Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register readers can now vote for their favorite high school athletes There are no restrictions so vote now and vote often Here are the choices for the week of May 5-9: Nominations are based on information available to the Times-Delta All high school varsity players from Tulare County can be on the ballot Nominations must be received by Monday morning following that week's games for consideration More: Football coaches flock to Redwood for College Showcase More: 'Automatic': Golden West softball's Hayden Oliveira surpasses 100 career hits (FOX26) — A driver was killed in a crash late Tuesday night on Highway 99 in Tulare The California Highway Patrol says a minivan traveling southbound on the freeway crashed into a construction vehicle in an active construction zone around 11:30 p.m [RELATED]One killed, one injured in 2-vehicle crash in Tulare County CHP says the male driver was traveling in the #2 lane at an unknown speed when the vehicle collided with the right rear of a construction vehicle subcontracted by the California Department of Transportation The driver was taken to Adventist Health Tulare The driver of the construction vehicle sustained minor injuries The CHP Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team was called to the scene to assist with the investigation CHP is asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash or has information to contact the CHP Visalia Area Office at (559) 734-6767 The California Highway Patrol reminds drivers to eliminate distractions Your access to this service has been limited If you think you have been blocked in error contact the owner of this site for assistance If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send" You will then receive an email that helps you regain access Wordfence is a security plugin installed on over 5 million WordPress sites The owner of this site is using Wordfence to manage access to their site You can also read the documentation to learn about Wordfence's blocking tools or visit wordfence.com to learn more about Wordfence Click here to learn more: Documentation Generated by Wordfence at Tue, 6 May 2025 6:39:25 GMT.Your computer's time: document.write(new Date().toUTCString());. was found guilty Tuesday of six felony counts of committing lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14 the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said The jury also determined that some of the acts involved substantial sexual conduct The crimes occurred between 2010 and 2011 and involved a girl Mills is scheduled to be sentenced June 9 in Tulare County Superior Court and faces up to 16 years in state prison He will also be required to register as a sex offender The case was prosecuted by Supervising Deputy District Attorney Katrina Brownson and investigated by the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department Trump Administration Freezes Future Grants to Harvard The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office held its annual memorial quilt unveiling in observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week as well as the people who advocate on their behalf The DA’s office observes the week by unveiling a handmade memorial quilt dedicated to local residents who died as the result of violent crime over the past year Shared experience of lossThe evening’s program began with a welcome from Assistant District Attorney Erica Gonzalez a presentation of colors by the TCDA Honor Guard an invocation by Pastor Kyle Sawyer of the Northeast Assembly of God and a proclamation from the Tulare County Board of Supervisors I want to take a moment to acknowledge the depth of emotion that surrounds this gathering an emotion I feel profoundly each time I attend this ceremony,” said Tulare County Supervisor Eddie Valero who left meetings in Sacramento early to make the presentation these memorial quilts weave together the stories of loss “Each image stitched into these quilts carries the weight of a life taken too soon and the enduring love of families and communities left behind “One of the quilts honors the son of the cook at my parents' restaurant a young boy from Orosi whose life was cut short by violence in Seville I've watched his mother navigate in unimaginable grief over the years and I carry Santiago's story with me today.” Valero then read the board’s proclamation dedicated to the “23 million Americans (who) suffer from the indignity of crime each year and financial harm as a result of such crime.” Tulare County district representative for State Sen also made a presentation and shared comments but as someone who shares in your grief,” she said he left behind a 3-year-old son and an unborn daughter who never had the chance to meet her father “It's hard to believe it's been 20 years,” she said But what has remained consistent is the support this program has offered to families that find it this ceremony and the service behind it have created a safe space for remembrance It means more than words can fully express.” District Attorney Tim Ward then conducted a discussion with his predecessor when the victims advocate program became part of the DA’s office and the first memorial quilt unveiling was held people killed in drunk driving cases,” Cline said every day was dealing with victims of crime and their families – a mother who's lost a son “It was the staff that came up with the idea for doing this ­– the secretaries Crime victims were not always treated well by the judicial system when Cline started as DA something that he and the other prosecutors wanted to change “When I was a prosecutor and before we started this program it was not unusual for us to go into court and we'd have the mother who had lost her son to violent crime,” Cline said “The mother was not allowed to speak to the court during sentencing “We wanted to be the voice for the victims,” he said “Victims were not treated that well in court to get the victim program into the DA's office “I was approached early on by the board of supervisors asking me to take over another unit that was in another department,” he recalled I would take that troublesome one if you put (victim advocates) in the DA's office so that we can personally serve the victims of crime we were able to expand the personnel to create the position of victim advocate to have people that would serve victims and reach out to them and follow up with them," he said But the victim's family is left with the loss and they need services after the court is over.” Cline said that the memorial quilts came out of his office’s “desire to stay with the victims of crime after the case was over to not forget what had happened to the families of victims not forget the losses that they had with the victims of violent crime.” which included three women whose loved ones were victims of violent crime Gina Moreno lost a son and Alice Aleman Fisher lost her husband gave his perspective on covering crime stories in Tulare County “I don't miss having to call family members or friends of victims of crime especially the day after that person may have passed away,” he said He offered his advice to family members of crime victims about how to deal with the media “If you're a family member or a friend of a victim of crime just be cautious about folks that are reaching out to you from the media,” he said try and do your homework and maybe stick with those more traditional outlets such as ABC30 or the Visalia Times-Delta because there are so many people now that like to say they are media or reporters but they may not have those values and ethics in terms of telling the best story and the most accurate and fair story,” he said but as much as possible avoid social media and I say that knowing that social media can have some really major value for families.” Johnson’s main concerns are about the comments section that usually follow stories on social media “I've always kind of seen that as the nastiest place the ugliest place sometimes on social media and on the Internet,” he said The comments section can get a little out of control you may see something that could affect you negatively.” But there are reasons to speak to the media but you may want to consider participating at some point,” he said You want to evaluate if the reporter is going to do a good job of telling the one-on-one story there's a lot to be said about the state of journalism today but they can be that voice for you,” he said “We know that oftentimes victims’ families don't have an opportunity to speak in the courtroom until a sentencing hearing That's a long time in many cases to get to that point it is ultimately up to you to speak with members of the media that's your way of using your voice on behalf of your loved one,” he added Child Abuse Prevention Month: What's being done to keep Tulare County children safe? Ward was the final speaker before the new quilt was unveiled “Every quilt on display around this room is unique because of the individual lives reflected in them and the love that went into creating those quilts,” he said “Each gathering of these quilts inevitably brings tears and every year new families walk through these doors and they are graciously welcomed by survivors who sadly have experienced that very unique and very specific “With a commitment to simply walk through these doors you display by your action and your participation far more than any words that I could speak,” Ward said “You convey an eloquent message that no victim will ever be forgotten and no family is or should ever feel alone in their sorrow You and your families and your lost loved ones you bind our system of justice together just as the threads of love form these quilts all around this room will not be overlooked and they certainly will never be forgotten,” he said Ward read off the names of the 25 people memorialized on this year’s quilt asking the families of each person to stand he asked the families of the people on the previous year’s quilts to also stand “You'll see that you stand among a new family and you are not alone and will not ever be such,” he said They are now united in a new family that's represented by needles (FOX26) — 36-year-old Justin Mills of Pixley was found guilty on six felony counts of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 14 The Tulare County District Attorney's Office said the jury found that some of these acts involved substantial sexual conduct against a female minor between 2010 and 2011 Mills is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9th where he faces up to 16 years in state prison 2025Stream Central California's News and Original Shows 24/7TULARE COUNTY (KFSN) -- The Tulare County Sheriff's Office is investigating an inmate's death at the Adult Pre-Trial Facility Authorities say the 44-year-old inmate was feeling sick in his cell before 2:30 am Friday He was checked and medically cleared by staff authorities found the man unresponsive in his cell Deputies are still investigating what exactly led to the man's death His name is not being released at this time (FOX26) — The California Highway Patrol says two men died in a head-on crash involving two motorcycles early Friday morning in Pixley [RELATED]Five dead, one injured in crash Saturday night in Santa Ana the two men were riding off-road motorcycles toward each other without helmets when they collided The Tulare County Sheriff’s Department deputies arrived approximately seven minutes after the report and found the two men lying in the roadway Both riders were pronounced dead at the scene The crash led to the closure of Market Street for about three hours CHP suspects that alcohol may have been a factor in the crash but will need to wait on toxicology results “No family should suffer such a tragic loss and we grieve with them as we continue our duty to protect the public,” said Visalia Area Commander “We ask everyone to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle Helmets can decrease the likelihood of serious head injuries CHP is asking anyone with additional information to contact their Visalia Area office at (559) 734-6767 the Visalia Times-Delta lets you know which Tulare County restaurants aced inspections as well as which ones need to make improvements Tulare County's best restaurant inspectionsThe following four restaurants met all standards during their March inspections and no violations were found January 2025: The best and worst Tulare County restaurant inspections The following 18 restaurants were found to have major or critical risk violations:  February 2025: The best and worst Tulare County restaurant inspections Visalia – Routine inspection and complaint investigation on March 3 Customer claimed employee did not wash hands before preparing food Business owner said customer was upset about not being waited on at 7:15 a.m. even though the business does not open until 7:30 a.m During inspection observed employee handle cash then use hand sanitizer before preparing customer drink with ice 2024: Every restaurant inspection we covered in Tulare County Visalia – Routine inspection and complaint inspection on March 17 Complaint is regarding staff not properly washing hands Observed operator take cash from customer and subsequently pack wontons and orange chicken into to-go containers without washing hands Complaint was validated at time of inspection and facility will be charged enforcement penalty of $328 Owner and wife were informed of the complaint and believe that two former disgruntled employees submitted the complaint following the resolution of a civil matter Porterville – Routine inspection on March 19 Farmersville – Routine inspection on March 24 Visalia – Routine inspection and complaint inspection on March 25 Complaint is regarding possible foodborne illness symptoms from eating salad bar items white shredded cheese and baby corn) had temperatures measuring 45°F-48°F at time of inspection Facility will be charged enforcement penalty of $328 Visalia – Routine inspection and food facility assessment on March 31 The assessment followed a natural gas leak incident on March 23 The inspection verified that the facility is unsafe to resume conducting food operations Prior to being approved by the Tulare County Environmental Health Division to reopen the facility must obtain food-grade sanitizer disinfectant; food-preparation equipment must be cleaned rinsed and sanitized; and all food items in the food-preparation area must be discarded Visalia – Complaint investigation and routine inspection on March 31 Complainant reported air-conditioning not working properly causing smoke to fill restaurant and move toward gas station Complaint also includes statements that sprinkler tag expired in 2023 and employees (including a cook) have acrylic nails Remember some of the violations noted are technical issues not directly linked to hygiene or cleanliness or missing paperwork may be included among the violations because they can be linked to germs For full restaurant inspection details, visit the Tulare County Division of Environmental Health's restaurant inspections score website here If you notice violations of state standards, you can file an online complaint here Critical risk factors inspectors look for range of factors like possessing a food handlers certificate to protection from contamination by keeping contact surfaces sanitized and clean Other things inspectors look at include employee health and hygienic practices Some of the items inspectors check for are weighed more heavily than others usually anywhere between two to four points Disclaimer: These inspection reports are from the Tulare County Retail Food Inspection Program which inspects retail food facilities to ensure safe food handling practices and compliance with the California Health and Safety Code within the county Please note that follow-up inspections may not be included here Welcome, Mickeymickey@disney.comManage MyDisney AccountLog OutTulare Police investigating deadly shootingSunday 2025The Tulare Police Department is investigating a shooting that left a man dead on Saturday night.TULARE (KFSN) -- The Tulare Police Department is investigating a shooting that left a man dead Officers responded to K Street near Bardsley Avenue at 9:30 p.m Officials found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to the hospital you are asked to contact the police department visitors will no longer have to pay to enter a Tulare County park Tulare County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to eliminate the entrance fees for all county-run parks while revising the fee structure for park amenities but parks’ fees have remained unchanged since 2019,” said Brooke Sisk director of the Tulare County General Services Agency “We planned to update them every other year but they were delayed in part due to COVID but also intentionally when park improvements received a major amount of funding from your board through ARPA (the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) and other county funds “It is essential to update the fees to improve accessibility and affordability align with regional standards while remaining reasonable recover a portion of costs to support operations and ensure fairness and transparency,” she said Entrance fees are currently being charged at four county parks on Fridays “They present significant operational challenges “This change will not only improve efficiency but encourage greater park usage and reduce financial barriers for the community,” she added The fee changes include standardizing arbor rental fees at all parks A $50 fee will be charged for sports facilities Horseshoe pit reservation fees will be lowered from $25 to $10 due to their lower maintenance needs Reservation fees for the new stand-alone picnic tables and grills that are separate from arbors will be $25 A new $200 base fee will be charged for organized running events Additional charges may apply if there are other impacted amenities The $100 tournament fee at any of the seven-disc golf courses will be changed to a $100 per course per day fee with potential additional charges for any impacted amenities Vendor permits will be adjusted to simplify the process and ensure compliance with state law The current $30 commercial vendor fee will become a $50 single-day vendor fee and non-special event vendor permits,” according to Sisk A new $325 annual fee for year-round vendors will allow unlimited access to all parks and simplify compliance checks The varying camping fees at Balch Park for tents and for seniors or disabled visitors will all become $25 The pier reservation fee at newly reopened Bartlett Park will be $200 a day A $5 per day dove hunting fee will be charged at Kings River Park and the park will be limited to 20 hunters per day The cost to rent the Boy Scout Cabin and Pillar Square at Mooney Grove Park will double to $200 per site per day allowing hosts to stay in self-contained campers which includes a $30 refundable gate lock deposit The approved proposal also includes a $92,000 parks budget increase and a $13,000 increase for Tulare County Museum in Mooney Grove Park In response to a question from Supervisor Amy Shuklian Sisk clarified that if a group wants to visit a county park to play basketball on the court or to use another sports amenity “All of the reservations are to ensure that it's available,” Sisk explained “That doesn't mean that someone can't show up and use these amenities but there's no guarantee that it will be available unless they make a reservation.”  She added that members of the public can also use amenities such as a standalone picnic table and grill as long as they are not reserved In yet another history making moment in Tulare County Tulare County District Attorney law clerk Sophia Park has become the youngest person to pass the rigorous California bar exam breaking her brother Peter’s record set last year 8 months old when she passed the exam on November 8 11 months old when he passed the exam in 2023 “Sophia’s amazing accomplishments speak for themselves and we could not be prouder as an office family,” said Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward “It really is quite remarkable the success we have had with our law students interns and law clerks attaining their professional dreams The dividends for our office have been immense and we are excited to be part of Sophia and Peter’s continued success.” Sophia Park started law school at the age of 13 in 2020 while simultaneously attending junior high school at Oxford Academy in Cypress, CA. In 2022 she graduated high school after passing the California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE) and graduated from Northwestern California University School of Law in 2024 Park utilized a state bar rule that allows students to apply to law school through the completion of College Level Proficiency Exams (CLEPS) Park gained hands-on experience as a summer intern at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Park has been employed as a law clerk for the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office Sophia is on track to be sworn in as a licensed attorney in March of 2025 upon turning 18 when she plans to join the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor like her brother I will work to see justice served and ensure that victims’ voices are heard,” Sophia shared Media inquiries can be directed to the Office of the District Attorney County of Tulare Communications Director Stuart Anderson at stuartanderson@tularecounty.ca.gov The argument for who the best high school sports team in Visalia is no longer up for debate the Central Section board of managers voted 53-0 in favor of the latest league alignment proposal finalizing the formation of the Central Yosemite Conference — a 12-member league that now includes Central Valley Christian with the four Visalia public high schools (El Diamante The Cavaliers will now play their Visalia counterparts as league rivals “This is really exciting,” CVC athletic director Caleb Flores said “I think it’s ultimately just a testament to our overall school community to be at this point where we feel comfortable hopping in this conference with these bigger schools that are known for their athletics and have great athletic programs.” CVC has the lowest student enrollment among the schools in the newly created conference at 375 the Cavaliers have proven on the field that they could compete at a high level against bigger schools CVC has won three section titles (2018 Division IV 2023 Division II) and finished as the runner-up in four other section championship games (2017 Division IV Section championship games were not played during the abbreviated COVID-19-impacted 2020-21 season the Cavaliers became the first Visalia football team to win a state championship capturing the CIF State Division 2-A title They have played in seven straight section championship games It’s just not the football team that has sustained outstanding year-to-year success The volleyball program is coming off a historic season CVC became the first volleyball team in Tulare County history to win a state championship when the Cavaliers claimed the 2024 CIF State Division III title “We feel very confident that the majority of our sports will go out and compete,” Flores said I think it’s a very good thing for the city of Visalia It’s a really cool thing for the Tulare County community as a whole.” The East Sequoia League is expanding to a 12-school conference with the additions of Parlier and Riverdale Wonderful College Prep-Delano and Woodlake The section’s new league realignment will be implemented on July 1 Here is a look at the section’s new league alignment for 2026-2030: is jointly funded by states and the federal government States cover the upfront cost of care and are then reimbursed by the federal government for at least 50% considered likely by the California Hospital Association warns that Congress may reduce the federal government's 50% share to 45% costing California $40 billion annually — especially if the federal match for the Affordable Care Act population Kaweah Health CEO Gary Herbst said the impact on the hospital could amount to $100 million a year with 62% of Tulare County residents enrolled in Medi-Cal due to the region’s large low-income population If the federal government reduces its share and shifts the burden to the state Herbst warned that California "doesn't have a penny to spare to fund the care." That does not mean patients — insured or uninsured — will stop seeking care Federal law requires hospitals to treat any patient who arrives at their door Officials predict that with reductions in funding for primary care more people — and sicker people — will seek care at hospitals "These cuts would devastate hospitals across the state and country The Valley would be especially hard-hit given our number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries Hospitals already lose money caring for Medi-Cal patients due to poor reimbursement rates," said Marc Mertz More: Kaweah Health responds to Visalia OB-GYN’s decision to stop providing obstetric services which operates a network of clinics and hospitals in the Central Valley also expressed concern about potential cuts "With eight hospitals and 131 clinics serving communities throughout the Central Valley we are concerned about how these cuts could affect access to essential medical services for our most vulnerable patients," the organization said in a statement "Many residents in the Central Valley rely on Medicare and Medicaid for critical healthcare services Any reductions in funding could strain local hospitals particularly in the rural and underserved areas that we proudly serve." ambulatory medical officer for Adventist Health Central California Network compassionate care to every patient who walks through our doors regardless of their financial situation," Ayala said "Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid could place significant financial pressure on hospitals across our region making it more challenging to sustain vital programs and services for those who need them most." The Central Valley has the highest percentage of low-income residents in California Vince Fong's Bakersfield congressional district and 70% of the population enrolled in Medi-Cal in Rep noted that 1.8 million Medicaid recipients live across the San Joaquin Valley The budget resolution passed by just one vote — a tie would have killed it Despite the high number of recipients in their districts "I voted to advance the budget resolution — an important procedural step to keep the legislative process moving this resolution doesn’t include any specific policy provisions," he said Valadao has previously emphasized the importance of Medicaid "I've heard from countless constituents who tell me the only way they can afford health care is through programs like Medicaid," he said on the House floor "And I will not support a final reconciliation bill that risks leaving them behind." Medicaid covers more people than Medicare and Social Security including millions in Republican-led states signed by Valadao and six other GOP members highlights concerns about the expected cuts in the budget resolution "The House Budget Resolution proposed $880 billion in cuts to programs under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce with Medicaid expected to bear the brunt of these reductions Nearly 30% of Medicaid enrollees are Hispanic Americans Medicaid is their only access to healthcare," the letter states Valadao represents most of Kings County and portions of Tulare and Kern counties Politico has noted that his 2018 reelection loss was partly due to his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act Observers warn that it is not just hospitals that would feel the cuts and nursing homes across California could also be affected Reductions in funding could limit home care services forcing families with elderly parents or children with disabilities to choose between keeping their homes or placing loved ones in institutions That includes 133,709 children under 19 and 22,577 seniors over 65 131,000 people would lose food stamps/SNAP benefits while 25,000 who receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act would see their average premium increase by $1,870 per year — a 91% hike The potential cuts could also impact Valley Children's Hospital and Family Healthcare Network one of the largest clinic systems in the U.S. "There will be no health care entity that won't be affected," Herbst said The House budget plan instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify at least $880 billion in mandatory spending cuts over the next 10 years The expected savings would be used to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts While the resolution does not explicitly mention Medicaid experts say it would be difficult to reach the budget targets without significant reductions to the program The potential Medicaid cuts come at a time when 432 rural hospitals nationwide are already at risk of closure and those who care for and serve the needs of the 72 million patients who rely on Medicaid we urge you to consider the implications of hinging the budget reconciliation bill's fate on removing healthcare access for millions of our nation's patients," American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack said The Children's Hospital Association warned that cuts could drastically reduce provider availability and limit essential services for the 37 million children enrolled in Medicaid Medicaid insures 1 in 5 Americans: This is how the GOP budget could impact coverage The California Hospital Association said threats to Medicaid and Medicare funding are coming on two tracks Congress must act to fund the federal government by March 14 to avoid a government shutdown Issues being discussed as part of this negotiation include disproportionate share hospital (DSH) cuts The wrong outcome of any of these policies would be disastrous for California Congress is mapping out a budget plan for 2026 that could include reductions in the federal match for Medicaid funding these proposals represent an existential threat." 29 print edition of The Business Journal included economic forecasts for each of the four counties we cover We will be sharing them throughout the week Tulare County continued to see growth in urban sectors with the three major population centers in the area experiencing growth in both business opportunity and community development but also through local support initiatives to bolster existing businesses The City of Tulare will start fresh in 2025 with a brand new city logo and branding campaign The concept will seek to integrate the city’s investors With Tulare County maintaining its leadership as one of the nation’s top agricultural producers in 2023 with a gross agricultural production valued at more than $7.5 billion — down from its gross record of $8.6 billion reached in 2022 — this year emphasized the county’s focus on agricultural innovation sustainable energy projects and expansion into manufacturing A local microgreens vendor has ambitions to eventually grow his A Central Valley dried fruit processor has been getting its Raising Cane’s will donate more than $1,500 raised from six BLOG: Bill advances that would undermine PAGA reform Reform of the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) was one BLOG: Should breaking news alter your investment strategy? please create a FREE account OR login here SKIP THE POP-UPS — Subscribe Today & Save $20 Stay informed with The Business Journal—your go-to source for local business news and insights Already a member? CLICK HERE to login Unlock unlimited access to TheBusinessJournal.com and start receiving exclusive business news and insights today Going-out-of-business sale signs are up at the Forever 21 stores in Fresno and Bakersfield Employees at the Visalia Mall location say their store will remain open a claim confirmed by Visalia Mall Manager Rick Feder the Tulare Outlet Mall location will be closing The parent company is struggling financially and may file for bankruptcy for the second time since 2019 Visalia Mall owner Brookfield Properties owns a stake in the Los Angeles-based discount fashion retailer Visalia Mall Manager Rick Feder said the Forever 21 store in Visalia is “right-sized” at 12,500 square feet the Fresno Forever 21 location is a former Gottschalks space at around 150,000 square feet — an anchor-size space He said that is the case with many of the stores that are closing as they are “not practical in today’s retail market.” Reports indicate the company plans to close about 200 stores nationwide This is the second time in a week that a retailer closed stores around California Joann Stores  spared the Visalia location while Fresno and scores of others closed ‘Everything's made from scratch’: Three Rivers sandwich shop named to Yelp's Top 100 Costco Wholesale is set to break ground on its northside warehouse project at Riggin Avenue and Shirk Street The new service station will have 32 gas pumps compared to 24 at the existing Costco in town The 12,684-square-foot construction project is valued at $4 million Building permits for the warehouse itself are expected soon The Visalia City Council will consider a new industrial park at the March 3 meeting called the Shirk-Riggin Industrial Project will have a total building footprint of approximately 3.72 million square feet on 284 acres It would be the largest industrial project in Visalia’s history The development is being proposed by Seefried Industries and the land is owned by the Ritchie family The public hearing will cover the certification of a final environmental impact report (EIR) The EIR determined that all project impacts were either less than significant or could be mitigated to a less-than-significant level except for the following impacts that are considered significant and unavoidable: Agriculture and forest resources (project and cumulative level)Air quality (project and cumulative level)Noise (project and cumulative level)The final report follows a notice of availability period during which the draft EIR was made available for public review from April 11 to May 28 proceedings will begin for the annexation of three parcels totaling approximately 284 acres into Visalia’s city limits the area will be zoned Industrial (I) and Light Industrial (I-L) consistent with the land use designations of the Visalia General Plan Land Use Map The proposed project site is approximately 284 acres located on the north side of Riggin Avenue between Shirk Street and Kelsey Street Tulare County's best restaurant inspectionsThe following 10 restaurants met all standards during their February inspections and no violations were found The following 10 restaurants were found to have major or critical risk violations:  Facility was temporarily closed until inspector could return and verify that warm water at the handwashing sink measured a minimum of 100°F and hot water at the food-preparation sink and warewashing sink measured a minimum of 120°F Visalia – Complaint investigation and routine inspection on Feb Complaint is regarding lack of current food handler cards/certificates food in the walk-in refrigerator “not in good condition” or with mold Complaint may have been made by a disgruntled employee Observed at least one repeat violation: walk-in refrigerator not maintaining food at 41°F or below at all times Visalia – Routine inspection and complaint inspection on Feb Complaint was about cockroaches in kitchen near grease trap and near where food is prepared and stored Keep in mind as you readRemember some of the violations noted are technical issues not directly linked to hygiene or cleanliness (FOX26) — A driver was killed in a crash Thursday afternoon after running a stop sign in Tulare County California Highway Patrol says the driver of a Chevrolet S-10 failed to stop at a posted stop sign and hit a northbound Chevrolet Silverado on Road 36 [RELATED]Fatal crash near Dinuba leaves one dead, two injured The impact caused both vehicles to lose control with the Silverado overturning and coming to rest on its side in a partially filled irrigation ditch The driver of the Toyota managed to escape the flames while the driver of the Chevrolet S-10 was unable to escape and died at the scene The driver of the Chevrolet Silverado was able to get himself from the overturned vehicle Both surviving drivers were taken to Kaweah Delta Medical Center CHP reported that seatbelts were worn by the drivers of the Toyota and Chevrolet Silverado but that it was unclear if the driver of the Chevrolet S-10 was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash The investigation into the incident is ongoing Welcome, Mickeymickey@disney.comManage MyDisney AccountLog Out6 hospitalized with minor injuries following multi-car crash in Tulare CountySunday 2025Six people were injured following a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 99 in Tulare County Saturday morning.TULARE COUNTY (KFSN) -- Six people were injured after a multi-vehicle crash The crash happened Saturday morning on northbound Highway 99 near Avenue 184 Investigators say seven vehicles were involved in the collision All the victims were taken to the hospital with minor injuries It's unclear what led up to the crash Tulare County's best restaurant inspectionsThe following eight restaurants met all standards during their January inspections and no violations were found The following 29 restaurants were found to have major or critical risk violations:  Visalia – Routine inspection and complaint investigation (two separate complaints) on Jan First complaint involved unhygienic practices by staff employees going into restroom with aprons on Complaint observed valid for food on the floor and cleanliness Second complaint involved two individuals with food borne illness symptoms after eating potato fondue dish and dessert No other illnesses were reported and second complaint could not be validated Tacos & Seafood (formerly Tacos y Mariscos El Pariente) Visalia – Routine inspection and complaint inspection on Jan Customer complained about being handed food with bare hands operator observed handling cash and grabbing and placing wrapped ready-to-eat food into a bag without washing hands Tulare – Routine inspection and complaint inspection on Jan Complainant stated feeling ill after consuming three cheeseburgers and one fish sandwich for takeout on Jan Symptoms claimed were nausea with severe cramps and stomach pain two hours after consumption Operator stated no other complaints received from public and there were no sick employees currently or over the past two weeks Ben Maddox Way – Routine inspection on Jan visit the Tulare County Division of Environmental Health's restaurant inspections score website here If you notice violations of state standards The 2025 Central Section high school spring sports season is underway please submit your results/stats after each game or match to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@gannett.com to have players highlighted in our local roundup Monache 3: The Rangers (17-7) clinched their fourth straight league championship and seventh in 11th seasons struck out six in four innings to lead Redwood to its fifth straight victory Top performers — Nate Ramirez (three innings pitched Central Valley Christian 3: Winning pitcher Cade McElmoyl hurled six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings Top performers — Tyler Trimble (three strikeouts Tulare Union 2: Kayloni Cox and Aliyah Cardenas each drove in a run in the West Yosemite League loss Porterville 4: Jack Volchko fired four strikeouts in four frames to earn the win on the mound Tulare Western 9: Kayloni Cox registered four hits with six RBIs and four runs in the WYL victory Jiannah Freitas also had a standout performance for Tulare Union going 4-for-4 hitting with three doubles and six RBIs Here is one view of the top five baseball/softball teams in Tulare County (records are as of May 1): Redwood (17-7): The Rangers clinched an outright EYL championship leads the team with a .400 batting average and 21 RBIs Tulare Western (10-11-1): The Mustangs have lost back-to-back WYL games CVC (10-11): The Cavaliers are on a three-game losing streak Exeter (17-7): Starting pitcher Cade McElmoyl has thrown 75 strikeouts this season Redwood (16-6-1): The Rangers have won four in a row and are currently atop the EYL standings Monache (12-5-1): Shy-Lee Teran and Jaydin Sabol each hit a home run in a win over El Diamante Mission Oak (12-9-1): On a five-game winning streak the Hawks are in first place in the WYL standings Dinuba (15-6): The Emperors have lost four straight Tulare Union (13-11): Kayloni Cox registered four hits with six RBIs and four runs in a win against Tulare Western Welcome, Mickeymickey@disney.comManage MyDisney AccountLog Out1 hospitalized after shooting in Tulare, police saySaturday 2025Police are searching for a suspect after a shooting in Tulare sent one person to the hospital on Friday.TULARE (KFSN) -- Police are searching for a suspect after a shooting in Tulare sent one person to the hospital on Friday The shooting happened just before 4:30 p.m The Tulare Police Department says the victim and the suspect left the scene before officers arrived The victim later showed up at a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Stay with Action News for the latest updates on this developing story The Ficher brothers completed their high school basketball legacy at Tulare Western High School this past season the Ficher trio combined for nearly 5,000 points and 132 victories They also helped the Mustangs capture a 2023 Central Section Division IV plaque two East Yosemite League championships (2018 2019) and a West Yosemite League title (2025) culminated his outstanding preps career in style becoming the city of Tulare's all-time leading scorer with 2,432 total points "I don't know if I'm gonna have the streak of three brothers ever again — a continuous eight-year streak," Tulare Western head coach Keith Rickard said The success that we've had in this program the last 10 years the majority of it is probably because of how the Ficher brothers have been It's going to be a hard loss for me but I think there are a lot of people in the area who are happy to see the Fichers go Is this the last one?' And now we're finally at that point They've put a tremendous impact on the basketball community in general The tone setterMikey set the foundation for his younger brothers He made an immediate impact as a freshman during his 2017-18 breakout season leading Tulare Western to 22 wins as the team's starting point guard Mikey anchored Tulare Western to 62 victories and scored 1,631 total points in a Mustangs' uniform He did not play during the COVID-19-impacted 2021 spring season "A lot of coaches can go through their entire careers and maybe get one player I was lucky enough to get three who were extremely high caliber he had to carry a lot of the load and do everything for us He's probably the better athlete of all of them How big of an impact has Mikey had on his brothers he's probably the greatest role model/big brother anyone could ask for," Carmine said That just paved the way for me and Malachi as little brothers." Malachi still remembers Mikey's varsity debut season in 2017-18 Tulare Western reeled off a nine-game win streak to advance to the 67th annual Polly Wilhelmsen Invitational championship game Mikey averaged nearly 18 points per outing including scoring a then-career high 26 points in a win over Redwood "Just seeing him succeed right away at that level it kind of sparked something in me," Malachi said He was a three-year starter at quarterback at Tulare Western but also opted to play basketball because of his brothers he got to play alongside both Mikey and Malachi in high school Mikey introduced Carmine to the varsity level and later took Malachi under his wings directed the Mustangs to the Central Section Division IV championship handing the program its first section title in nearly two decades The Mustangs' average margin of victory was 19 points "It's a blessing because not a lot of people get to play with their brothers," Carmine said It was a very great experience and a unique experience to say the least." including an abbreviated COVID-19 campaign Carmine totaled 899 points and 562 rebounds he dished out the most assists among the Ficher family with 315 Carmine guided Tulare Western to 18 victories but his ability to elevate his teammates is a big reason why Malachi credited the team's championship to his brother "Carmine was the backbone of that team," Malachi said He was the best player that I've played with That's when I really realized how special a person Carmine is and how special a leader he is." "Mikey and Malachi get a lot of the accolades because of how offensively gifted they were," Rickard said "Carmine may not get those same type of accolades but I truly believe we truly won that Valley title because of Carmine He really can but he's the ultimate team player He sacrificed his own personal stats because that's what we needed him to do at that time Malachi took what he learned from his siblings and morphed it into his own game Malachi didn't need to look far to see a leader by example He saw Carmine's leadership skills on the football field and on the court Seeing that firsthand taught Malachi how to be a leader I got those two very strong characteristics to take after That really helped me evolve my game a lot." Malachi became Tulare's all-time career leading scorer this winter when he scored the 2,000th point of his career at the 73rd annual Polly Wilhelmsen Invitational surpassing former Tulare Western standout Bryan Paredes' 1,998 points and Mikey celebrated the milestone by handing Malachi "2K" balloons Game organizers stopped the game momentarily to recognize the monumental achievement 2 on Tulare County's all-time scoring list with 2,432 points behind former CVC and Stanford standout Grant Verhoeven (2,598 points) He also finished with 705 rebounds and 258 assists Malachi anchored Tulare Western to an 18-win season and a co-WYL championship He was named 2025 WYL most valuable player and broke his own single-game school scoring record with a 52-point performance in a 92-67 rout of Del Oro in December "Malachi is probably the best offensive player I will ever coach," Rickard said There's multiple days where he shows up to the gym One of Mikey's first memories is training for basketball That mutual love for basketball built a brotherhood between the Ficher siblings that will last a lifetime Mikey went on to play at College of the Sequoias where he helped the Giants reach the 2024 CCCAA men's basketball championship game Carmine is currently a strong safety at Reedley College He had a standout freshman campaign last fall where he registered 34 tackles and two interceptions for a Tigers team that reached the Golden Valley Bowl Malachi is next in line to follow in his brother's footsteps The Tulare Western senior has verbally committed to play college basketball at Fresno Pacific — an NCAA Division II program The Sunbirds are a member of the PacWest Conference Malachi admitted his accomplishments would not have been possible without his family's support "They don't really realize how much they mean to me," Malachi said "They're my biggest role models on top of my mom I don't really tell them but it's definitely awesome having those two They don't really know how much they do for me." what's it like to see his siblings succeed "I always wanted them to exceed what I did I may talk a little trash here and there but it's all love at the end of the day I'm just proud of what they did and all they've accomplished." Conference realignment: 'We're ready to roll': CVC joins Tulare, Visalia high schools to form new league Lone Ranger: Fresno Pacific pledge Isaac Esquivel continues Redwood's strong tradition at shortstop Hometown hero: How Richard Torrez's strong bond with his father helped his boxing career blossom has law enforcement changing how they deal with specific theft and drug crimes in Tulare County The proposition allows felony charges for possessing certain drugs and for thefts under $950 if defendant has two prior drug or theft convictions suspects found with illegal drugs would be required to complete treatment or serve up to three years in prison The aim of Prop. 36 is to increase penalties for fentanyl and drug traffickers and "smash-and-grabs," while holding repeat offenders accountable The Visalia Police Department had been limited on how it could respond to certain crimes since 2014 when Prop which recategorized some nonviolent offenses it really killed a lot of the drug courts because there was just no incentive for someone to volunteer to go into a drug court program on a misdemeanor,” Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar said “It really had an impact on what we see now with some of our homelessness issues where you have a lot of either mental health or substance abuse issues that contribute to that.” “If they have prior convictions for drug offenses there's now a felony section that we can book them on and then there's another one that has to do with theft," he said "If we go out to a retail theft crime and we arrest someone – and typically we have a number of repeat offenders – we arrest them for that theft and if they have prior convictions that qualify under Prop and the DA can charge them for the felony." New California laws 2025: Here are 12 laws you'll want to know for your day-to-day life The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office is in the process of developing new instructions but some new processes have already been put into place “In the short-term, any eligible charge is going to be sent to a team of very senior prosecutors to review,” Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said “We want to make sure that we're consistent and then we also want to make sure that we capture the right data so that in six months or a year we can look at recidivism and success and failures “The burden initially up front – especially for the 11,395 drug offenders for the mandated treatment felony – is really on our health and human services partners that have to do the court-mandated referral and evaluation,” Ward said “Our staff involvement is pretty easy,” he said We're in the business of making that decision every day New traffic laws in California 2025: Insurance, parking and stricter penalties worth knowing who was the president of the California District Attorneys Association in 2022-23 when the group put together what would eventually become Prop is concerned that many of its supporters may be over optimistic about its impact “Whether that issue was homelessness or drug addiction there was an expectation that it was going to instantly solve it,” Ward said Many of us were trying to manage expectations This is going to be a slow process and it will probably take a couple of years until we see a drastic improvement.” “We'll see a difference in caseloads and individuals relatively soon I think we can profoundly impact individuals.”  36 to result in an initial increase in caseloads but not more incidents of conduct,” Ward said possession of hard drugs was a misdemeanor “We expect that individuals that would have otherwise come into contact for possession of hard drugs that would have been cited and booked and released they will be physically arrested and booked,” he added “The law says they cannot be immediately released until there's judicial review and a determination made about public safety on one hand and what's in the best interest of that individual.”  the ACLU of Northern California described Prop 36 as “the biggest prison spending increase in California history,” and labeled it “the Mass Incarceration Ballot Measure.” The organization argued that it would roll back progress that it and its partners “made to prioritize treatment and services over incarceration for certain drug and theft-related offenses over the past decade.” “I question whether or not the people saying that actually ever read the language of Prop 36 and took a moment to realize the intent behind it,” Ward said 36 is to make sure that the drug-addicted population – which is often quite homeless and to a large degree also connected into the retail theft losses – get mandated and provided treatment for their substance abuse issue or their mental health condition in lieu of going to jail “Now we realize that's not going to be the case but it's written such that even a person who comes in and says I want to go to jail,’ and they wind up in jail this is really crappy.’ They can actually come back and get put into the drug treatment program or the mental health program the entire criminal case against them gets dismissed.” so that now in the case of death caused by any controlled substance “We've had that for drunk drivers for years and years and years,” Ward said “There was never a direct mechanism for the poisoning of our youth that's going on across the state that the distributors and the people selling the drugs could be directly prosecuted for murder Alexandra's Law was incorporated in and we now have that admonition.” Alexandra's Law was named after Alexandra Capelouto More: These mothers lost children to opioid overdoses. They offer new approach to drug crisis. Brandon Michael McDowell was charged with distribution of fentanyl resulting in death He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in federal prison “A lot should be said for the family of that young girl who tragically was poisoned and died,” Ward said “They were instrumental in trying to get Alexandra's Law passed by the Legislature disgusting and I'll say criminally negligent took no action and forced us to take it to the voters.” More work for law enforcement?Salazar wouldn’t say if Prop “We're still responding to a lot of these calls anyway What will change is now we have some codes that will allow us to book them," he said "There will certainly be some impacts to us there in terms of taking more time for officers to book on those offenses “We fully intend to take advantage of the new law and respond to what our communities have told us that they want us to address some of those crime issues and try to make a difference,” Salazar said "There are some other things that still need to be addressed to really kind of turn the tide to deal with some of these issues," he said "This gave us a tool to be able to book more people but it didn't create more bed space in county jails It didn't create more bed space in prisons “The state continues to either close prisons or reduce the number of beds,” he said “When AB 109 (which realigned prisons and jails in California) passed back in 2011 it put a lot of pressure on county jails to hold people in their facilities for a lot longer than they were ever intended to “I'm sure there will be some bumps in the road but we'll work through those and try to make those adjustments and do the best we can,” he said The last remaining Big Lots discount store in Tulare County is closing The Big Lots at 1675 Hillman St. in Tulare is among the 19 locations listed in the second round of closures announced on Nov. 18 The Bakersfield store is also on that list The Tulare location outlasted the Big Lots in Visalia, which was among the 315 stores in the first round of closures announced on Sept That announcement also included the Hanford and Fresno locations The Big Lots in Clovis survived both rounds of closures there were 1,400 Big Lots stores across the United States No actual closing dates have been announced for the Tulare store or for any of the other stores included in the second round of closures Five Guys: Burger chain to close its only Visalia fast-food restaurant. Here’s why “When a closing store will permanently close is based on available remaining inventory,” explains the Big Lots website “We are unable to provide an exact date of a store’s closure.” A Tulare Big Lots employee agreed that the store would close its doors when the inventory is sold but estimated that to happen around the end of January The employee said that the closure affects about a dozen employees who were notified about the corporate decision at a staff meeting Although this person has already managed to find other employment that is probably not the case for all of the other workers The manager on duty at the Tulare store declined comment Visalia Costco sets the record straight: Food court tables spark Reddit debate The 57-year-old company announced its decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept along with the first round of store closures Big Lots is able to reorganize its finances and debts without closing all of its stores The retailer blamed inflation and interest rates for the store closures but decisions were apparently not based on how individual stores performed "Though the majority of our store locations are profitable we intend to move forward with a more focused footprint to ensure that we operate efficiently and are best positioned to serve our customers,” said Bruce Thorn we intend to use the tools afforded by this process to continue optimizing our store fleet in an orderly manner." Restaurant inspections: The best and worst in Tulare County for October 2024 will assume Big Lots’ business operations and most of its remaining stores Big Lots will receive more than $700 million in new financing to operate the stores it will retain The company reported that more store closures may be announced Gray wolves are alive and well in Tulare County The population of gray wolves has increased in the county and country in recent years because of the legal protections of the Endangered Species Act which reversed a decline that began centuries ago gray wolves weren’t seen in California for about 100 years our entire history ­­­– post-European contact – has been a history of eradicating wolves to the point where we no longer had any wolves in the lower 48 United States,” said Amaroq Weiss senior wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity a nonprofit organization that works to protect endangered species “By the time the Endangered Species Act was finally passed in 1973 except for a small population of maybe 600 wolves in far northeastern Minnesota and a tiny population of wolves on (Michigan’s) Isle Royale we had wiped out wolves across the country,” she said it is estimated that there were nearly 2 million wolves across all of North America.” The gray wolf was added to the endangered species list in 1974 That meant that the small population of wolves in Minnesota could now safely expand in number and territory “Wolves from Minnesota grew in number and also moved into neighboring Michigan and Wisconsin," she said there are about 4,000 to 4,500 wolves across that three-state region." having protections wasn't enough to allow wolves to repopulate “Wolves would try to come across the border from Canada into Montana," Weiss said so eventually the federal government – the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service – decided to do a reintroduction of wolves." Captured wolves in Canada would be transported and released into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness What people call a wolf pack is really a family Some of the younger wolves stay with their family for the rest of their lives wolves in Idaho were starting to make their way west into Washington and Oregon "[Oregon's] first known wolf come in from Idaho in 1999 but it had its first pack finally established in 2008," Weiss said "Their offspring have continued to leave their pack and go out and look for mates and territory of their own That is how we have started to get wolves coming into California.” The first gray wolf came into California from Oregon in 2011 “He had come from over in northeastern Oregon traveled diagonally all the way across the state of Oregon and then dropped down into Siskiyou County in California,” she said made a few brief trips back into California over the next six months and then he settled down in southwest Oregon with a mate he finally found there in spring of 2014," Weiss said "They had puppies and about two years later one of their puppies came as a young adult into California." Species makes California comeback: Gray wolf pack found in Shasta County other wolves from northeastern Oregon had also made the long trip to California “Although we had our first wolf show up here in 2011 it wasn't until 2015 that we had our first pack established," Weiss said Controversial: As California's wolf population claws its way back, some ranchers are nervous after they were implicated in some livestock conflicts except for one of their offspring who was discovered about a year later in the same area “We know who he is because people went out and collected scat and determined that he was from that family.”  The founding male wolf for that pack was one of the pups that had been born to the first wolf that had come into California he left his family and came looking for a mate in California," she said "He met up with a female wolf here who had wandered all the way over from the Northern Rockies because her genetics show that she is related to that population.”  The Lassen Pack continued to have pups each year since then and they have had puppies every spring since then The Beckworth Pack was discovered in spring 2021 “This is the first time we begin to see wolves that were born in California start to form a pack because the Beckworth Pack included one or two wolves that had been born into the Lassen Pack's litters,” Weiss said we have had more packs form – the Harvey Pack The Yowlumni Pack is California's southernmost pack “The interesting thing about that pack is the female wolf is a direct descendant of that very first wolf that came to California back in 2011,” she added Weiss said that wolves were first discovered in Tulare County by researchers in Sequoia National Forest the Yowlumni Pack has been continuously monitored by the CDFW by a tracking collar on an adult female The CDFW reported that the pack includes at least 15 wolves The CDFW also reported that the Yowlumni Pack probably killed a calf on the Tule River Tribe Reservation in September the California State Legislature appropriated $3 million to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to create a Wolf-Livestock Compensation Pilot Program to protect livestock producers from the financial impact of wolves The pilot program was launched in June 2023 and continued until funds were exhausted in March 2024 A total of 109 grants were awarded to producers with livestock in four counties with known wolf activity: Tulare “They ask people to send them photographs because a lot of times people mistake wolves for coyotes “If they get enough credible reported sightings that really sound like this is a wolf the agency will go to that locale and they will set out trail cameras all over the place until they can actually get video footage of an animal in the area so they can determine themselves whether they think it is a wolf Wildlife experts check the traps regularly take a tissue sample – a tiny little pinch from their ear – and they put a radio collar on them,” she said there are GPS collars that instead send up signals to a satellite every day,” Weiss continued “You can set the collars so that they give off signals maybe once every six hours You'll get four readings a day and they go up to the satellite the satellite downloads that information to the biologist's computer.” Many collars these days have both kinds of technology on them the detailed information about local wolf packs is provided by a combination of modern technology and poop People are “absolutely not” at risk from wolves in all of North America – including Alaska which has 40,000 to 60,000 wolves – there have only been two instances of people being attacked and killed by wolves the experts disagreed on whether it was a wolf that killed the person or whether it was a bear that killed the person “Wolf attacks on people are exceedingly rare,” Weiss said “You are so much more likely to be hit by a car when you back out of your driveway You are more likely to be hit by lightning You are more likely to put your money in a candy machine and have the candy machine not work and you yank on the handle and the candy machine falls over on you but they are not looking at humans as prey,” she said If you are anywhere where there is a wolf in the wild Readers voted Redwood softball player Kenzie Cantu as the Visalia Times-Delta Tulare County high school athlete of the week Cantu blasted a home run and four RBIs to help the Rangers rout Golden West 16-0 Here's a look at this school year's past winners: Original story: Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register readers can now vote for their favorite high school athletes Here are the choices for the week of April 14-16: Anyone can nominate an athlete of the week for every sport Readers can email nominations to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@visaliatimesdelta.com Please include a player’s statistics and a photo if possible As bird flu steadily becomes more of a health threat in Tulare County the disease has also become a labor issue and has started to impact the county’s international trade There were 21 cases of human bird flu in California on Nov according to the state's Department of Public Health which also reported “one additional probable case” that tested positive at a local lab Thirteen of those cases are in Tulare County according to the Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency’s Nov Virus outbreak worsens: Bird flu disrupts 100 Tulare County dairies, hits first poultry farm has now been confirmed in 233 dairies in California as reported by the California Department of Food and Agriculture on Nov A large number of those dairies testing positive for bird flu are in Tulare County In addition to the bird flu cases previously confirmed at two commercial broiler poultry farms west of Springville a backyard flock with the disease was reported in Tulare County on Oct The flock is described as "non-poultry," a term that includes birds kept for companionship Bird flu: Why undetected cases forced CDC to alter testing guidelines Currently, the responsibility rests with farmers to report cases of bird flu among their workers and their animals a spokesperson for the United Farm Workers I can assure you,” she said in a CalMatters interview “We have heard directly from farmworker communities and veterinarians that they can see that there are workers out there who are sick.” She added that workers cannot afford the 10-day isolation period without pay that comes with testing positive for bird flu But not everyone believes that testing farm employees for bird flu is a problem “While it’s important to monitor the health of individuals who may be exposed to H5N1 widespread testing of all farmworkers is not necessary,” said Dr Tulare County Public Health deputy county health officer “Testing is primarily focused on individuals who have had close contact with infected animals and are exhibiting specific symptoms consistent with avian influenza,” he said “This targeted approach ensures the efficient use of resources and identifies those at the highest risk we have established specimen collection (testing sites) throughout the county making it accessible for individuals who meet the criteria,” he continued “We encourage anyone experiencing symptoms consistent with H5N1 especially those who have been exposed to infected animals Exposed workers can notify Tulare County Public Health at (559) 685-5720 or CDreporting@tularecounty.ca.gov Protecting farm workersIn the fight against bird flu county agencies have focused most of their attention on protecting farm workers from the disease “There has been a concerted attempt to make sure that they have all of the PPE – personal protective equipment – that they need for their employees which I know has been happening because I've been kind of the outlet here for Tulare County,” said Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner Tom Tucker “Our Tulare Health department contacts us and brings big van loads of these materials and we help them notify all of our dairies for all of their employees and they come here and pick up that equipment “As far as the equipment getting out there and they seem to have everything they need,” he added Tulare County outbreak: Bird flu hits 2nd poultry farm, 145 California dairies He said farm employees have been monitored since the bird flu first appeared in the county “Anybody that had any kind of symptoms was immediately tested,” he said Those who were found to have the disease “were treated completely until it passed,” he added noting that bird flu in humans is usually over in about a week Tucker clarified what it means when a dairy is confirmed to have bird flu “That doesn't mean the entire facility and every animal has it,” Tucker said “It just means they had at least one cow that was noticed Immediately they separate it and then they start treating it.”  The Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in Hong Kong announced on Oct 29 that as a result of “outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Tulare County of the State of California,” as well as in Franklin County in Washington A CFS spokesman estimated that 13.86 million poultry eggs had been imported from the U.S "The CFS has contacted the Japanese and American authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by (the World Organization for Animal Health) and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks,” the spokesman said in a release “Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation." It remains to be seen what countries will follow Hong Kong’s lead The first case of a pig getting bird flu was reported in Oregon but Tucker does not think it will become an issue in the county we've only got a couple out on our west side,” he said “There's always a few small-time farmers with a few animals here and there.”  Tucker is optimistic about the future of bird flu in Tulare County “It's unfortunate that it spread like it did but we all know how quickly the regular flu does,” he said “We're hoping we're at the pivotal point of it now and it'll just start going down from here.”  (FOX26) — Four gang members were arrested after several search warrants Friday morning in Tulare County The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office says the search warrants were performed around 7 a.m The searches were performed by TCSO deputies Detectives found evidence of illegal marijuana and cocaine sales Detectives arrested four active Norteno gang members: The Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register is highlighting the impact of former and current coaches administrators and contributors who helped pave the area's sports landscape with the "Tulare County Titans" series who died after a battle with cancer on Feb A passionate teacher and coach for 30 years Da Silva left at lasting impression on the Tulare County softball community and those who knew her As the first head softball coach in Mission Oak history she built and established the Hawks as one of Tulare County’s premier programs Mission Oak captured back-to-back Central Section softball championships (2015 2016) and also helped the 2016 squad win a school-record 23 games Da Silva directed the Hawks to four 20-plus win seasons and an overall 129-75-1 record who played college softball at Fresno State under Margie Wright retired from coaching after the 2016 season She coached at Mission Oak from 2009-16 and also made coaching stops at Hoover Those section championship teams were anchored by future Oregon State star pitcher Mariah Mazon — who capped off her Hawks career with more than 900 strikeouts before going on to win a gold medal with Team USA at the 2022 Pan American Championships Mazon also had Da Silva as a physical education teacher at Mission Oak “A lot of the time I spent with her was outside of the softball field,” Mazon said “I would go to her class and just kind of hang out with her in the office and just talk to her about whatever I was going through a little high schooler telling her all the drama about everybody and she would always be there to listen She never pushed any advice on me or put her input Mazon reconnected with her former coach for the first time since her freshman year in college this past December There were so many things that we talked about.” “It’s kind of hard to put into words the impact that she had on me,” Mazon said she helped me become just a better player and person overall She was kind of like a role model in what I would want to be for other kids — to kind of just be a person for them to come to and talk to if they have anything going on with their lives.” ‘She had a very big heart’Da Silva gave former Mission Oak head coach Ilissa Facchini her first opportunity to coach at the high school level in 2016 Da Silva wanted Facchini to be her JV head coach but the latter had other plans — she wanted to learn directly under the former Fresno State Bulldog So Da Silva hired Facchini as her varsity assistant and groomed her to be the Hawks’ next head coach Mission Oak had six winning seasons (record above .500) in seven playing years The Hawks went a combined 121-60-3 during that stretch with five league championships Facchini credits part of that success to the foundation and excellence established by Da Silva She was super strategic with how she coached to not accept minimal effort from the kids the kids will strive to reach that standard I think that’s why her teams were always so good because they were always wanting to do their best for her.” I had so many reach out to me because she’s very private wanted to check on her and make sure everybody was OK because she was just a great friend She taught me to not take ‘No’ for an answer and to stand up for myself A lot of valuable lessons that extend beyond coaching.” A celebration of life for Da Silva is scheduled for March 1 at Visalia Nazarene Church at 5 p.m “She really taught me to have a personal connection with the kids,” Facchini said 'You don’t have personal connections with the kids.' You’re just playing "But she talked to the kids like they were adults It’s very easy to take things personally as a coach with parent issues and with kids Editor's note: Tulare County Titans is an occasional series highlighting the impact of former and current coaches, players, administrators and contributors who helped pave the area’s sports landscape. If you know someone who should be featured in this series, email a story idea to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@gannett.com More: 'The best player in the Valley': Andres Perez leads Lindsay soccer to championship game More: Tulare County Titans: Remembering Mark ‘Jonesy’ Jones, Redwood’s original super fan More: Tulare County Titans: Al Branco The grant money will be spent on “disaster recovery kits and storage equipment to protect a local history collection of artifacts including sources on agricultural activity and the area’s Indigenous people,” according to the library announcement “California’s story is told through its communities and its people,” said California State Librarian Greg Lucas in a press release “Protecting our history and cultural heritage collections from natural disasters is a statewide responsibility and earthquake reminds us how important it is to be prepared.” There are about 4,000 nonprofit historic and cultural institutions in California according to the 2021 California Cultural Collections Survey Eight-seven of them were awarded Groundwork Grants but some of that was in materials that they sent,” said Amy King-Sunderson adding that the museum received several items to protect its collection so in case we have spilled chemicals or water or anything like that The museum received $13,000 of the grant in cash we were able to purchase shelving so that the items that are in storage can be up off of the ground to safely store them in case there was any sort of leaking or flooding,” King-Sunderson said “We also got these monitors that tell us what the humidity is to put in our storage so that we can closely monitor that.” The Tulare County Museum went through the application process as did the other institutions “What I think really helped us was that we had worked with (Northeast Document Conservation Center) before,” King-Sunderson said about a sponsor of the Groundwork Grants we put together an emergency preparedness and disaster plan They offer a free service where they will come out to your facility They'll go through your plan and they'll walk all of your spaces which was really helpful because they were able to give us ideas on what we might need to add what would be helpful to make things run smoothly before and then gave recommendations based on what they saw here,” she said “They sent us back an almost 30-page report with what we went through and what their recommendations were,” she added being somebody that's already gone through that process with them These are what we've prioritized to use the money towards like monitoring any insects and getting traps and always more shelving and storage,” she said “We don't have an acquisitions fund,” she added “Everything that we have here has been donated So grants like that are really helpful because usually when people donate money it's not exciting that they've bought shelving They want to give towards restoration projects and things that they can see.” (FOX26) — A Lindsay couple was arrested after their 9-month-old child tested positive for cocaine Tuesday morning Tulare County Sheriff's Office detectives responded to a residence just before 5 a.m following the test results at a local medical center identified as 29-year-old Ashley Flores and 32-year-old Casey Willbanks brought their infant to the emergency room due to a high fever Tests revealed the presence of cocaine in the child's system so medical staff alerted law enforcement authorities A search warrant executed at the couple's home led to the discovery of narcotics and that the children were living in deplorable conditions Flores and Willbanks were arrested on charges of child endangerment and possession of illicit narcotics Child Welfare Services has taken custody of the 9-month-old along with two other children found in the home Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office at (559) 733-6218 There are an estimated 15 gray wolves in Tulare County and they are all at risk of becoming victims of sarcoptic mange are a family that was counted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in September senior wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity “We do not know how many of those seven pups made it through the end of December and we also don't yet know if any of those 15 died of mange," Weiss said “I am aware that the breeding female looks pretty awful and worse now than she did in November when it came to everyone's attention that she probably had mange." Weiss receives information from her contacts who take photographs and videos of wildlife in the area “I have been told by my photographer friend that at least two of the wolves seem to have mange the breeding female and another wolf,” she said It is not known how many wolves in the Yowlumni pack have mange “It's one of the diseases that is difficult to monitor and usually when there are wolf mortalities there can be multiple factors involved in that beyond just mange,” said Christopher DeTar “You can see secondary infections set in such as hair loss which of course can become a variable when you're looking at a winter environment.”  The natural behavior of wolves increases the likeliness that mange will spread “They're a pack animal and it's spread by direct contact,” DeTar said you can kind of paint a picture there of how many of them likely have it.” What happened? Gray wolves in California blamed for 19 livestock deaths There are cases in which wolves have overcome mange “It depends on if the entire pack gets it and how bad the infection is for all of the pack members," she said "There have been instances of mange in other places that have wolves and the pack involved wasn't necessarily entirely all wiped out but it really just depends on the severity.” Genetics also play a role in the animal's recover there is a chance that they can survive the mange and carry on and successfully hunt and reproduce and do all their normal functions," he said "But that's to be determined by how robust this pack is going to be.” It can also cause itchy skin that the infected animal continuously scratches which causes lesions and potential infection “If you were to track an animal with severe mange there'd be the appearance that every five minutes that animal had to sit down and stop and scratch,” Weiss said and that alone really prevents it from doing normal wolf activity.” More: As California's wolf population claws its way back, some ranchers are nervous Wolves with mange have difficulty retaining body heat during cold nights “Very often animals are often having to seek shelter to try to attempt to maintain their body temperature,” Weiss said It can result in death just from sheer exposure to the elements or from infections from the constant scratching.” Wolves with mange can die from other factors even if mange wasn't necessarily a direct killer to individuals you can have competition with other packs or other animals,” DeTar said “That can be a driving factor in mortalities.”  Incidences of wolf packs attacking each other have been observed in Yellowstone explaining that this is usually a fight over resources “Territory is a scarce resource for wolves and any of the nutrient factors within that territory,” he said “The more robust packs will occupy the best territory and there's going to be constant competition between them.”  Sarcoptic mange is caused by a parasitic mite and is highly contagious to humans The mites are unable to complete their life cycle on humans but they can cause people to suffer from severe itching It usually requires some poor decision-making for people to get mange “You wouldn't likely have that issue unless you had direct physical contact with the wolf although the mange can be spread from the wolf to wolf basically within a short period of non-direct contact “As long as no one's like crawling into a den site where the wolves have recently been or making direct contact with the animal wolves "generally" avoid interacting with humans “It's very unlikely that the animals will ever have a confrontation with humans even if they are in a less than ideal state,” agreed DeTar because the wolves will see them as a potential competitor within the environment Same goes for other canids within the environment like coyotes dog) conflict are probably no different whether or not the wolf has mange,” he added “As long as someone is nearby monitoring their dog and the dog's not off wandering by itself within the wolf's habitat it's unlikely that any dogs will have any issues.”  The CDFW conducted an aerial survey of the Yowlumni pack on March 4 Fixed-wing aircraft piloted by game wardens flew over the wolves’ local habitat we didn't see any of the wolves during the flight,” DeTar said the survey was unable to confirm any additional cases of mange among Tulare County’s gray wolves The CDFW plans to continue monitoring them via trail cameras or camera traps “The objective is to basically fly the pack and see if we can get an updated count and if we get a good enough visual on them to take pictures and see what their coat condition is like,” DeTar said “That can give us an idea of how many may be infected “Most of this is going to come down to visual observations which is something that the public could potentially help us with,” he said “If they've got trail cameras out and get the wolves on camera the Visalia Times-Delta lets you know which Tulare County restaurants aced inspections Here's a guide to all the articles we wrote on priority violations in 2024: Disclaimer: These inspection reports are from the Tulare County Retail Food Inspection Program (FOX26) — A 32-year-old woman from Tulare was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Sunday night The Tulare Police Department received a 911 call around 8:15 p.m reporting a body on the roadway at Cross Avenue and Mooney Boulevard [RELATED] "Friant Roulette" intersection sees fewer crashes, still plagued by red light runners they found the woman suffering from major injuries that were obviously caused by being hit by a vehicle Police say 26-year-old Dominick Nunez of Visalia left the scene but later returned and confessed to striking the woman He told officers that he took off out of fear Nunez was arrested for felony hit-and-run and transported to the Tulare County Jail Police said there was no indication that alcohol played a role in the incident Investigators believe the woman was struck by additional vehicles that also left the scene The Tulare Police Department is urging anyone with information about the other drivers to call (559) 684-4290 but it appears to have been an accident," said a police spokesperson "Had the driver remained at the scene it is likely that he would not have been arrested." Authorities emphasize the importance of staying at the scene in the event of an accident to avoid further legal complications Calif (FOX26) — A 21-year-old Orosi man was sentenced to 59 years to life in prison for attempted murder the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office announced Raul Alberto Vasquez was sentenced on Wednesday a group of neighbors were outside their homes in Cutler when Vasquez's dark sedan slowly drove by This is when the DA says Vasquez rolled down his window yelled “What’s up’ and then shot at the group a man was outside his car at a relative's house when the same dark sedan driven by Vasquez pulled up to him The DA says Vasquez began cussing at the man who then responded to Vasquez saying ‘he didn’t want any problems’ They say Vasquez then shot the man as he tried to hide behind a vehicle An hour after this Sheriff’s Deputies went to an orchard for a single-car accident involving the sedan Deputies found Vasquez who was identified by the victim as the shooter a jury convicted Vasquez of 4 felony counts of willful deliberate and premeditated attempted murder 4 special allegations of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle 2 special allegations of personally and intentionally discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury and 2 special allegations of personal discharge of a firearm one of the greatest football players in Tulare County history which is considered by many in the Tulare County football community as the best football team in Visalia and state history He went on to play at UCLA and later in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers under the leadership of head coach Charlie Casale the Pioneers won the Central Section Yosemite Division championship Whitney's average margin of victory that year was more than 30 points the Pioneers defeated West-Bakersfield 30-13 in the opening round of the playoffs before routing Hoover 40-21 in the semifinals to claim the school's first section crown in football “He was a big part of what was going on,” said Casale who now resides on the Central Coast and still coaches football with former Mt Whitney coach Robert Dougherty at Morro Bay High School it’s not like we had great blocking up front I saw four or five guys have a shot at him He wiggled his shoulder and he just made it through there He just made plays for us — a big-play guy He was real exciting to watch from the stands There was really a lot of good players on that team but he was the best of the best.” Sanchez started off his football career at receiver and didn't play tackle football until his freshman year at Mt It wasn’t until midway through his junior season that he caught the eye of Casale and the offensive coaching staff Sanchez kept flashing against the Pioneers’ starting defense in practice “He was running all over our defense,” Casale said Why don’t we put him on offense?’ That happened in the middle of his junior year and he just took off from there where he started as a true freshman at cornerback in 1979 which is still tied for the fifth-most in Bruins history After starting his pro career with the USFL in 1984 Sanchez signed with the Steelers in 1986 and played in three NFL seasons appearing in 39 games with nine starts and four career interceptions including one he returned 67 yards for a touchdown in his NFL debut season Sanchez also served as a return specialist with the Steelers returning 35 kickoffs for 778 yards — an average of 22.2 yards per return He’s just one of those players who your heart reaches out to.” “There’s only one Lupe Sanchez,” Casale said More: College of the Sequoias softball earns No. 3 seed for state playoffs Whitney and NFL receiver who still holds the Visalia city high school record for most career receiving yards said the trajectory of his football career would not have been possible without Sanchez Young and Sanchez both played receiver until injuries thrust the latter into the starting lineup in the Pioneers' backfield That move freed up an open spot for Young and the rest is history Sanchez helped recruit Young to UCLA where they became roommates "The reason why I didn’t go to USC or Notre Dame was because Lupe convinced me to go to UCLA," Young said He was a major influence in my career path." Young spent 10 seasons in the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Rams in 1985 When word started spreading about Sanchez's death Young received hundreds of messages from friends and ex-teammates via phone call They all expressed their condolences and shared their love and support for Sanchez More: Is the 1978 Mt. Whitney football team the best of all time? Charlie Casale thinks so Sanchez was remembered for his genuineness He was as good of an athlete as anybody in the NFL and a better person than 95% in the NFL and everybody knows that." very well," Young said of Sanchez's career post-football All you had to do was meet with him one time even when he was winning football games alongside Young "There's no debate on who was the best athlete," Young said Welcome Mickeymickey@disney.comManage MyDisney AccountLog Out3 men arrested for possessing explicit images of children in Tulare County -- Three Valley men have been arrested on suspicion of possessing explicit images of children One of the suspects is 30-year-old Omar Silva who was taken into custody on Tuesday by Tulare County deputies The investigation began back in December after authorities received a tip about the material Detectives say the Ivanhoe man was contacting young girls through social media to exchange inappropriate videos and photos Investigators believe there may be more victims Anyone with information is urged to contact the Tulare County Sheriff's Office Tulare city officials responded to a lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta that challenged its zoning ordinance update describing the state’s legal action as “unfortunate” and its assertions as “false.” The city’s ordinance update allows cold-storage and other facilities to be permitted “by-right” in both light and heavy industrial zones Bonta contends that these facilities have health implications in Matheny Tract and other neighboring communities “By-right permitting means that development of cold storage and other facilities can occur in the city without further environmental review or mitigation measures necessary to address health and environmental impacts from such facilities,” according to the release announcing the lawsuit Cold-storage facilities are known to increase cancer and other health risks for residents living within a mile “I have a responsibility to enforce the state’s environmental laws and I am committed to standing up for communities that too often are overlooked,” Bonta wrote “Matheny Tract residents deserve environmental protections that prioritize their health and wellbeing which would hold the city of Tulare accountable for violating the law and compel the city to fulfill its legal requirements to mitigate the potential environmental harms to local residents.”  Bird flu: California ban on poultry, dairy cattle at events may not affect Tulare County Bonta said that the city historically regulated cold storage facilities and warehouses in light and heavy industrial zoning districts through conditional use permits under the city’s recently adopted zoning ordinance update the city now allows these types of uses to be permitted "by-right" or without a conditional use permit Tulare City Attorney Mario Zamora stated in the city’s Jan “The General Plan and Environmental Impact Report was adopted in 2014 and has therefore been in place for over a decade," he said the surrounding lands were rezoned from heavy industrial to light industrial." No changes were made to the regulation of cold-storage facilities and warehouses Bonta argues that the city improperly approved its zoning ordinance without environmental review and allows cold storage and certain other industrial facilities to be developed by-right in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act “It’s unfortunate the attorney general’s office refused to communicate with the city to seek clarification prior to issuing its press release or filing its petition even though I reached out last year requesting a meeting on this very topic to which I did not receive a response,” Tulare City Manager Marc Mondell stated in the city’s response The lawsuit argues that the city’s zoning ordinance conflicts with policies and protections in its general plan “Although the city’s prior zoning ordinance allowed ancillary cold-storage facilities in agricultural zones accessory to agricultural operations it required a conditional use permit for those facilities,” states the legal petition filed by the state the update authorizes massive cold-storage warehouses anywhere in any industrial zone citywide and without a conditional use permit or any environmental review.” The city recently adopted a zoning ordinance update to establish consistency between the ordinance and the city’s adopted general plan “No changes were made to the regulation of cold-storage facilities and warehouses," he said "They have always been a permitted use by-right in light and heavy industrial zones and under the recently adopted zoning ordinance continue to be regulated accordingly.” The state also argues that cold storage facilities use trucks and trailers equipped with transport refrigeration units These TRUs emit high levels of toxic diesel particulate matter “While the city looks forward to working with the attorney general’s office to amicably resolve their concerns it is cautious of doing so by unduly infringing upon the private property rights of others thereby opening the city of Tulare taxpayers to potentially significant damages," city officials stated in the response The city is considering retaining special legal counsel specializing in CEQA litigation to fully respond to the claims being made by the attorney general Board of Supervisors: Water, fire, health among Tulare County's top advocacy issues Matheny Tract is an unincorporated area outside Tulare city limits and regulated by Tulare County but the city of Tulare has worked with the community’s residents for years to improve living conditions “The city constructed a new $7.5 million dollar grant-funded well which helps to provide clean fresh drinking water to the community,” according to the city's response the city has agreed to accept Matheny Tract’s effluent into the city’s wastewater treatment plant and is partnering with the county of Tulare in seeking an estimated $20 million dollars in grant funds to make the necessary infrastructure improvements.” Because the city cannot spend local property tax money outside the city limits city leaders have been discussing the possibility of annexing Matheny Tract “Annexation would provide residents a stronger voice within city hall and allow the potential expenditure of federal Community Development Block Grant funds within their community toward additional infrastructure – streets the city has received requests from the Attorney General’s Office and other special interest groups such as the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability to down-zone the privately owned properties around the Matheny Tract from light industrial to residential or some other less intensive use City officials say the understands and take "seriously" the rights and well-being of all property owners within and around the city limits the general plan and zoning ordinance reflect the city’s intention to develop the area responsibly Neary 40 players have been placed on the 2025 Visalia Times-Delta Fan’s Choice Player of the Year ballot Who do you think is the best high school girls basketball player in Tulare County this season The poll includes athletes from Central Valley Christian Voting will end after the basketball season with the winner announced in March at www.visaliatimesdelta.com More: New Porterville High School boys basketball coach Zack Grasmick fulfills late mom's wish More: Super Bowl LIX predictions: Eagles or Chiefs? Tulare County coaches make their picks Related Story: Tulare County Pursuit Ends in Arrests After Vehicle Stolen, Shots Fired assisted by the Tulare County Gang Task Force conducted compliance checks at approximately 30 residences tied to known gang members followed by saturation patrols targeting gang activity Officers conducted about 38 traffic stops as part of the operation Among those arrested were Valentine Serrano on charges of possession of a controlled substance and a parole violation; Isabel Aguilera for drug possession and paraphernalia; and Donovan Ledesma Related Story: Tulare County Man Stabbed in Homeless Encampment, Suspect Arrested was booked on multiple firearm-related charges including possession of an illegally manufactured firearm were taken into custody on misdemeanor warrants Related Story: Ex-Tulare County Teacher Gets 13 Years for Child Sex Crimes All suspects were booked into the Tulare County Pretrial Facility The operation was conducted with assistance from multiple agencies including the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Here's a look at the top five active winningest high school baseball coaches in Tulare County (records only include baseball coaching tenures with Tulare County teams and are through the 2024 season): Highlights: Kendig has been a Cardinal for nearly 40 years He began his coaching career in Lindsay in 1989 serving as a varsity baseball assistant and then junior varsity coach before going on to be the Cardinals head softball coach from 2006 to 2013 Now in his 11th season as the baseball skipper Kendig and the Cardinals are coming off a 19-win season that included a run to the 2024 Central Section Division VI title game One of Kendig's highlights at Lindsay is leading the Cardinals to the Central Section Division VI title in 2018 Highlights: Kirkman has continued the baseball excellence that the late Bert Holt the former College of the Sequoias skipper Manny Koulkis and Steve Garver established before him excluding the COVID-19-impacted 2020 season Exeter is averaging nearly 19 wins per season the Monarchs have posted four 20-plus win seasons including a 21-victory campaign last season having advanced to the section postseason every year under Kirkman The Monarchs played for the Central Section Division IV crown in 2018 Highlights: Hydash is just one of three active Tulare County head baseball coaches with at least 200 victories He began his head coaching career at CVC in 2010 winning 49 games before beginning his first season at Redwood in 2014 Since his arrival at Visalia's biggest high school Hydash has guided the Rangers to a pair of Central Section Division II championships (2015 2016) and six league championships — four West Yosemite League titles (2014 is 217-92 at Redwood with a 14-8 playoff record Highlights: Morrelli is the longest-tenured baseball coach in Tulare County The Emperors won three straight Central Sequoia League championships from 2010 to 2012 and also enjoyed one of their best seasons under Morrelli in 2014 when they advanced to the Central Section Division III championship game Dinuba won a Central Section Division IV playoff game last season Morrelli is the son of former Lindsay baseball coach who led the Cardinals from 1985 to 2006 and amassed a head coaching overall record of 322-250-3 in 22 seasons Highlights: Searcy has elevated Tulare Western into one of the premier programs in the Central Section the Mustangs are averaging nearly 20 wins per season and have captured 13 league championships — 12 EYL crowns (2007 Tulare Western won a Central Section Division II plaque in 2014 and outside of the 2022 season has annually competed at the Division I playoff level every year since 2015 the Mustangs have also won the Tulare/Visalia Pro-PT Baseball Invitational seven times Searcy's teams have gone an outstanding 193-42 — an 82% winning rate.