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Air district solicits developers of natural gas engines
- Details
- Published on 06/12/2013 - 1:05 pm
- Written by Business Journal staff
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is putting up funding to support the development of ultra-clean natural gas engines for heavy duty vehicles.
The funding is part of a $9-million initiative to spur the technology throughout the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California in order to meet clean air goals.
Besides the Valley air district, other funding partners include the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Energy Commission and the $500,000 from Southern California Gas Co.
Financial assistance will go to contractor teams to develop natural gas engines for heavy duty vehicles that emit almost zero nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollutants.
The partners are now calling on interested companies with a request for proposals now online at aqmd.gov/rfp/index.html. Proposals are due by July 24.
More information about the initiative can be found on the site. Otherwise, those interested can listen in during a webinar being held June 12 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Registration for the webinar can be completed at naturalgastrucks.eventbrite.com.
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Latest Local News
Written on 06/18/2013, 2:44 pm by
Media Solutions, Inc. of Fresno was named the 14th Senate District Small Business of the Year by state Sen. Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte).
Written on 06/18/2013, 11:19 am by
(AP) — State fire officials say a wildfire near the main route into Yosemite National Park that has forced more than a thousand residents to evacuate their homes was caused by an unattended campfire.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said on Tuesday that a human caused the fire but did not release more details about where it started.
Guillemin said the fire, which began on Sunday, has burned 1,600 acres and led to the evacuation of 800 homes and about 1,500 people.
The blaze 6 miles northeast of Mariposa has burned 2 ½ square miles remains 15 percent contained.
No structures have been damaged or destroyed. One firefighter suffered a minor injury.
Highway 140 into Yosemite National Park remains open.
Written on 06/18/2013, 11:14 am by
The President's Scholars program of the West Hills Community College District will help more high school students attend college thanks to a $100,000 donation from Educational Employees Credit Union.
The program, offered at West Hills Community Colleges in Coalinga and Lemoore, pays full tuition and provides $250 for book costs each semester to outstanding local area high school graduates.
At a value of $2,000 per year, the scholarships are open to students who have achieved a 3.5 grade point average and have completed a college educational plan.
There is no limit to the number of scholarships available. The program has named more than 500 students as President's Scholars since it began in 1996.
EECU's donation will provide $20,000 a year for the next five years, putting 50 local students through their first two years of college.
West Hills College Lemoore President Don Warkenkin will join EECU officials as he accepts the gift during a ceremony at 11 a.m. on June 19 at EECU's Hanford branch, located at 1460 W. 7th St.
EECU is the 67th largest credit union in the U.S. and the 13th largest in California. With deposits of more than $2 billion, the credit union has 15 branches and more than 200,000 members throughout Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.
Written on 06/17/2013, 4:59 pm by
Fresno State is offering its newest bachelor's degree to students studying Latin American cultures.
The degree program, consisting of 120 units, will be offered for the first time this fall through the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department in the College of Social Sciences.
The department currently offers a bachelor's degree and a minor in Chicano Studies and a minor in Latin American Studies.
Students who enroll in the new program will learn about the experiences of people living in Latin American countries like Mexico and Argentina and about their economic relations with the U.S.
Many will go on to instructors in the field of Latin American studies and related disciplines of social sciences and the humanities. Others will use the knowledge to help them in other careers requiring insight into Latin American society.
Those wishing to enroll are encouraged to spend a semester abroad studying in Latin America, Spain or Portugal.
The program is the only one approved for Fresno State by the CSU chancellor this year.
More about the degree and how to sign up can be found online at fresnostate.edu/socialsciences/clas/degrees/la-major.html.
Fresno State now offers 96 bachelor's degrees as well as 51 master's degrees, seven doctoral degrees and 20 different teaching credentials.
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Written on 06/17/2013, 2:06 pm by
Fresno’s Central Library will distribute free meals to youth throughout the summer.
A healthy lunch will be provided weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. June 17 to August 9 to anyone between the ages of 1 to 18 regardless of income. Provided by program sponsor Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, lunches are available on a first come, first served basis.
The library is at 2420 Mariposa St. in Fresno.
The Lunch at the Library program, in partnership with the California Library Association and the California Summer Meal Coalition, brings together the library’s longstanding summer reading tradition with a lunchtime meal, in an effort to combat summer learning loss and summer hunger.
Studies show that malnourishment can diminish a child’s overall learning potential. Of the Fresno County children who are eligible for free lunches during the school year, just 1 in 10 have access to it during the summer.
Add to that the fact that children who don’t read over the summer lose on average one month of academic progress. By middle school, those who haven't read during the summer may have lost as much as two years’ worth of achievement.
“The Lunch at the Library program gives children and teens the physical foundation they need to keep their minds sharp and open to learning, and the summer reading program encourages them use that fueled brainpower,” said Laurel Prysiazny, county librarian. “Together, the programs allow traditionally disadvantaged youth to return to school in the fall at the same or higher level than when summer began. That’s a significant achievement.”
To supplement the lunch program, the library sought out and received two grants that will further support Fresno County youth. Fresno State’s Humanics Department has awarded the library $4,000 and the assistance of a student intern to help with the program. Dollar General has awarded the Library $1,000. In both cases, the money will be used to give books away to lunch recipients.
More information is available by calling program coordinator Kari Johnson at (559) 600-6251.
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Written on 06/17/2013, 1:55 pm by
Construction in the Central Valley made some definite headway by the second quarter of the year, with building permits up more than 30 percent over the same time last year.
Throughout Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties, 4,449 construction permits were issued to builders in the first six months of the year, up 30.5 percent from 3,409 during the same period last year, according to a weekly report by Construction Monitor.
Of the permits awarded so far this year, 3,782 were for residential construction compared to 2,765 last year.
Commercial permits rose from 644 during last year's second quarter to 667 so far this year. Among those, retail, warehouses and dining jumped from 18 to 26, while offices, banks and professional buildings went from 22 to 33.
Industrial and manufacturing buildings and warehouses dipped slightly to 22, although the value of those permits doubled to $39.3 million.
The value of all construction permits rose from $403.4 million by June of last year to $547.6 million so far this year.
Residential construction values totaled $355.4 million so far this year over $242 million in 2012, while commercial construction permits went from $161.4 million to $192.2 million.
Lennar Fresno topped the list of home builders working in the San Joaquin Valley with 189 homes built so far this year followed by Wilson Homes with 137, Granville Homes with 85, Benchmark with 57 and Bonadelle Homes with 56.
Immodo Energy was the largest builder of commercial projects in the Valley with eight permits valued at $29.7 million followed by Jo's Handyman and Remodeling with two permits of $13.3 million, Graycor with two permits for $11.9 million, Target Constructors with 10 permits for $9.7 million and Quanta Power with five permits totaling $5.8 million.
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Written on 06/17/2013, 1:52 pm by
San Joaquin Valley dairy farmers, still fighting to stay afloat in a market of high feed costs and generally unprofitable milk pricing, are looking to promoting the health advantages of drinking milk, including the vitamins beneficial to children, and push new dietary products made with milk powder.
Challenges and opportunities in the industry came to light Friday during a Farm Forum presented at Chukchansi Park as part of the Farm Grown Program supported by the Fresno Grizzlies.
Former Mayor Alan Autry hosted the event presented prior to a Grizzlies baseball game.
Three panelists, Ray Prock, owner of Ray-Lin Dairy in Dinera; Steve Maddox, managing partner at Maddox Dairies in Burrel; and Darrin Monteiro, director of member relations for California Dairies Inc. in Visalia, spoke on the topic of “What’s next for Central Valley Dairies.”
Monteiro, who left his family’s dairy farm in 2008 to work for California Dairies Inc., said that California dairies continue to be challenged.
They are also continuing to fight high feed costs, Maddox said. He said that although corn is much needed by the livestock industry, 40 percent of the crop goes to fuel production.
Maddox added that milk production declined by 2 percent so far this year. He added that the health of the dairy industry depends on consumer spending power. “The dairy industry follows the general economy,” he said.
The three dairymen agreed that milk should be promoted as a healthy diet drink. “Powders should be put in diet supplements,” Monteiro said. “You can add whey powders to drinks.”
Whey is the liquid that remains after milk has been curdled and strained.
Prock said the dairy industry needs to develop strategic partnerships with various organizations similar to what it has done with the Farm Grown program at Chukchansi Park.
“And we need to fire back and be louder,” he said, adding that the dairy industry can do more on social media.
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Written on 06/17/2013, 1:51 pm by
Valley home sales picked up in May, especially in Kings County, with a surge of almost 40 percent.
According to a new report from the California Association of Realtors, home sales in Kings County were up 37.9 percent over April and 12.3 percent over May 2012.
The county's median home price fell to $149,000 in May, down 5.2 percent from April's price of $157,140 but up 4 percent from $143,330 a year ago.
Sales in Fresno County increased 4.7 percent in the month but dropped 9.2 percent from last year.
The county's median home price of $167,770 marked a 3.5-percent decline from $173,860 in April but an 18.5-percent markup from $141,580 in May 2012.
Tulare County saw sales improve 8.5 percent in the month but decrease 8.1 percent year-over-year.
The county's median home price kept climbing, however, rising 12.9 percent over April's $139,520 and 24 percent from $127,020 last year to end at $157,500 in May.
Sales fell 3.3 percent in Madera County during the month and 12.1 percent from last year.
The county's median home price stood at $142,000 in May, down 16.5 percent from $170,000 the prior month but up 14.2 percent from $124,290 a year ago.
Fresno County's unsold inventory index, or number of months to deplete the supply of homes at the current sales rate, was 3.6 months in May compared to 3.7 months in April and 4.1 months a year ago.
Tulare County's index stood at 2.7 months compared to 3.1 months in April and 3.6 months last year, while Madera County's index was 3.6 months in May compared to 3.3 months in April and 3.8 months last year.
Kings County saw its index fall to 2.5 months compared to 3.5 months in April and 3.3 months a year ago.
Statewide, sales were up 1.9 percent in the month to 423,420 homes but down 3.6 percent from 447,530 sold in May 2012. California's median home price stood at $417,350 in May, up 3.6 percent from $402,760 in April and 31.9 percent from $316,460 in May 2012.
"While home prices are increasing at levels above those observed in 2006-2007, the fundamentals of the housing market are much more solid than what we experienced a few years ago," said C.A.R. Vice President Leslie Appleton-Young, in a release. "More home buyers are putting down larger down payments and many of them are opting for more stable loan products. Additionally, historically low mortgage rates have reduced monthly mortgage payments substantially, making owning a house more affordable, even with rising home prices."
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Written on 06/17/2013, 12:19 pm by
The Boys & Girls Club of Fresno County received a $20,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente Fresno to promote childhood fitness awareness programs at the Fink-White Neighborhood Center in southwest Fresno.
The center, located at 535 S. Trinity St., will provide healthy snacks and physical activities daily from 1-5 p.m.
“From providing them with healthy snacks each day to teaching them about the importance of staying active, we hope they will adopt a healthier lifestyle,” said Diane Carbray, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County, in a release.
There is no fee for the activities but participants must be registered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County.
The latest grant comes just weeks after Kaiser Permanente put up $60,000 to reopen four neighborhood learner pools in Fresno that had sat idle for several summers.
The pools, including one at the Fink-White Neighborhood Center, will remain open daily from 1-5 p.m. until Aug. 18.
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