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MWC, C-USA merging for 16-team conference
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- Published on 02/13/2012 - 2:26 pm
- Written by Business Journal staff
Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr drops back to pass in 2011. The Bulldogs will be a part of a new 16-team conference in 2013.The Mountain West Conference, which Fresno State is set to join in the 2012-13 academic school year, announced it will combine with Conference USA to form a new league starting in 2013-14.
The conferences announced 16 football-playing schools, including Fresno State, that will compete in the newly formed conference. The new conference has not announced a formal name yet.
The schools coming from the Mountain West include Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming and Hawai’i as a football-only school. Currently Fresno State, Nevada and Hawai’i are playing in the Western Athletic Conference and will join the MWC next year.
Conference USA will bring UAB, East Carolina, Marshall, Rice, Southern Mississippi, UTEP, Tulane and Tulsa to the new conference.
"This is an exciting development that will stabilize the current conferences and create the first truly national conference with members in five time zones and television viewership from coast to coast,” said UNLV President Neal Smatresk, in a release. “This partnership brings together like-minded institutions to improve the integrity and stability of intercollegiate athletics. We are moving our plans forward rapidly and expect to complete our conversations in the near future. Look for further announcements soon as we work together on this exciting new venture."
The football scheduling will reportedly include divisional play, with a postseason conference tournament that will feature semifinal and championship games.
The conference will also hold a postseason basketball tournament.
The statement released from the conference mentioned the possibility of future expansion to 18-24 universities.
The divisions, exact structure and seeding for the tournaments, conference personnel, television contracts and many other parts of the agreement have not been made public yet.
“There are a myriad of details and moving parts that will be finalized in the weeks and months ahead, but there is positive momentum toward long-term stability and a tremendous opportunity for all involved," said current MWC commissioner Craig Thompson, in a statement.
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Latest Local News
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Students attending the Estes Institute of Cosmetology in Visalia will be cutting hair May 24 as part of an effort to raise funds for missing and exploited children.
The Cut-A-Thon will have around 70 students from the school charging for haircuts with proceeds benefitting the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a nonprofit that provides information and resources to law enforcement, parents and child victims of abuse and neglect.
The event will go on from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Estes Institute of Cosmetology, located at 324 E. Main St.
No appointments are necessary and all work will be done by supervised students.
More information can be found by calling the Estes Institute of Cosmetology at (559) 733-3617.
Nationally, the Cut-A-Thon is organized by Pivot Point, an educational network of hundreds of beauty schools and salons worldwide.
Last year, more than 100 Pivot Point and American Association of Cosmetology Schools and salons across the nation participated in the Cut-A-Thon to raise nearly $1 million for the effort.
The funds raised for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children will be dedicated to helping the organization's mission of recovering and protecting the nation's youth.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that an estimated 800,000 children are reported missing each year while 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be sexually victimized before adulthood.
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Written on 05/21/2012, 11:48 am by
The Coarsegold Historical Village will be invaded by hundreds of vendors when the annual Peddler’s Fair begins Friday, the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau said in a release.
The Peddler’s Fair will run from May 25-28 and is a bargain hunter’s dream, featuring a variety of products that will include arts and crafts, various collectibles, antiques and more. In addition to the shopping, numerous vendors will sell a wide array of food. Admission to the Peddler’s Fair is free.
Along with acres of vendors from throughout the country, the village is also home to a number of unique shops and restaurants. Visitors can also learn about the region’s tribal history or connection with the gold rush of 1849. They can even try their hand at gold panning.
For more information or vendor packets, log on to www.CoarsegoldHistoricVillage.com.
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Written on 05/21/2012, 10:20 am by
Fresno’s joint city-county Animal Control Task Force voted Friday to ask the Central California Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for an extension of services until the end of the year.
Fresno City Council President Clint Olivier’s office said in a release that the Task Force will also ask the CCSPCA to loosen up its adoption requirements for rescues in the interim. City and county officials have determined that more time is needed to create a proper animal control system in the City and County of Fresno.
“The CCSPCA has been our animal control provider for decades. Now that they have quit, it is going to take more than a few months to replace the system,” Olivier said in the statement. “I am hopeful they will do what we are asking because it’s in the best interest of the taxpayers and animals alike.”
The task force will reconvene Friday, May 25 at 8 a.m. at City Hall.
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Written on 05/18/2012, 2:18 pm by
The April unemployment rate was down from where it was a year ago in all four Central Valey counties, two of which improved by a full percentage point, according to a release from the Employment Development Department on Friday.
The total number of jobs has also increased in three of the four counties.
Fresno County’s unemployment rate came in at 15.8 percent, down from 16.8 percent in April 2011. Total jobs in the county grew by 4,000 since last April, including 2,900 more nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate for March 2012 was 17.4 percent.
Kings County’s year-over-year unemployment rate also dropped a full percentage point from 16.6 percent to 15.6 percent. The total number of jobs in the county grew by 1,100 during that period, including 1,000 more nonfarm jobs. In March, Kings County’s unemployment rate was 17.4 percent.
Madera County still has the lowest unemployment rate of the four couties at 15.5 percent, down from 16.3 percent last April. However, total jobs decreased over the past year by 300, including 100 fewer farm jobs and 200 fewer nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate was 16.5 percent in March.
Tulare County has the highest unemployment rate at 16.2 percent, a small drop from 16.6 percent last April. Total jobs in county increased by 1,600, led by 3,400 more farm jobs over the 12-month span. The unemployment rate in March in the county was 18.2 percent.
In April, the statewide unemployment rate was 10.5 percent and the national unemployment rate was 7.7 percent.
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Written on 05/18/2012, 2:14 pm by
The San Joaquin Valley’s first regional affordable housing summit is set for 9 a.m. May 22 at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, 2233 Ventura St., Fresno.
The San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative will bring together professionals from around the state to provide information and bolster advocacy for affordable housing in the San Joaquin Valley.
The Housing collaborative is a nonprofit organization formed as a regional body to specifically address housing issues in the eight county region of the Valley.
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Written on 05/18/2012, 1:49 pm by
Raw milk products produced by Organic Pastures of Fresno County have been released from a statewide quarantine that began May 10.
California Department of Food and Agriculture imposed the quarantine in response to the detection of campylobacter bacteria in raw cream, and notification from the California Department of Public Health of reported campylobacter food-borne illnesses in at least 10 persons consuming Organic Pastures raw milk.
California Department of Public Health isolated campylobacter jejuni from six samples of the dairy’s raw cream, one sample of raw butter and four samples of cow manure from the milking herd. Organic Pastures was required to meet all sanitation requirements and comply with food safety regulations under state law before the quarantine could be lifted. During the quarantine, the facility was prohibited from producing raw milk products for the retail market.
Mark McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures, disputed the public health findings, insisting the bacteria were never found in his raw milk.
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Written on 05/18/2012, 1:41 pm by
Rep. Jim Costa is calling on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to take action in order to bring greater water security to the San Joaquin Valley, Costa’s office said in a statement.
In a letter, Costa stated that the status quo was not sustainable and expressed concerns that delays on decisions has created a cycle of planning with no end in sight.
“Instead of continuing to just fill reams of paper with plans, we have to make tough decisions,” Costa said in the statement. “Despite all the good faith efforts and processes, my constituents still have to fight tooth and nail for every drop of water. Our water challenges did not start over night, but we cannot continue to wait for action. Every delay, including the most recent on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, slows our Valley’s recovery and economic growth.”
Costa has long supported the completion of the BDCP in the hope that it would restore balance and health to California’s unpredictable water system, and he believes the plan would help meet the long-term water needs of the San Joaquin Valley.
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Written on 05/18/2012, 1:38 pm by
A new report shows Fresno falling in line with 10 cities with the most residents who don't keep their money in a bank or credit union.
The report by Scarborough Research provides an analysis on the ten percent of American adults that are atypical bankers—either superbanked with multiple asset accounts at financial institutions or unbanked with no financial accounts.
According to the report, roughly 5 percent (11.3 million) of adults in the U.S. are superbanked while another 5 percent (12.2 million) are unbanked.
Fresno came in second on the list of unbanked cities with 17 percent of its adult population without a bank or credit union. Fresno adults were 226 percent more likely than all U.S. adults to be unbanked.
Bakersfield residents, with 10 percent unbanked, were 94 percent more likely to go without a bank or credit union, while Los Angeles (9 percent unbanked) were 94 percent more likely.
Harlingen, Tex. topped the list at 237 percent more likely to go unbanked while New Orleans came in at number 10 with 48 percent more likely.
Fort Myers, Fla. headed up 10 cities most likely to be superbanked with adults 53 percent more likely to have multiple accounts. It was followed by San Francisco with 49 percent more likely to be superbanked.
Among those superbanked, 93 percent use credit cards, 49 percent use online banking and 44 percent use a credit union. They are also four times more likely than all adults to have money market funds and two times more likely to have stocks or stock options.
Among those unbanked, 55 percent have health insurance, 24 percent have life insurance and 23 percent use credit cards. As well, they are 31 percent more likely than all U.S. adults to look for a job in the next 12 months while 9 percent plan to go back to school in the next 12 months.
The reports also includes finding about the likely age, education, race, incomes, media choices and spending patterns of atypical bankers.
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