Victor Patton

“He wanted to be more than just a little Black boy from south Merced that picked tomatoes and picked cotton," said one of his relatives.

About 3,000 Southern Sudanese refugees currently reside in San Diego County, according to the Alliance for African Assistance (AFAA), a local refugee resettlement program. Several of them spoke with CityBeat about their lives in Sudan and why they were forced to leave.

Many Merced County residents impacted by recent floods work in the agriculture industry, the backbone of the Valley’s economy. They are among the county’s low-income residents. And while times were tough even before the floods, they are bound to get harder.

The inmate sitting on California’s death row for the 2004 murder of Merced Police Officer Stephan Gray was back in a Colusa County courtroom, alleging his trial more than 15 years ago was unfair.

Once thought by many in the Black community as a phenomenon that impacted only white people, during the past 30 years the suicide rate between African Americans and whites has narrowed.

MERCED, Calif.— Anyone who uses Highway 99 to travel through Merced County undoubtedly has asked themself the same question: When will all of this construction be over?

Ambitious plans to renovate the landmark property appeared in question in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, which disrupted retail operations everywhere. But, finally, it looks like that’s about to change.

At KDEE-FM 97.5, The Staples Singers live in audio immortality, along with Bobby Womack, The Stylistics, Fatback, Roy Ayers and countless other throwback funk, rhythm and blues and soul artists.

“That’s where I feel our programming is superior to others. Giving people what they can’t get anywhere else,” said Marvell Reed, KDEE’s station manager. “And doing it in a way that nobody else does it.”

Prominent civil rights philosopher, academic and Sacramento native Dr. Cornel West is lending his support to a proposal that would make discrimination on the basis of caste illegal in California.

Ask Richard Ogletree how to describe his older brother Charles James Ogletree Jr. and he’ll cut straight to the chase with a single word.

Hero.

“There’s no words right now to describe the anger I feel and the senselessness of this incident," said Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke.

Court documents show the man suspected of abducting and killing a family has previously served time in prison for another crime that was eerily similar.

Although the area’s unemployment has decreased since the recession, recent data from the Greater Sacramento Economic Council suggests the region’s unemployment levels for 16- to 24-year-olds are among the nation’s worst.

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.’s plan to remove 1,100 jobs from the Sacramento region by the end of 2019 is in motion — but a lot may happen between now and then that could determine how much damage to the local economy is left behind.

Reimbursements under Section 1202 have been caught up in insurance industry bureaucracy and a lack of support in Congress. The result has been millions of dollars in losses for some doctors who have taken on more low-income patients, and ongoing legal disputes.