CLOVIS – Fewer than 2,000 tickets have been sold for the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway.  This year’s house will be located in the De Young CountryCourt community in Clovis. Individuals who reserve tickets by Friday, September 20th will also be eligible to win the Early Bird prize, gas for a year, valued at $3,000, courtesy [...]

FRESNO – Emmy and Oscar Award winning actress Helen Hunt, this year’s luncheon keynote speaker for the Central California Women’s Conference, gave many of the conference attendees a chance to find out about her life in front of and behind the cameras. Hunt took questions during a VIP event this morning inside the Diamond Room [...]

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (Index) moved down slightly in August. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending. “While the Index fell in August, it continues to indicate that overall conditions are positive for consumer spending,” said Daniel Bachman, Deloitte’s senior U.S. economist.  “Americans may [...]

FRESNO – Philanthropy Inspired by the Needs of our Community (PINC), a unique Fresno nonprofit founded in 2008 to benefit other local nonprofits in the community, has announced that they are now accepting applications from Fresno County nonprofit organizations that have services and programs targeting women and children to serve as the beneficiary for their 2014 fundraising [...]

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Bud Light, the official beer sponsor of the National Football League, is once again pairing the nation’s most popular beer and most popular sport for a fan-centric campaign that will include new TV creative and NFL- and team-specific packaging. Bud Light’s new TV campaign, “Dilemmas,” is an evolution of last year’s [...]

VISALIA - A total of 18 talented future leaders have been chosen to represent the 2013–2014 Visalia Chamber of Commerce in its flagship program, Leadership Visalia.  Members of the 28th Leadership Visalia class are as follows: Sandi Bennett, Artis & Co. CPA’s Rodney Blaco, Tulare County District Attoney’s Office Leslie Blair, City of Visalia, Community Development Engineering Mary [...]

VISALIA – The first U.S. archer to win a Paralympic Games gold medal since 1984 will headline the Kaweah Delta Community Health & Fitness Expo and 5th Annual Rehab Reunion on Saturday, Oct. 5, in Visalia. Jeff Fabry, who took the gold last year in London and become the first gold medalist for USA Archery [...]

YONKERS, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Consumer Reports Index , an overall measure of Americans’ personal financial health, found that Americans reported a sharp rise in financial difficulties and a weaker view of their overall financial health in the past 30 days. The Consumer Reports Index’s trouble tracker climbed to 46.0 in August from 34.7 the prior month. [...]

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — On average, Americans have more than $225,000 in debt and less than $500 in emergency savings, according to a new GoBankingRates.com investigation. GoBankingRates.com examined the average American — coined ‘Mary Smith’ — in terms of earnings, savings, and credit card, student loan, auto loan, and mortgage debt. “While every individual is unique, Mary Smith is our ‘prototype’ of [...]

FRESNO – Fresno County Farm Bureau and ValleyPBS have announced the debut of ‘Valley’s Gold,’ a weekly series that will present a behind-the-scenes look at the economic engine that drives our region, agriculture. The show will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. only on ValleyPBS. The program will re-broadcast each weekend on Saturday at 6:30 [...]

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Consumers are more pessimistic about the economy than they have been all year – and gas prices may not be the primary cause. For the first time this year, consumer pessimism increased over a 30-day period when gas prices fell. More than three in five consumers (61%) say that they [...]

TULARE – The International Agri-Center will host its annual golf tournament on Friday, September 27, at the Tulare Golf Course. The event benefits AgVentures!, an agricultural learning center which hosts thousands of visitors each year-including many local schools and community groups. “AgVentures! is an important part of the International Agri-Center, and we ask for the [...]

FRESNO – Fresno City Council President Blong Xiong has officially announced the launch of his campaign for Fresno County Supervisor, District 1, and will file papers at noon today as he launches his June 2014 campaign. District 1 includes Fresno’s West Side and the towns of Kerman. Firebaugh, Mendota and San Joaquin.  Xiong was first [...]

VISALIA – On May 25, 2013 the Leadership Visalia class of 2013 organized Fingerprint Visalia, an event in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s 2013 Take 25 Campaign. More than 1,800 communities hosted unique events as part of the National Missing Children’s Day this year. Leadership Visalia received a letter of [...]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Growth in women’s share of science, technology, engineering and mathematics occupations – commonly referred to as STEM jobs – has slowed since the 1990s, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. Women’s employment in STEM has slowed because their share in computer occupations declined to 27 percent in 2011 after [...]

FRESNO – Fresno County Farm Bureau, The Big Fresno Fair and Friends of the Fair, the Fair’s non-profit organization, are proud to announce that Fresno County schools can now register for the ninth annual Farm & Nutrition Day, which invites all third graders from throughout Fresno County to the Fresno Fairgrounds on Friday, March 21, [...]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — More than a third of all primary-school age children around the world still cannot read or write, whether they attend school or not. The good news: Save the Children’s new report shows that teaching children early on how to read not only in school but also through activities outside the classroom [...]

FRESNO – The official announcement of the $15.9 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Transportation to bring vehicular traffic back to the Fulton Mall occurred at a celebration on the mall today. The project on Fulton Mall is just one of 52 across the country to receive a piece of a total of $474 [...]

FRESNO – Fresno State received four new patents for cultivated varieties of cactus plants that can be grown in areas of the Valley with high selenium levels and limited access to quality water. The patents are co-owned by the university, Red Rock Ranch and the United States Department of Agriculture. “Developing new salt- and boron-tolerant [...]

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Someone light the candles! California, our nation’s 31st state, celebrates its 164th birthday next Monday. Clearly many Americans think its best years are still ahead of it – when asked where, excluding their current state, they would most like to live, The Golden State is at the top of the list; fellow oceanfront states Hawaii (2) [...]