Hollywood has its stars. New York has its financiers. And Fresno has its dreaming, scheming flakes.

It was a warm October night, and the hall on 13th Street in Firebaugh was packed with people. They had come to voice frustration about the "man-made drought," fallowed land and lost jobs.

One of these days, a water-starved farmer will walk into federal court and demand that O'Shaughnessy Dam come down, finally restoring glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural grandeur and releasing a natural flow into the Tuolumne River.

To simplify your life in complicated times, here's this year's installment of the Completely Unofficial But Absolutely Essential Rules to Valley Living.

God help these children.

I went to see President Barack Obama, thinking that he might answer questions about the recession, water and Iran. I had company.

A lot of people, including me, have said they can do better by the state budget than our elected leaders.

Bryan Jones rides a bike -- and has a scar on his forehead to prove it.

I didn't think it was possible, but the politicians have united the citizens of America's most diverse state.

After months of following the latest and, hopefully, the last Genesis Family Center scandal, I need to be cleansed of nonprofit CEOs driving BMWs, hiring boyfriends and operating out of high-end offices -- when not in jail.

Some people are seeing red. They're mad because Fresno State football coach Pat Hill wants to paint the Valley rojo and the university is marketing the Bulldogs' first game as "Fiesta Night."

If I lived in the 18th District, I'd be looking to replace my congressman, Dennis "Horse Track" Cardoza, in 2010.

President Barack Obama has a problem, and I've got a solution. He wants to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center, but most American politicians don't want anything to do with housing suspected terrorists in their backyards.

Granite Park is back in the news, and the latest would-be savior of the troubled project is throwing around the names of lawyer Robert Shapiro and a faux celebrity Kardashian.