allow parking spaces to remain open for...
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Former Buddhist church in downtown Bakersfield slated for demolition, but a part may live on
The old Buddhist Church in downtown Bakersfield began serving Kern County’s Japanese community after it was built in 1911. The temple, which is now showing its age at 2207 N St., just north of 22nd Street, was for decades a place for religious...
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Parishioners receive ashes at St. Philip the Apostle
St. Philip the Apostle Church in west Bakersfield marked the start of Lent by blessing parishioners during an Ash Wednesday church service emphasizing the start of a period of self-denial, repentance and reflection. A standing room only congregation...
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MLK protege led movement for civil rights for decdes
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84. As a young organizer...
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Bakersfield Christian High launches fundraising ef fort for new aquatics center and more
Bakersfield Christian High School has launched a fundraising effort to build a new aquatics center and an adjacent wrestling & athletic flex facility at its southwest Bakersfield campus, a project BCHS leadership characterizes as a “transformational...
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Cupid Project
They didn’t need to be an artist to participate. They only needed a heart. For the first two weeks of February, local children and adults, artists and aspiring artists created more than 1,300 Valentine’s Day cards bound for seniors in assisted living...
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Not ‘just a resource ... it’s a lifeline’
“Links for Life isn't just a resource; it's a lifeline.” Those words came from Natalie Dutcher, who deemed herself not only a survivor of breast cancer but a thriver during a speech Thursday at the Links for Life Luncheon at Seven Oaks Country...
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Newsom takes aim at veterans ‘claim sharks’ as he signs law banning fees for help with VA
A booming industry that charges veterans for help in obtaining the benefits they earned through military service must shut down or dramatically change its business model in California by the end of the year under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on...
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‘The deficit stars have aligned’
Kern County is looking at a $14 million budget deficit in the coming fiscal year as local costs continue to outpace revenue amid massive policy and funding changes at the state and federal levels. “Federal and state policy actions — predominantly...
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Rural innovation
If Kern County grower Kevin Andrew were farming nuts or even row crops, he might have been more enthusiastic about the official top 10 products at this week's World Ag Expo in Tulare. It's quite a list, with the latest in durable, flexible ag...
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Weather, market conditions cloudy as almond bloom begins
Almond trees' distinctive pink buds are beginning to blossom around Kern County amid uncertain conditions for one of the Central Valley's most important crops. Local orchards will fill with snowy white blooms during the next two weeks, attracting...
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Local support gives Kern edge in state Virtual Enterprise competition
More than 1,000 students descended on the Dignity Health Convention Center Thursday for the Virtual Enterprise California State Conference and Exhibition, Trade Show and Business Plan Competitions, all with the goal of heading to New York City in April...
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Centennial High singers excited about upcoming Carnegie Hall performance
Carnegie Hall, since its doors opened in New York City in 1891, has been a place where musicians and singers have dreamed about performing. That dream will soon become a reality for a select group of singers from Centennial High School. The 50-member...
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United in faith
It's called a prayer breakfast for a reason. Prayers, Bible readings, an invocation, a closing prayer, musical hymns and many prayers shared in between were all part of the stated purpose of the 46th annual Bakersfield Prayer Breakfast early Tuesday...
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BC designated a California Black-serving institution
Bakersfield College announced at a campus event Monday morning that it has been recognized as a California designated Black-serving institution, a development that BC officials said represents an important milestone highlighting the college's...
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Residential clean energy, workforce training initiative launches in east Bakersfield
A clean energy project that kicked off Thursday in east Bakersfield is expected to switch up to 20 homes across Kern County to all-electric appliances while training workers on how to perform such conversions. The lunchtime event just off Mt. Vernon...
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Peters calls Kern `open for business' in State of the County address
Not only are industries in Kern County on the up-and-up, they're poised to lead a transformation of California and the nation. At least that was the picture painted of the county's prospects in Wednesday's State of the County address, during which...
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43-vehicle pileup halts traffic between Bakersfield, Tehachapi
A total of 43 vehicles of various kinds were involved in a massive pileup blocking all lanes of eastbound Highway 58 between Bakersfield and Tehachapi Tuesday morning, and dense fog may have been a contributing factor. California Highway Patrol...
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Despite local ef forts, unpermitted swap meet on Casa Loma persists
City and county officials are trying to find a way to shut down an illegal swap meet at the intersection of Casa Loma Drive and Cottonwood Road, but despite repeated efforts, the informal market seems larger than ever. The impromptu market is centered...
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