Hampton Inn and Suites coming to Porterville in 2021

Central CaliforniaPress Room2020February
By Faughn Commercial • New Location • Tourism 0 Comments

Hampton Inn and Suites coming to Porterville in 2021

Paul Jariwala, the general manager of Holiday Inn Express on Highway 190 put it best when it comes to the hotel industry. “There’s kind of room for everyone,” he said. Even though it will be in direct competition with the Holiday Inn, a Hampton Inn and Suites by Hilton will be constructed at the 2.6-acre lot just to the east and of the Holiday Inn on Highway 190. The hotel will be the third one in that area as it will also join the Best Western Porterville Inn. The three hotels will continue to provide a need for people who travel Highway 190 to visit such attractions at the Sequoia National Forest.

https://www.recorderonline.com/news/hampton-inn-and-suites-coming-to-porterville-in/article_3288a5c6-58cb-11ea-8f58-a33817cffbff.html

By Faughn E-Commerce • Economy • Food Processing 0 Comments

Valley fans crave cookies, company expands

Massive chocolate chip and churro cookies are baking all afternoon long at Crave Cookie’s new kitchen. “With the demand, we were able to keep hiring drivers, keep adding more zip codes. We moved to a bigger, more centralized kitchen in a better area for delivery zones, and we’re able to keep going.,” said co-owner Shandi Scrivner. Crave gave Action News a sneak peek inside their recent expansion as they try to keep up with customer demand. The company receives orders online and delivers them fresh to your door.

By Faughn Education 0 Comments

Hundreds attend groundbreaking ceremony for new Fresno State student union, including couple who donated $10 million

Hundreds of people gathered at Fresno State on Thursday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a large new facility designed to serve students. This ceremony marked a monumental moment for the university as it builds a new 84,000 square foot student union. Student Body President Omar Hernandez says, “The current union was built for a campus population of 10,000 students. Fresno State’s current population is one of 25,000 bold students.” The new facility is named after Lynda and Stewart Resnick. They are the founders of The Wonderful Company, which is known for many popular products, including Pom Wonderful juice and pistachios. The couple donated $10 million toward the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the new building.

https://abc30.com/education/hundreds-attend-groundbreaking-ceremony-for-new-fresno-state-student-union/5953449/
By Faughn Economy • Energy • New Location • Renewable Energy 0 Comments

NATION’S LARGEST SOLAR FARM PLANNED SOUTH OF PORTERVILLE

The nation’s largest solar farm is in the works south of Porterville. The big facility is planned on farmland with a water deficit, perhaps a glimpse of the future for some marginal ag land here. Tulare County released a Notice of Preparation (NOP) Feb. 14 announcing the big renewable energy project. Built on 3,800 acres scattered near the town of Ducor, the Rexford Solar Farm will be rated at 700 megawatts in addition to 700 megawatts of energy storage. The solar arrays would eclipse the state’s biggest solar farm in San Luis Obispo — the 550-megawatt Topaz facility built in 2011.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/nations-largest-solar-farm-planned-south-of-porterville/?utm_source=Daily+Update&utm_campaign=99b60615ca-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_17_08_44&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fb834d017b-99b60615ca-78934409&mc_cid=99b60615ca&mc_eid=a126ded657

By Faughn E-Commerce • Food Processing 0 Comments

Fresno County is rated No. 1 in the nation in agricultural production

It’s begun. That shaking is the sight and sound of almond harvest in the Sacramento Valley. Almonds are one of the state’s biggest crops. This video is from Jim Morris at a Yolo County farm. BY SACRAMENTO VALLEY WATER. The agricultural championship has returned to Fresno County. For the first time since 2013, Fresno County leads the nation in agricultural production.https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article235943027.html

By Faughn Economy • Hi-Tech 0 Comments

Next-generation wireless revolution takes root in Bakersfield

The next revolution in mobile technology has arrived in Bakersfield — but it’s probably not time to celebrate just yet. Earlier this month, AT&T announced its local launch of the highly anticipated wireless coverage known as 5G, joining T-Mobile, which introduced a similar service in early December. (Sprint and Verizon have not yet made the service available in Bakersfield.) The launches mean people with the right kind of cellphone and the right mobile service plan should be able to receive data faster — perhaps 20 percent faster than they did under the previous best technology, known as 4G LTE.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/next-generation-wireless-revolution-takes-root-in-bakersfield/article_3d29a218-4f94-11ea-8a80-3f7e8c126b72.html

By Faughn Education • New Location 0 Comments

Community Gets Preview of New $25M Oakhurst College Center

The community got a preview of the new $25 million Oakhurst Community College Center at a public forum this week in Oakhurst. Darin Soukup, Oakhurst Community College Center director, and project architect Paul Halajian were both on hand at the meeting to provide updates and answer questions from community members about progress on the project. Halajian also brought a scale model of the proposed 21,450-square-foot building to show around at the meeting. “This is what it’s going to look like, he said. “But it’s still a bit of a work in progress.” The current design features seven classrooms —  one for biology/chemistry lab plus a “prep” room, one art studio/classroom, one computer lab classroom and four general education classrooms that will also allow for 2-way simultaneous broadcast of courses from other locations in the District.
By Faughn Commercial • Economy • Food Processing • Hi-Tech • Manufacturing • Tourism 0 Comments

A Brave New World: Latest in agriculture at Expo in Tulare

Traditionally the Farmer’s Almanac predicts rainy weather during early to middle February said Lt. Boatman from the Tulare Police Department, who was helping on the first day of the 2020 World Ag Expo on Tuesday, at the International Agri-Center in Tulare. But it was a clear, bright, and beautifully sunny day, and at least 30,000 people or more were expected to attend the show. And over the three days, Tuesday, today and Thursday, Feb. 13, there could be anywhere from 90,000 to more than  100,000 people attending from all over the world. When the gates opened and hundreds of people were lined up to enter, at about 9:30 the Star Spangled Banner was sung, and people respectfully sang with their hands over their hearts.

https://www.recorderonline.com/news/a-brave-new-world-latest-in-agriculture-at-expo/article_4c7de574-4dc0-11ea-b9ba-a3d1742c88a5.html

By Faughn Economy • Food Processing • Manufacturing • Tourism 0 Comments

THE 53RD WORLD AG EXPO® COMES TO A CLOSE

Sunny skies, large crowds and optimistic attendees defined the 53rd edition of World Ag Expo®. The world’s largest annual outdoor agricultural exposition came to a close on Thursday, February 13 and boasted 1,442 exhibitors on 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space. The three-day show hosted 106,357 attendees representing 46 states, the District of Columbia and 56 countries. Exhibitors reported high traffic, quality leads and a well-organized event. First year exhibitor Agland Management Consulting, Inc. was in the Hemp Education & Marketing Pavilion and their team was pleased with their first trip to World Ag Expo®.

https://www.worldagexpo.com/the-53rd-world-ag-expo-comes-to-a-close

By Faughn Economy • Education • Health/Medical • New Developments 0 Comments

Plans for Valley medical program moving closer to fruition, says Assemblyman Gray

Assembly member Adam Gray, D-Merced, this week convened the San Joaquin Valley Coalition for Medical Education at UC Merced to discuss burgeoning plans of a San Joaquin Valley medical school. The program’s plans have been on the drawing board for decades, but until recently they’ve been largely conceptual. Gray and other program proponents were recently given a boost of $15 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who included those funds as part of his proposed 2020-21 state budget.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/plans-for-valley-medical-program-moving-closer-to-fruition-says-assemblyman-gray/ar-BB103IYh