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The final five defendants in a series of cases targeting a dangerous prison gang involved in drug trafficking and violent crime throughout the Central Valley pled guilty earlier this week, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner announced.

The Fresno Bee reports that Solomon Stanley claims to have received special dispensation from a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation rule requiring guards to keep their faces bare and their hair no longer than their shirt collars.

Diego Luna's second narrative feature as director stars Michael Pena as the activist whose struggle brought dignity to farm workers and paved the way for the Fair Food Movement.

Which high school won the championship? A. Tulare Western B. Delano C. Mission Oak 6. President Barack Obama visited the Valley on Friday.

It's a plan that has been a long time coming - and if it gets enough signatures it will qualify for the November statewide ballot.

Paramount Citrus plans to increase capacity 75% at its Delano, Calif., packinghouse, citing increased demand for the grower-shipper's mandarins under the Wonderful Halos label.

Alongside the esteemed Chavez, Huerta, a labor leader and civil rights activist, cofounded the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers.

Pedro Rios paced the floor at the Kern County Elections Department Friday as the clock ticked toward 5 p.m. He was waiting for supporters to bring him a handful of signed nomination forms -- the last paperwork he needed to set up a rematch with Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, for the 32nd Assembly District seat.

As my older brother and I approached the entrance to the supermarket that summer day in 1969, there were perhaps 10 or so men and women near the store's entrance with handwritten signs that read, "Boycott Jewel's" and "Justice for farmworkers" in big bold letters.

A wildly enthusiastic crowd chanted this Spanish slogan, meaning "Yes, it can be done" or "Yes, you can," after the SXSW screening of Cesar Chavez at the Paramount Theatre.

The latest news - City Council voted to award a bid for the Challenger Drive Extension Project to Cooley Construction Inc. in the amount of $1,663,551.80 at last night's meeting.

Paladin will implement its cloud based technology at to track all aspects of zoning and codes including permit issuance, inspections, and code enforcement.

Two years ago, Bakersfield Democrat Rudy Salas was elected to the state Assembly, but don't ask him how he did among Kings County voters.

"The Crusades of Cesar Chavez" is the first comprehensive biography of the spectacular rise and messy decline of the United Farm Workers union and the man who struck the sparks that made the epic American social movement.

The famous grape boycott of the late 60s highlighted the struggles of migrant farm workers in California.

You don't get to be the namesake of countless roads, schools, buildings and even a state holiday unless you've led a pretty exceptional life.

There hasn't been a day in the last 21 years that Roberto Bustos of Tulare hasn't thought about his good friend and Mexican-American civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.

Coming to America in the 1920s was no vacation. Filipinos were "American nationals," the result of recent colonization, and ironically exempted from the exclusionary Immigration Act of 1924 that precluded the influx of immigrants from "Asiatic Barred Zones."

"Cesar Chavez" is a Mexican-American "42," a quietly inspiring and well-acted tale of a civil rights icon whose story isn't nearly as familiar as Jackie Robinson's.

Carmen Garza comes from a long line of farm workers, starting with her grandfather who she says lived through the toughest times.

Guilty pleas in case targeting Valley prison gang

Former Rastafari prison guard sues over dreadlocks

Cesar Chavez: Berlin Review

Test your news savvy

Frank Girardot: A plan to cut California six ways makes sense in Aztlan

Paramount Citrus plans 75% boost to Halos packing capacity

Dolores Huerta will speak at Pittsburg High Cesar Chavez event

Election match-ups solidify as deadline passes

Jose Gaspar: Cesar Chavez movie brings local history to the big screen

SXSW Review: Cesar Chavez

News@Noon for March 18, 2014

Paladin Data Systems Announces City of Delano, California as Newest SMARTGov Customer

Democrat Salas picks up Republican support in Kings Co., a GOP stronghold

Book review: Growth of UFW and struggle of Cesar Chavez

Diego Luna on His Directorial Debut, Cesar Chavez

'Cesar Chavez': Just the facts leave biopic flat

Remembering Cesar

Dear Filipino Organizers Erased by the Cesar Chavez Movement

'Cesar Chavez' a noble, intimate and modestly inspiring portrait

Zero water allocation protested at Tulare water rally