The San Joaquin Valley Connect is a daily publication of the Great Valley Center's Energy Program and is designed to keep you informed about what's happening in your region. You have been subscribed because of your interest in regional happenings and energy efficiency in the San Joaquin Valley. If you do not wish to receive this daily newsletter click here to manage your subscription.

Valley colleges reach for the sun
Teaching college students how to tap the sun's energy is a hot national trend, and schools in the central San Joaquin Valley aren't being eclipsed.
Fresno Bee article

Cities welcomed housing boom with open arms
Whether cities in the foreclosure-plagued Northern San Joaquin Valley can help avoid future disaster with better planning is up for debate. But many experts say it's worth a try.
Modesto Bee article

Central Valley’s tipping point may be here
Poverty is the foundation for the worst of the Central Valley’s chronic problems, says David Hosley, president of the Great Valley Center, a Modesto-based non-profit organization that supports activities and organizations benefiting the economic, social and environmental well being.
Central Valley Business Times article

County puts energy toward bright future
The county's new agricultural center will be crowned with 520 solar panels this summer in one of the first local examples of government harnessing solar energy for a large facility.
Stockton Record article

Water issues frustrating season start
Any hopes that Fred Starrh has for his almond crop this year are clouded by the continuing drought and severe water restrictions. Fred, his sons, Fred II and Larry, and son-in-law Jay Kroker, are partners in Starrh Farms, their 9,000-acre operation near Shafter, Calif. Their tree nut orchards include 4,000 acres of almonds and 500 acres of pistachios.
Western Farm Press article

Pump change good for Earth but not wallets
You felt the pain at the pump last summer. So did the Earth's climate; transportation accounts for about 40 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions.
Stockton Record article

Merced struggles despite new UC campus
As home to the newest University of California campus, Merced thought it had left behind the high unemployment, rural poverty and other miseries that have plagued the Central Valley for decades.
Sacramento Bee article

Groves abuzz this year
To call it a honeybee glut might be an exaggeration, but this year the ever-shifting balance between Kern's almond groves and the bees that pollinate them does seem to have tilted in favor of the trees.
Bakersfield Californian article

Healthy serving of specialty crop grants expected
California's fruit and vegetable industry could collect upward of $20 million this year from a federal grant program whose rules became final Friday.
Modesto Bee article

Plan aims to end chronic Fresno Co. homelessness
The starting point for Fresno's plan to solve its chronic homeless problem is a place called Tent City.
Fresno Bee article

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