TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

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1. EDITORIAL: Job-needy valley awaits word on new rail funding

   If California high-speed rail is the boondoggle that detractors say it is, it sure has a lot of people fooled. Officials behind the state's bullet train endeavor say the project could create 100,000 jobs -- some 24,000 of them in the San...

2. EDITORIAL: Profit motive shouldn't enter red-light debate

   You've heard about small towns with reputations as speed traps -- burgs that supplement the municipal coffers by suddenly and drastically reducing the speed limit on the state route through town. The stereotypical trap has a cop...

3. EDITORIAL: Budget deal in Sacramento just got a lot harder

   Everyone's a loser in the budget negotiations between Gov. Jerry Brown and state Republican legislators. Brown has lost some luster because he portrayed himself as the gubernatorial candidate with the best chance of delivering bipartisan...

4. EDITORIAL: SJ Valley must increase rate of transfer students

   If the southern San Joaquin Valley is going to keep moving toward the development of an educated workforce with the skills to help the region compete, we'll have to address something. We'll have to figure out how to keep students, and...

5. EDITORIAL: Perfect marriage of land and need: solar

   Eastern Kern County has long been the place for energy entrepreneurs to put their plans into action. Wind and solar projects are in abundance in the Tehachapis and points east, to the great benefit of state and regional economies. As bad as...

6. EDITORIAL: Third Thursday move an idea worth checking out

   If you've ever cut short a visit to one of Bakersfield's Downtown Street Faires, or avoided them completely because summertime festivals are not especially festive when they're staged on asphalt surfaces, consider this good news. The...

7. EDITORIAL: Ag turnaround? No, but water will still be nice

   San Joaquin Valley residents ought to be greeting the news that California's long-running drought has officially ended with the same sort of enthusiasm as last year's announcement that the recession is over: with equal measures of relief...

9. EDITORIAL: Lying about war medals shouldn't be free speech

   Do you have the constitutional right to declare yourself a decorated military hero even if you flunked out of boot camp? Surprise! You do. At least according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court, which this week upheld an earlier ruling that the...

10. EDITORIAL: Glory, pitfalls for colleges moving up to big time

    Give this to Jeff Konya: The man moves fast. The new Cal State Bakersfield athletic director, the ink on his own contract barely dry, has already selected a new men's basketball coach to replace the recently dismissed Keith Brown. The...

11. EDITORIAL: Cutting back on PE comes at big cost to youth

    In case we needed any more evidence that Kern County kids richly deserve their reputation for poor physical fitness, here's the latest from the 2010 School Physical Fitness Test. More than 76 percent of Kern County fifth-graders were unable...

12. EDITORIAL: Help shelters survive these tough times

    With state funding in short supply these days, nonprofit organizations that serve victims of abuse, the homeless and others in need of shelter are finding it tough to get by. One such shelter, Taft's Alpha House, has planned an April 30...

13. Enough: It's time for KHS's Sorrell to go

    The time has come. The record is clear. The alternatives have evaporated. It's time for Carol Sorrell to resign as CEO of Kern Health Systems. It was on Sorrell's watch that KHS, a taxpayer-funded HMO that serves Medi-Cal patients in Kern...

14. EDITORIAL: Levan has his priorities straight and we all benefit

    Anyone who values higher education should be greatly heartened by two pieces of news this week: One, that Dr. Norman Levan, in a staggering gesture of philanthropic generosity, has donated $13.7 million to Bakersfield College, more than...