WASHINGTON, July 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The U.S. prison population declined 1.7 percent (or by 27,770 inmates) from 2011 to 2012, falling to an estimated 1,571,013 prisoners, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Nine states had a decrease of over 1,000 prisoners in 2012: California, Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, Arkansas, New [...]

FRESNO — Fresno State Executive Chef Erik Debaude and his sous chef, alumnus  Bryan Kramer,square off this week against chefs from two other universities in a new garlic competition at the 35th Gilroy Garlic Festival‘s Cook-Off Theater. The Fresno State team competes in the inaugural Gilroy Garlic Festival Garlic Bowl 2-4 p.m. today against chefs from University of California, Berkeley and San [...]

CHICAGO , July 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Are the social dynamics in a typical U.S. workplace all that different from a U.S. high school? A new CareerBuilder survey found that 43 percent of workers say their office or workplace is populated by cliques. The nationwide survey—conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder from May 14 to June 5, 2013, [...]

LONDON, July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are celebrating the birth of their baby boy, but have so far remained silent about possible baby names. According to Wealth-X, if they opt for Peter, Michael or David, the baby will automatically gain nearly 600 ultra wealthy namesakes, equivalent to 5.2 percent of Europe’s UHNW males. Over 2 percent or [...]

FRESNO – Fresno Pacific University President Pete C. Menjares, Ph.D., participated in two national conferences this summer. Menjares was part of the resource team for 2013 Multi-Ethnic Leadership Development Institute (MELDI) sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. He and wife Virginia co-presented a session on spouses and their experience with God’s leading. [...]

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – The ongoing housing recovery coupled with improvement in both consumer confidence and the labor market are expected to boost economic growth in the second half of the year, according to Fannie Mae’s (OTC Bulletin Board: FNMA) Economic & Strategic Research Group. The latest jobs report showed steady year-to-date job creation and measures [...]

FRESNO – The Principal Financial Group will make a stop at Fresno’s Chukchansi Park during its 2013 Principal Financial Dreams Tour, celebrating the company’s decade of support for minor league baseball. Over the past 10 years, The Principal has brought more than 400 events to minor league ballparks, attracting nearly two million fans. Past tours [...]

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – To help battle climate change, 65 percent of Americans endorse setting limits on dangerous carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants, according to new national poll conducted for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The poll finds that even 49 percent of Republicans favor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishing standards to curb [...]

FRESNO – Passenger volume at Fresno Yosemite International Airport continues to increase at a record-breaking pace, positioning the Airport to outperform prior record years.  This upward trend is the result of strong bookings occurring on each of the ten major airline operators based at Fresno Yosemite. Passenger levels have shown significant increases in the first [...]

CHICAGO, July 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – More than a third (35 percent) of hiring managers currently have positions that have remained open for 12 weeks or longer, according to new research by CareerBuilder.  Which jobs are the hardest to fill and in need of workers now?  Which professions are experiencing strong job growth and present good opportunities for [...]

FRESNO – The nomination process is almost ended, and the final nominations are being cast for the “40 Under 40″ Class of 2013, presented by Business Street Online. The deadline is next Friday, July 26.  Throughout the years, the “40 Under 40″ classes have consisted of business owners, chief executives of companies, politicians and other [...]

FRESNO – Last night in Fresno was referred to as “Ladies’ Night Out,” as Susan G. Komen Central Valley presented its first-ever Pink Bag Social. Roughly 100 women (and a small number of men) filled the Skyroom Lounge in the Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown for an evening of socialization, hors d’oeuvres, and perhaps more importantly, [...]

FRESNO – Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin has announced that the City of Fresno has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) “Our Town” program to work with local arts organizations and downtown stakeholders to invigorate Mariposa Plaza as the central destination and gathering place in downtown Fresno. The “Mariposa Plaza Activation Project” [...]

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Most Americans have to sit all day at work and they despise it.  A new survey commissioned by Ergotron, a global manufacturer of digital display mounting, furniture, and mobility products including sit-stand desks, found that nearly 70 percent of full time American workers hate sitting, yet 86 percent do it all [...]

FRESNO – Former president of the Fresno Black Chamber of Commerce Reynold L. Johnson passed away last Sunday at the age of 76. Born in Hope, Arkansas on June 24, 1937 into a family of 10 children, he moved to Fresno and graduated from Edison High School. He started his first two businesses at 18 [...]

ARLINGTON, Va., July 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Workers in the private sector should expect wages to increase in the coming months at about the same rate as they have in recent years, according to the final second quarter Wage Trend Indicator™ (WTI) released today by Bloomberg BNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information. The index for the second [...]

FRESNO – The next semi-annual BEAR Breakfast, presented by the Economic Development Corporation serving Fresno County, is being held this Friday beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo Dining Garden. The focus of the morning will be “Economic Impact of Healthcare in the Valley.”  Presenters will include Dr. David Hawkins, provost and dean [...]

SEATTLE, July 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Technology-powered real estate brokerage Redfin (www.redfin.com) today released its Real-Time Home Price Tracker for June 2013, showing home prices increasing 19 percent year over year across 19 major U.S. markets. Strong price increases continue to support growing inventory, which increased for the third consecutive month. However, home sales faltered in June, with a [...]

FRESNO – The “Garbage Guts” team of Fresno/Clovis is the first Fresno State ‘Dog Bowl Ice Cream’ champion after beating out 12 other teams at the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market’s 7th annual Fresno State Farm Festival on July 13. The team of Rob Wike, Bruce Henderson, Brandon Williams and Dakota Daffron finished their 12 scoops – two [...]

FRESNO – The deadline for nominations for the “40 Under 40″ Class of 2013 is coming up on Friday, July 26. The class, made up of some of the best and brightest individuals in the public and private sectors of central California, will be honored at “40 Under 40″ The Ultimate Networking Event, presented by [...]