Porterville Recorder
Reclamation Issues Record of Decision on Sites Reservoir
On Friday, the Sites Project Authority announced the Bureau of Reclamation issued their Record of Decision for the Sites Reservoir Project. The ROD certifies the Project meets all aspects of the National Environmental Policy Act, the law that ensures...
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OBITUARIES
Lonnie William Vinson Lonnie William Vinson, age 76, a Backhoe Operator and resident of Lindsay, California, passed away on Sunday, January 18, 2026. Services to be held at a later date. Arrangements are being handled by Myers Funeral Service &...
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Trump backs off Greenland tariffs, citing ‘framework’ deal
President Donald Trump said he would refrain from imposing tariffs on goods from European nations opposing his effort to take possession of Greenland, citing a “framework of a future deal” he said was reached regarding the island. The decision, which...
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BRIDGE
BIDDING A SLAM WITHOUT BLACKWOOD There is an old saying that real bridge players don’t need Blackwood. Of course, before bidding a slam, Blackwood of one ilk or another is often used. But on some deals it will not help, and the partnership needs to...
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Lindsay
as the Biggest Little Theater in Central California. It also noted Lindsay City Park as “a safe place for grandkids to play.” And of course World Atlas referred to Mcdermont X which it referred to as a “familyfriendly entertainment center with a full...
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Healing America
Why Scrolling at Night Keeps Your Brain Stuck in Emergency Mode There’s a moment that repeats itself in millions of homes every night. The lights are dim. The house is quiet. The body is tired. Yet the mind refuses to power down. The phone glows in...
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Kinder
ents could enroll their T-K students as well as Kindergartners at the same time. Lindsey Lanning was helping with the English home language survey that helped determine if a bilingual child needed language support. Another resource for students was...
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Oaks
members expressed concern the operator could apply for licensure elsewhere or reopen under a different name. Wild said the county Health and Human Services Agency worked to relocate residents over the course of nearly a week. Fourteen residents were...
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Healing America, part 2
What Happens Inside Your Body When Sleep and Wake Times Drift and How to Gently Reset Them There’s a quiet exhaustion many people live with and no longer question. They wake up already tired. They need caffeine just to feel functional. By afternoon...
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New dietary guidelines heavy on meat
At the top of the new U.S. food pyramid are a bright red steak and a packet of ground beef. That reflects the new U.S. dietary guidelines’ emphasis on animal proteins. Plant-based sources of protein like almonds and peanuts are tucked farther down, and...
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DAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2026 Today is the seventh day of 2026 and the 18th day of winter. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1785, Jean-pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a balloon. In 1927, the first commercial transatlantic telephone...
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Western
erans Memorial Building. The dance begins at 7 p.m. and admission is $5. Those attending are encouraged to bring a dish for the potluck dinner and no alcohol is allowed. Trick Shot has performed with numerous celebrities, including Riders in the Sky,...
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Healing America
Why Mornings Feel Heavy After the Holidays and How Sunlight Quietly Fixes That There’s a certain weight that settles over people in January. You can see it in their eyes at the grocery store, in traffic, in the slow shuffle of mornings. The holidays...
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California hopes to make state workers more efficient with AI
California wants to use CHATGPT to make state employees’ daily work easier and more efficient. That’s the goal of Poppy, a new “digital assistant” powered by CHATGPT and other publicly available generative artificial intelligence tools, which the...
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Would billionaires really leave California over wealth tax?
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The mere threat of a billionaire tax landing on the California ballot in 2026 has already prompted some of the state’s ultra-wealthy to move their residences and assets elsewhere, according to one tax adviser. David Lesperance,...
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Magic Mountain no longer World’s Coaster Capital
Six Flags Magic Mountain’s long reign as the Coaster Capital of the World will soon come to a shocking and swift end as the once proud and mighty Coaster King abdicates the throne to a relatively unknown European amusement park. Six Flags Magic...
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Rediscovering America’s identity
December, Part IV — The Quiet Before the Revaluation The lights are still hanging. The last of the wrapping paper is in the trash. The house is warm, familiar, still. And yet — there’s a silence in the air that’s not ordinary. It’s the silence before a...
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Nick Reiner’s mental state at center of murder case
LOS ANGELES — The slayings of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his photographer wife, Michele, have given rise to a complex and intensely watched legal struggle involving their accused son, prosecutors and defense attorneys, who all face key strategic...
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Supreme Court rules against Chicago National Guard deployment
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump on Tuesday and said he did not have legal authority to deploy the National Guard in Chicago to protect federal immigration agents. Acting on a 6-3 vote, the justices denied Trump’s...
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Woodville
Felix Sanchez was also glad to help, as Santa at the camp. The wrapped gifts were for children from ages 0-18, age appropriate wrapped gifts, and children also received books. There were sweet rolls, hot chocolate, cream soda, coffee for the adults,...
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Boxes
boxes and they’ll be blessed with all the food that comes their way,” said Stephanie Wilson. Michaela Apruzzese and Larry Young have donated their time, property and a lot of effort to help with the Bountiful Boxes project for years. “I really love...
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Are Dems getting desperate about Epstein
A little more than 10 years ago, Jack Danforth, a For months now, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been the Democratic Party’s go-to subject for attacks on President Donald Trump. Yes, other events have presented an occasional target of...
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Adult
and support of her family and loved ones. “You help me up when I couldn’t stand on my own, and I carry your strength with me every bit.” Rush expressed her deepest thanks to her professional community, employer, and supervisors, and thanked them for...
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BRIDGE
SCHOOLTEACHERS AND PUPILS PLAY BRIDGE David Bird from England has written more than 100 bridge books. He specializes in humor, particularly about the monks of St. Titus. But now he has published a second book about the staff and pupils of Cholmeley...
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Cultural
When the fires burned low, participants raked the ash back into the soil, returning nutrients directly to the land. The cultural burn was intended not only as a land management practice but also as a living expression of knowledge passed down through...
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Rediscovering America’s Identity
December, Part II — The Great Revaluation Last month we reclaimed the truth value originates in God, not governments. This month we confront the battlefield where that truth will be tested: The American Home. The mortgage. The ground under our...
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Trump should focus on economy
If you want to see why President Donald Trump is visiting Pennsylvania to talk about affordability, and why he’s planning rallies on the topic around the country in coming weeks, just look at the simple question asked in the new Harvard CAPS Harris...
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Fatal crash shuts down road, closes produce stand
A fatal crash shut down Highway 137 (Tulare-lindsay Highway) going east and Highway 65 going west at the intersection of Road 196, Highway 137 and Highway 65, Cairns Corner on Monday night. The crash also did significant damage to the long-time produce...
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San Diego County against offshore drilling plans
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted a resolution vowing to fight efforts by the Trump administration to expand offshore oil and gas drilling more than three miles off the coast of California. The measure, approved...
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THE LOTTERY
Powerball: Monday — 13, 14, 26, 28, 44. Power: 7 Jackpot: $875 million Mega Millions: Friday — 34, 38, 42, 44, 69. Meganumber: 8. Jackpot: $60 Million. Superlotto Plus: Saturday — 6, 10, 30, 42, 43. Mega: 19. Jackpot: $9 million. Fantasy 5: Sunday —...
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Road To Rediscovering America
December: The Month of Action — Rebuilding the Kingdom Economy November is the month we remember. December is the month we move. Gratitude without action is sentiment. Gratitude with action is covenant. We just came out of the season of thanks — where...
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Requiem of a scandal
Nearly four years ago, on Jan. 18, 2022, I wrote about a frenzy that was sweeping the anti-trump world. It had to do with a novel theory of the 2020 presidential election dispute: Here’s the short version: Trump supporters in a few states — Georgia,...
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
On Mayor, Vice Mayor Porterville residents have every right to expect their elected officials to listen. Yet with each passing council meeting, it becomes more painfully clear that our mayor and vice mayor believe listening is optional. The people...
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Three sentenced to life for toddler’s torture, death
On Tuesday in Department 20 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Edward Lee Dias, Jr., 45, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2017 torture and murder of 2-year-old boy Bryce and the torture of Bryce’s...
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Rice
grandkids the way she taught me.” Rice’s son Tony Slayton said he used to do everything that needed to be done for his mom. “I’ve always done the deep pit roasted turkeys in the ground with the help of our nephews for Thanksgiving dinner, and we did...
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“From Gratitude to Grit: What Comes After Thanksgiving?”
We just got done carving the turkey. We gave thanks. We bowed our heads. We posted our gratitude captions and re-shared Norman Rockwell paintings like everything’s still intact. And for a moment—maybe a moment—we remembered what it felt like to be a...
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FBI probing Democratic lawmakers who warned against ‘illegal’ military orders, Slotkin says
INKSTER, Mich. — U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said Tuesday that the FBI’S counterterrorism division has launched an “inquiry” into her and five other Democratic lawmakers who created a video urging members of the military that they may defy illegal...
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BRIDGE
G.C. Lichtenberg, an 18th-century German physicist and philosopher, wrote, “The greatest events occur without intention playing any part in them; chance makes good mistakes and undoes the most carefully planned undertaking. The world’s greatest events...
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November Reflections: Thanksgiving, Humility and the Fire Still Burning
By Josh Flowers There's something sacred about November. The chill in the air, the rustle of leaves, the stillness before winter sets in — it's like the soul of a nation pauses to remember. Not just turkey and parades. Not just football or retail...
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Ciivil Rights: From Liberty to Tyranny
Civil Rights: From Liberty to Tyranny, part 25 The Surveillance State – How Civil Rights Laws Are Being Used to Justify Mass Government Spying Once upon a time, privacy was considered a fundamental right. You could go about your life without being...
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Hoarding for the Holidays
During this series premiere, a party-loving couple clash over the overabundance of holiday decorations, a vintage collector must defend her festive spending to her father and one holiday obsession possibly leads to dire consequences.
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The Popcorn Stand: HallowThanksMas and other things
We here at The Recorder this past week were really in the HallowThanksMas mood. Just this past week we put up the Christmas Tree for our annual Tree of Angels drive to help less fortunate children in our community. But at the same time this past week...
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The Poppies
To Porterville High freshman golfer Allison Bailey for advanced to the Southern California Championships in girls golf. To the South Valley Chivas Kain Emerson, who was selected to participate in the U.S. Soccer Youth National Team Identification...
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Promises of lower energy bills win big
Key races in New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia made it clear that energy affordability was on the ballot this Election Day as Democrats who campaigned on the issue swept the field. Candidates in the three states campaigned on tackling rising energy...
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Former Vice President Dick Cheney dead at 84
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who under President George W. Bush advocated a muscular take-no-prisoners foreign policy that plunged America into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has died. He was 84. Cheney died Monday night with his “beloved wife of...
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Fashion
years. For the first time, the show featured both men’s and women’s clothing from Letty Viveros, General Manager at J.C Penny’s at the Visalia Mall Cliff Loeffler, husband of Maureen Loeffler, founder and coordinator of the show, assisted models off...
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Commentary: Can science and faith heal divisions, especially over vaccines? We have good news
We are a society in desperate need of healing; these days, we cannot even find agreement in diagnosis. Consider the issue of vaccination, which raises the specter of science in conflict with individual values and, particularly in some cases, with...
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Governor Newsom expands the state’s fire prevention strategy using proven beneficial fire techniques
SACRAMENTO – Building on recent progress to implement beneficial fire as a wildfire risk reduction tool, Governor Gavin Newsom, on Wednesday, signed an executive order directing state agencies to reduce red tape and expand tools to safely deploy...
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PPD partners with other agencies to conduct a Sex Offender Compliance Operation
From Tuesday, October 21, 2025, through Friday, October 24, 2025, Detectives with the Porterville Police Department partnered with Parole Agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Investigators with the Tulare...
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County
they want to insulate the state of California and Californians from the harms that they could see in increased prices at the pump,” said Elliot. “That bill is now law. Goes into effect January 1. We should see lower gas prices as a result of that bill...
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‘I’m going to lose everything:’ Jamaica farmers brace for hurricane
There is never a good time for a catastrophic hurricane to hit. But for Junior Ebanks, a farmer on Jamaica’s southern coast, Hurricane Melissa’s timing could not be worse. “We are just preparing to start planting again for the tourism winter season,”...
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D.C. attackers go free
District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs was quite understanding with the 15-year-old who had pepper-sprayed a man while a friend pummeled him, and while others in her group tried to steal his car. The young perpetrator has had a...
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Student newsrooms back Stanford Daily in lawsuit
At least 55 student news organizations have voiced support for The Stanford Daily in its lawsuit against Trump administration officials over free speech violations, a national student journalists organization said. According to the Student Press Law...
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Sudden financial collapse of big auto parts firm concerning
You may not have heard of First Brands Group, but if you own any car other than one you’ve just driven off a new car lot, you’ve probably been its customer. That’s because Cleveland-based First Brands is the maker of a raft of aftermarket auto parts —...
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Immigration court backlog subsides
The Trump administration’s tough-on-immigration policies are on pace to reduce the backlog of cases in the nation’s immigration courts, reversing a long-running trend that has raised concerns from lawmakers of both parties. The number of pending cases...
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Rediscovering America’s identy: For Charlie
The night Porterville chose light over silence. It wasn’t just a vigil. It was a declaration. On October 11 as the sun dipped behind the Sierras and Main Street was closed to traffic, something sacred happened in Porterville. In the middle of a...
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USC rejects Trump education compact
LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California on Thursday rejected the controversial education compact the Trump administration offered it and eight other schools, saying it would undermine “values of free inquiry and academic excellence.” USC...
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BRIDGE
TRY TO ANTICIPATE THE UNUSUAL Elbert Hubbard was a writer, publisher, artist and philosopher who died when the Germans torpedoed the RMS Lusitania in 1915. He said, “If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, remember that this is also true of...
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Alta Vista
growing population of farmworker children and Native American children on the nearby reservation. The school first opened as the Reservation School District to serve the local and Native American child population. The name was officially changed to...
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The Popcorn Stand: Halloween candy
It’s time for my annual look at the favorite Halloween candies for this year. I hope I’m too late as again we’re well into the Hallowthanksmas season. For some reason in my exhaustive search of the interwebs (which lasted all of a few seconds) I...
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THE OPTIONS START AT TRICK ONE BRIDGE
Yesterday, I stressed considering your options at trick one. Here is another example. If South plans carefully, he has a good chance to make his contract. But if he plows forward thoughtlessly, he will probably fail. South is in four spades. West leads...
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Meals
the controversial Make American Healthy Again movement has spotlighted issues related to dyes and other additives, and their possible links to a variety of health issues. But he said that the new law emanates out of “sound science,” adding, “We were...
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PPD: Previously-documented gang member on probation arrested
The Porterville Police Department reported a previously document gang member was arrested after a probation check. Jorge Osorio, 30 of Porterville, was arrested. At about 1 p.m. Friday Porterville Police Detectives with the assistance of a Tulare...
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Pioneer
love, make people smile.” While the delicious ribs were a major attraction, the celebration continued into the afternoon with the Pioneer Days Pageant, where contestants of all ages took the stage to represent the town’s pioneer heritage. Dressed in...
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Juvenile accused of vandalism arrested
A 17-year juvenile from Strathmore accused of vandalism at the Santa Fe Byway, Veterans Park and Murry Park has been arrested. On September 22 Porterville Police Officers were dispatched to a report of vandalism at a newly constructed playground on...
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Suspect accused of assault, resisting arrest PPD deescalates another situation
A suspect accused of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest has been arrested. Samuel Nicasio Martinez, 58 of Porterville, was arrested. Shortly after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday Porterville Police Department Communications received a call of an...
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Clinic
my actions can inspire others to donate. Even if it’s $5 a month - the price of a single coffee - it makes a difference. “I’m a long-time animal lover and since I recently moved back home I wanted to give back to my community. I figured the best way...
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Storage
ing closely to tenant feedback and making improvements based on their needs. From the wash bay to climate control and even music, many of the amenities at the new site began at customer suggestions. “It just shows that Wade cares and is willing to go...
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ABC drops Jimmy Kimmel Live indefinitely
Walt Disney Co.-owned broadcaster ABC said it is pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live” indefinitely following sharp backlash over the host’s remarks about slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The move comes after station owner Nexstar Media Group said it...
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Why I’ll never set foot in a ‘political’ church again
I’m deeply grateful my children had the privilege to attend St. Ann’s School in Porterville. There, they were taught prayer, reverence, and community. That foundation matters. But now that they are older, in high school, our conversations have...
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Santa Monica waves turn pink; dye job to study water quality
Over the next two weeks, surfers and beachgoers in Santa Monica may spot waves that have a pink, fluorescent hue — but officials say not to worry. The luminous, pink color spreading across the Santa Monica Bay is from a temporary, nontoxic dye that...
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County
tional efforts of the entire county management team, steady economic growth, and use of conservative revenue estimates, this recommended budget of $2.1 billion is balanced for all applicable funds as required by law. “This $2.1 billion budget,...
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