Fresno Unified trustees took a tentative step toward finding new ways to keep more students in school when they asked staff and Superintendent Michael Hanson on Wednesday to explore creation of a dropout intervention commission.

TOOLEVILLE -- From her living room window, Valeriana Alvarado can see the Friant-Kern Canal, where pristine snowmelt flows to farm fields. She wouldn't mind getting some of that sparkling irrigation water at the drafty two-room trailer where she lives with eight family members.
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In yet another blow to California's troubled high-speed rail project, California's state auditor said this morning that the project's financing is "increasingly risky" and its oversight inadequate.

The contradictions are everywhere: Americans want illegal immigration to stop, but they enjoy its benefits of cheap goods and services. Lawmakers won't force businesses to verify their workers' legal status. And the government provides free services to illegal immigrants, whose taxes do not cover those services.

East Valley farmers this year probably will lose very little if any water for the San Joaquin River restoration because of the wet winter, federal officials estimate. There has been no need to use water reserved for irrigation.

Rent-to-own stores offer a powerful temptation for people who want new furniture or the latest TV but can't afford them.

Almost nothing remains of ghost town Kingston, but it lives on in history largely because of an event that broke the a quiet of a Christmas season evening nearly 140 years ago.

Even though the wetter half of California's winter is still ahead, it's hard to ignore the historic dry spell taking shape. The statewide snowpack is 15% of average for early January. This winter is mirroring the terrible 1976-1977 season -- the driest time on record.

Eager homebuyers once had to get on a waiting list for a chance at a house in Fresno's Vineyards neighborhood west of Highway 99. That was in 2006. In the five years since then, residents have seen what an imploding real estate market can do.

FRIANT -- This foothill community with its old houses, sleepy shops and vintage diner hasn't seen much change over the decades, beyond a wider road through town and a new gas station.

The Crime Map charts the time and location of reported felonies in the city of Fresno. You also can search a neighborhood for crime reports, and track the frequency of crime types over a chosen period of time.

The Data Center makes available to the public many of the links and databases – including some developed by The Bee – that reporters and editors use for research. You can search records ranging from property assessments to public employee salaries.