Last week’s blockbuster jobs report, with more than 265,000 jobs added when including upward employment revisions, was very welcome news to almost all Americans. The exception would be the economists of the left who throughout Donald Trump’s now-five-and-a-half years in the White House keep …
Ashley, N.D., is a small farming town where the local diet leans hard on sausage, deep-fried chicken and strudel. It has something of a medical center, but the nearest trauma hospital able to handle the most serious injuries is almost four hours away in Fargo.
California’s negative migration numbers are often presented as evidence of decline, as though every departing resident represents a failure of the state itself. But that assumption deserves closer examination.
As our political silly season ramps up to November, we should all be on the lookout for opinion pieces or letters to the editor with falsehoods, some intentional. Brooke Rollins' piece ("President Trump is putting farmers first in California," June 5) on how Trump has been great for Californ…
I read with interest Dean Florez’s politically and personally biased endorsement of Xavier Becerra for California governor ("Beyond the first: What kind of governor would Xavier Becerra be for the Central Valley" June 6). I laughed when he tried to compare Becerra with former governors Georg…
On Wednesday, the Bakersfield City Council will vote to raise assessments on more than 66,000 parcels enrolled in the Consolidated Maintenance District — the CMD — by 3.40%, effective for fiscal year 2026-27. If you own a home in a newer Bakersfield subdivision, this fee appears on your prop…
Politicians love a slogan.
Every election cycle, Californians become fascinated by biography.
Talk is cheap. Which is why you can dismiss all the rhetoric from California leaders about championing or saving democracy.
The lack of jail beds in our community continues to plague our citizens. I requested the city of Bakersfield form a Jail Bed Task Force a few months ago to formally begin the more public discussion of the lack of jail bed space in our community and the lawlessness created by this glaring mis…
I have not received a response to my questions to Rep. Vince Fong about a reported DOJ fund, but there have been some changes, so I updated my questions:
Let's get right to the chase of the opinions of Measure A. According to the proponents, it would give control to local elected officials (supervisors) to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors, giving control to the board to either appoint someone to fill the position or to have an elect…
Regarding behaviors. Our behaviors.
The CRC Carbon Terra Vault project is one of dozens of carbon capture and sequestration projects being proposed by oil and gas producers across California. So far, our elected leaders have taken the industry at its word that this technology will effectively reduce CO2 emissions. It won’t.
If the president gets tax immunity, then we all should. Fair’s fair.
Horrors. The profiteers running this year's World Cup are forcing fans to shell out thousands for a single ticket.
We have a choice. Make it easier for people to vote, or harder.
For generations, producers in the Golden State have kept the nation fed, fueled and clothed, and the American spirit alive. Last week I saw that firsthand at the incredible Allied Potato in Bakersfield. Along with one of agriculture’s greatest advocates in Congress, Rep. David Valadao, I tou…
The primary election has come and gone. Votes are still being counted and the eventual results in close contests might not be known for weeks.
This Fourth of July marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Americans will reflect on Thomas Jefferson’s enduring adage that governments derive their “just powers from the consent of the governed.”
An interrogation is a staple scene in TV cop shows, with a detective often telling a suspect that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The May 30 Californian article ”Residents ask for city support for road safety, MLK park,” regarding the Measure N sales tax measure that was approved by voters in 2018, states that “critics — including several members of the oversight committee — have claimed the measure was sold to voters …
Have all the diehard Trump supporters realized they have been duped? He is and has always treated the presidency as a reality show.
It has been suggested that a $250 currency note be issued by the Treasury Department in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. I believe it would be appropriate to issue such a denomination of cash. In the past cash denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,0…
Every home sale in Bakersfield has two prices: the one everyone sees, and the one that quietly hides in the paperwork like a teenager avoiding chores when company comes over.
It looks as if the ballroom is on life support as taxpayers balk at paying for what was a vanity project, which Trump repeatedly declared was paid for by "his supporters." Upward of $400 million was contributed by High Tech, Big Oil, Big Pharma and who knows else.
Nearly everyone who is a college sports fan, myself included, knows the state of affairs in the NCAA is one fine mess. Especially regarding football and men's basketball, the two major money-making sports, things have changed massively in the last few years — and mostly not in a good way.
The Democrats’ apparent choice to replace Maine Republican Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate has built a rap sheet of dazzling disqualifiers.
As CEO of Kern Medical, a teaching hospital and safety-net health system serving Kern County and the Central Valley, I see every day how difficult it is to recruit and retain healthcare professionals — particularly nurses.
When people hear about the dental hygiene shortage, they often assume there are simply not enough dental hygienists available to fill open positions. However, after researching the profession and working as a dental hygienist myself, I believe the real issue is not a shortage of hygienists b…
Imagine someone handing your city a check for $11.9 million — federal money, already awarded, to rebuild a park in one of Bakersfield’s most neglected communities. Now imagine city officials voting to walk away from it.
Measure A — which asks whether Kern County should have the power to fill its own Board of Supervisors vacancies — is one of the most important items on the ballot this year. It asks us to decide who makes decisions for us — someone in Sacramento favored by the huge populations of Los Angeles…
Stephen Moore’s recent column, “America needs more, not fewer, billionaires,” makes a revealing argument — not just about wealth, but about how statistics can be used to confuse readers.
I recently had a conversation with my daughter about some negative self-talk she was engaging in. I asked her, “Would you say that to your best friend? Would it be OK if someone else said that to your best friend?” She answered no to both questions. So I asked, “Why are you talking to yourse…
As California voters face this June primary, one reality is becoming impossible to ignore: Millions of working people across this state no longer feel politically represented.
Four countywide offices and two district seats on the Kern County Board of Supervisors appear on the June 2 primary ballot. Incumbents in three of those races each face single opponents. The other three are running unopposed.
During the past several weeks, The Californian has published in the Opinion section recommendations regarding federal, state and local primary races. The recommendations are based on candidate qualifications, experience and their proven abilities to respond to constituent needs.
Gavin Newsom is trying to finish his governorship on a high note, claiming he has written “a balanced budget structurally for 18 months” that would give his successor some breathing room.
Will Durant’s description of Herod the Great fits a young Jacksonian America (and recursively our administration today): intellect without morals, ability without scruples, courage without honor.
Lori Pesante's op-ed opposing Measure A ("A manipulation we cannot afford," May 23) is well written and worth taking seriously. She raises real questions about structural governance changes, litigation risk and democratic accountability. Those questions deserve honest answers. But Kern Count…
A year and half ago, I was appointed as California’s first senator on the Senate Agriculture Committee in more than three decades. And in the time since, I’ve had a chance to travel up and down the state, sit down with farmers and farmworkers, and hear what is affecting them and their outloo…
It needs to be said: The sewer rate increase proposal from the Bakersfield City Council would force local families and small businesses to pay more than $400 million more for sewer expansion they didn’t cause. The real drivers of nearly half of the proposed rate increases are California Dair…
Richard Gearhart is mostly correct in his criticism of Stephen Moore’s May 13 column, but if we really want to “be educated,” the issue deserves deeper analysis.
Following the leads of Jay Smith in his letter of May 21 asking Rep. Vince Fong whether he agrees with the creation of a $1.8 million fund to compensate Trump’s supporters who have been prosecuted, and Nile Kinney’s letter of May 23 asking what law authorizes an American president to create …
On this day I put out the flag and remember those who have served our nation, in the belief that our nation's democratic values and its founding principles of individual freedom, protected by law, within a Declaration and Constitution that defines the power of the state and separates that po…
Billionaires are getting a bad name. "Eat the rich" is the new mantra of the Left's greed and envy lobby.
YES, Measure A is on your ballot now — the last page and last item on your ballot — and the last day to vote is Tuesday, June 2.
I honestly thought about cleaning out my closet today.
Kern County has been a general law county for 160 years. The Board of Supervisors voted to place Measure A on the June 2 ballot to establish Kern County as a charter county. Explanation for the change has been stated solely as providing the board power to appoint a district supervisor should…
Ira Hayes, a Native American from Arizona, joined his Marine comrades in raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.
