Calif (FOX26) — An earthquake shook portions of Coalinga and Avenal on Thursday afternoon Preliminary reports indicate it was a 4.4 magnitude No damage or injuries have been reported at this time This was one of several quakes across California today The USGS also confirmed that at least 4 earthquakes one of them being a magnitude 3.3 struck near Hayward on Thursday morning and afternoon A 3.1 around 2:00 AM and a 2.9 around 11:40 AM also hit near Petrolia A preliminary magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck between Coalinga and Avenal on Thursday (KFSN) -- A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck Fresno County on Thursday The U.S. Geological Survey says it stuck around 4:17 p.m Residents in Coalinga reported feeling the shaking and the USGS says California's Shake Alert system was activated for this earthquake Stay with ABC30 for the latest details on this developing story (FOX26) — A 4.0magnitude earthquake shook the Avenal area in Kings County Tuesday afternoon The United States Geological Survey says the earthquake hit at 5:45 p.m and was centered 6.6 miles southeast of Avenal People reported feeling the earth shake from Mariposa to San Luis Obispo Calif (FOX26) — Kings County Sheriff’s Office is searching for two people wanted in connection to a 2023 murder in Avenal detectives responded to the area of East Madera Street and South Third Avenue to investigate a murder that happened the day before The victim Juan “Blacky” Carlos Alonzo was found in his wheelchair unresponsive Alonzo was later pronounced dead at the location of the incident detectives were able to get composite sketches of the two individuals believed to be involved Anyone with any information is asked to call KCSO Detective Eddie Torres at (559) 572-1981 or Detective Eathan Hakker at (559) 380-6961 (FOX26) — A man died on Thursday after CHP says he allowed his truck to drift off the road and hit a guardrail near Avenal Officers from the California Highway Patrol responded to the crash on Highway 33 north of Sutter Avenue around 2:00 a.m They say the man identified as 36-year-old Julio Figon-Lopez of Avenal was driving a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado southbound on Highway 33 when he allowed his truck to swerve to the right and crash into the guardrail along the west shoulder at Zapato Chino Creek The force of the crash caused major damage to the truck He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Fresno County Fire Department It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor The cause of the crash remains under investigation This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page 2 seriously injured in head-on Kings County crash and two others were seriously injured after a head-on crash in Fresno County on Sunday morning.FRESNO -- The California Highway Patrol is investigating a deadly crash in Kings County and two others are seriously injured after a head-on collision on Sunday morning Officers say it happened around 2:15 on Avenal Cutoff Road and Enterprise Avenue CHP says a 23-year-old man was driving a Chevy Malibu north on Avenal Cutoff Road when it crossed the middle line crashing into a 51-year-old man driving a Ford F-150 head-on The driver of the Malibu died at the scene The 20-year-old passenger of the Malibu and the man driving the Ford suffered severe injuries and were airlifted to local hospitals It's unknown if drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash One person was killed, while two others were seriously injured after a two-vehicle head-on crash in Kings County early Sunday morning According to the California Highway Patrol the fatal collision happened at about 2:15 a.m on Avenal Cutoff Road and Enterprise Avenue just outside of Lemoore and near the border to Fresno County CHP reported that a 23-year-old man driving a Chevy Malibu northbound on Avenal Cutoff Road veered into the middle line of the roadway for some reason causing a head-on collision against a Ford F-150 driven by a 51-year-old man The Chevy driver was pronounced dead at the scene while his 20-year-old passenger suffered major injuries and was promptly airlifted to a local hospital The Ford driver sustained severe injuries as a result of the crash and was also flown to a nearby hospital for further medical care CHP is still investigating the cause of the accident It is currently unknown if driver impairment played a role in the deadly collision If you or a loved one has been in a vehicular accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Ask one of our personal injury attorneys, under the supervision of Arash Khorsandi, Esq., for advice regarding your car accident case. Our Kings County injury law firm is here for you Avail a free consultation with our trustworthy Kings County car accident lawyers, who will review your case, discuss the next steps, and examine all the variables that could affect your settlement amount they can assist you if obtaining further information or a police report proves challenging Our legal team has well-established careers and accolades for advocating for accident victims. The clients we have worked with have been awarded compensation totaling more than $750 million No one can predict a car crash or collision Having a car accident checklist in your glove box can help you stay calm and organized after a car crash no matter how big or small you think it may be Whether you are the injured victim or the family of a deceased loved one, here’s what to do after a car accident: I HAD AN ACCIDENT Based on data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2021, motor vehicle accidents accounted for 21% of the total preventable injury-related deaths in the US Approximately 19,515 deaths involving traffic crashes were recorded from January to June 2023 which is 3.3% less than the total 20,190 deaths reported in the first half of 2022 the NHTSA recorded 2,061 fatalities in California due to motor vehicle accidents The state had a total of 160,819 fatal and injury crashes in the previous year According to data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System, 626 crashes resulted in injuries or fatalities in Kings County in 2023. Six people were injured following a five-vehicle crash on the northbound 15 Freeway near Highway 138 in the Cajon Pass A bicyclist sustained serious injuries after being hit by a vehicle in Sacramento on Saturday evening According to the Sacramento Police Department and another woman and two children sustained injuries following a two-vehicle head-on crash in El Dorado Hills A motorcyclist was killed following a suspected DUI crash in Merced on Saturday afternoon Two young men were killed following a suspected DUI crash in Fresno on Friday night and two others sustained non-life-threatening injuries following a multi-vehicle collision in the Westlake community of Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon California’s Powerhouse Accident Lawyers With a consecutively proven track record Disclaimer: Not every one of our firm’s attorneys has received the recognitions stated here Visit the attorneys’ specific profile page under the ‘Our Firm’ tab for specific attorney recognitions (888) 488-1391 Do I Have A Case? 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has not been released yet Kings County has reported a total of 647 cases since the outbreak started Kings County on Sunday reported 130 additional people have tested positive for COVID-19 including 115 inmates at Avenal State Prison.Kings County on Sunday reported 130 additional people have tested positive for COVID-19 including 115 inmates at Avenal State Prison Positive cases of coronavirus at the prison have increased significantly since May 18 197 cases were reported from Avenal State Prison RELATED: Tracking Central California COVID-19 cases The Kings County Department of Public Health says the jump in positive cases in the prison is due to extensive testing being carried out through a multi-agency partnership A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says the prison is currently testing as many inmates and staff as possible and following isolation and quarantine guidance to help slow the spread of the virus For more news coverage on the coronavirus and COVID-19 go to ABC30.com/coronavirus 2023A 15-year-old boy is in the hospital after being shot several times in Avenal.AVENAL (KFSN) -- A 15-year-old boy is in the hospital after being shot several times in Avenal Avenal Police Chief Robert Nevárez says the shooting happened at 9 a.m Wednesday on San Joaquin Street and 5th Avenue Nevárez says the 15-year-old was confronted by two or three male suspects on the street striking the teen in the upper body several times The boy was airlifted to the hospital and is expected to survive Police believe this shooting may have be gang-related Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to contact the Avenal Police Department Paul Richardson was in prison in Fresno County in the 1990s when he first heard about valley fever a mysterious fungal disease that could be caught from inhaling spores in airborne dust that his fellow inmates had their own name for it you lost about 50 pounds,” Richardson says Richardson himself would contract the disease after he’d been transferred to Avenal State Prison in Kings County The arid land surrounding the sprawling facility is fertile ground for the fungus that causes the disease Richardson remembers the day he thinks he caught it and as he walked outside to breakfast he saw the wind kick up dust devils toward the sky “They're spinning and spinning and spinning.” A correctional officer noticed he’d stopped getting out of bed “She walks over to me and she pulled the covers back and the whole bed was drenched and I was shaking,” he says He was eventually diagnosed and prescribed antifungal medications but he still struggles to manage the disease today Patrick Wallace also felt the fierce winds on his way to Avenal’s cafeteria he too stopped eating and getting out of bed His case was severe enough that he was transferred to a hospital in Bakersfield “I was in that hospital for 30 days shackled while they gave me shots He’d eventually need multiple surgeries on his lymph nodes Today, health officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are scrambling to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 that has infected more than 700 people among both the incarcerated population and staff.It’s the state prison system’s second highest infection rate prison officials were containing an outbreak of a different deadly disease Richardson and Wallace were among more than 800 men incarcerated at Avenal who contracted valley fever It was a dramatic spike that also affected nearby Pleasant Valley State Prison in Fresno County one of the two ethnic groups especially susceptible to valley fever alongside Filipinos Because their susceptibility was known long before the outbreak these men and hundreds of others have sued the state government and officials throughout the prison system for knowingly putting vulnerable inmates in harm’s way and everybody that knows that they have that around their prison And you're still transporting bodies and putting people at risk.” but is contracted by breathing spores that grow in arid soil and become dispersed in the air infection rates at Avenal and Pleasant Valley rose to as much as 150 times higher than outside the prison walls That's when San Diego lawyer Ben Pavone started receiving letters a civil rights case in about 10 years,” he says But when a handful of letters from infected prisoners snowballed into hundreds These letters were so heartfelt in the sense that they were really just mortified they were overwhelmed that whole swaths of people were getting infected.” Pavone eventually represented close to 200 inmates in suits against government officials for various allegations including reckless conduct and outright negligence is you have the right to be incarcerated safely.” The statedid eventually move thousands of black and Filipino inmates out of Valley prisons and into other institutions around the state and only after a direct order from the federal government Thousands of men had already had their lives changed forever “They find that it's inhumane to house them in an area where they could be susceptible to a life-altering disease,” says Patrick Wallace “but you're not going to move your American citizens?” courts have argued a little-known provision known as “qualified immunity” protects prison officials from the inmates’ claims “Justice is a fancy word for people who can afford it,” Wallace says Both men believe the real reason they and their fellow inmates keep losing their cases is discrimination against the prison population “Nobody going to care too much about prisoners getting some type of disease,” says Wallace who was paroled after 23 years for second-degree murder and they wouldn't have to worry about getting those things.’” Paul Richardson—whose legal name is Joseph Doss—served 24 years for a series of crimes with a firearm “Society has thought that…all of us deserved to be in prison so that drowns out the valley fever episode,” he says that those decades behind bars were the price they paid to society and that a chronic disease wasn’t included in the bargain they’re restarting their lives and boasting about grandkids Richardson owns a beauty supply store in Los Angeles and Wallace is a substance abuse counselor in San Diego but they both still wrestle with managing valley fever Breathing difficulties prevent Richardson from exercising and Wallace is forced to take regular breaks throughout the day Both worry the disease could worsen at any time “I have no energy and I'm constantly tired,” Wallace says “I don't know how long I'm going to be doing what I'm doing now.” but Wallace feels they’re still serving a life sentence An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Joseph Doss's last name 2024The new top cop in the city of Avenal is a familiar face with Central Valley ties.AVENAL (KFSN) -- There's a new top cop in the city of Avenal Cecilio Velasco brings 19 years of law enforcement experience to the role of Chief of Police and plans to focus on reducing crime and gang violence and we are very proud of those," said Velasco The Avenal Police Department faces a continuous string of crimes along the I-5 corridor something the new chief says he has experience with "I know a lot of times the criminals will take the corridors as an opportunity to come in and leave after they committed the crimes But there are technological advances that we can utilize to identify those individuals." Chief Velasco had this message for the community and repeat criminals: "Consider now as an opportunity to reform but so is our belief in second chances and rehabilitation Leave that lifestyle and let us move forward united in our mission to foster a safer endangering child in AvenalIsidro Chavez Solano is booked into the Kings County jail on multiple felony charges Avenal police say Isidro Chavez Solano tried to stab his girlfriend and was holding his child while armed with a knife when officers arrived.AVENAL (KFSN) -- Avenal police arrested a man on Christmas day accused of assaulting his girlfriend and endangering a child officers responded to a home on Mariposa Street and Second Avenue followed her after attacking her at a party earlier that night She told authorities that Solano shattered her car window and tried to stab her several times as she tried to get away and that he was able to grab her and drag her roughly 100 feet back into the house Solano was holding his child while armed with a knife Solano is booked into the Kings County jail on multiple felony charges If you are the victim of domestic abuse, or you know someone who is, there is help available 24/7. In Fresno County, call the Marjaree Mason Center at (559) 233-4357 call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-7233 (FOX26) — The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has confirmed a worker at Avenal State Prison has tested positive for the coronavirus The only details provided about the case is that the worker is male No prisoners there yet have tested positive but the CDCR says it's testing inmates and tracing who the employee might have come in contact with The CDCR says the inmates' beds at Avenal are spaced apart to ensure social distancing guidelines are followed The inmates are also provided at least 5 washable cloth masks each In total across all California state prisons, there are 446 inmates who currently have active coronavirus cases. 5 inmates have died of coronavirus in California prisons 7 people were released from prison while still infected with the coronavirus There are also 198 staff members total at all prisons across the state who have tested positive for the coronavirus 114 people have returned to work once being cleared of the virus.