Universal Masking Requirement in Affect at Visalia Unified School District

A press release from VUSD Visalia Unified School District and the community are experiencing a large increase in the number of cases of COVID-19, and as indicated in Kaweah Health’s recent media release, our local hospital has reached capacity. Additionally, VUSD is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of staff being placed in quarantine, and there […]

Editorial: Visalia City Council Eliminates Important Farmland Protection

By Scott Spear, Interim Executive Director, Sequoia Riverlands Trust Earlier this week, the Visalia City Council adopted a General Plan Amendment eliminating an important protection for agricultural land threatened by development. The Amendment, which was adopted over the objection of conservation experts, environmental justice advocates, and a wide cross-section of the community, repeals the requirement […]

Sierra View Medical Center and Kaweah Health to Modify Visitation Requirements due to State Order

Sierra View Medical Center (SVMC) and Kaweah Health are complying with California Department of Public Health’s order that was released on Thursday, August 5th impacting visitation requirements beginning Wednesday, August 11. When visiting using the main entrance of the hospital or the Emergency Department, visitors must either, verify that they are fully vaccinated or for […]

Kaweah Health under regulators’ microscope after drug control negligence, deaths

Editors’ note: This article was corrected to state that a doctor who inspectors said stole federally controlled drugs was an anesthesiologist, not an emergency department physician. It was also corrected to clarify that the statements confirming the report’s version of events were in the inspectors’ report and in the response to it. Failure to monitor […]

Lawsuit alleges Hanford credit card abuse, sexual harassment and wrongful termination

​Former Hanford finance director Paula Lofgren’s explosive discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit pulls back the curtain on what she describes as a toxic workplace where a moody and autocratic city manager Mario Cifuentez made sexual advances toward her and describes Community Development Director Darlene Mata as a “nasty” and “rude” person. Lofgren also […]