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Good morning! It’s Danielle Bergstrom, policy editor here.
Are you wanting to learn more about the Central Valley? Here at Fresnoland, we’re always sharing our book and reading recommendations with each other. Isabel, on our team, had an idea: what if we ask local authors to help us put a list together of books to help people understand the region we’ve decided to call home?
Our senior editor, Dympna Ugwu-Oju (an acclaimed author herself!) asked a few esteemed local writers to share their recommendations on what to read to better understand the Central Valley.
There are many interesting books on the list, but the one that came up the most? Yellow Rain by Mai Der Vang, a book about the Hmong experience and aftermath of the war, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
Low-wage jobs are growing at a concerning rate, according to a new PPIC study, reports Melissa Montalvo for Fresnoland/Fresno Bee. Total jobs grew in the Central Valley since October 2019 by 2% – but the number of low-wage jobs increased during that time by 5%.
Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, told Montalvo that “where warehousing is soaring, there is widespread public concern with worker earnings—particularly in the Inland Empire and the Central Valley.”
Court ruling puts groundwater plans and projects in Madera County at risk: as Jesse Vad reports for SJV Water, a Madera County Superior Court judge issued a temporary injunction on a fee levied by the Board of Supervisors intending to curb excessive groundwater pumping.
Money from the fee was going to help residents who have experienced well failures, among other projects. With the injunction, that program is on pause.
“The county jumped the gun,” said the attorney for the coalition of farmers who brought the lawsuit forward. “You guys are collecting too much money from growers at a time when it’s real difficult.”
Cambodian refugees in the Central Valley find healing after resettlement: the Khmer Rouge genocide forced thousands of people to flee Cambodia, resulting in generational trauma. Fresno is home to the fifth-highest concentration of Cambodian refugees in California. Soreath In a five-story series for Valley Public Radio, Hok reports on how the community is finding ways to care for each other after resettlement.
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Want to learn more about the Central Valley? Acclaimed local authors recommend their top books
Court pauses groundwater fees in Madera County, throwing regional plans into question
Labor leaders sound the alarm about low-wage job growth in California’s Central Valley
