Merced Sun-Star

Central Valley residents lack doctors and other medical specialists, are more likely to die of diabetes and heart attacks, and face diminished well-being because of poverty, according to a sweeping report released Thursday.

WASHINGTON -- Weary congressional negotiators on Thursday completed a massive farm bill that confronts a presidential veto threat amid complicated election-year politics.

A sweeping report released Thursday offers some good news and bad news on the health of Central Valley residents.

Congressional negotiators announced a final agreement on a $300 billion farm bill Thursday, as the White House and key conservatives continued to signal opposition to the legislation.

Another record almond crop -- about 1.46 billion pounds -- will come off California orchards this year, the federal government projected today.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate committee has approved legislation implementing a sweeping settlement to restore salmon to the San Joaquin River, moving the deal a step closer to reality.

WASHINGTON -- Farmers markets could flourish with funding included in a new farm bill that has become a mixed bag for California.

WASHINGTON -- Farmers markets in cities like Merced could flourish with funding included in a new farm bill that's become a mixed bag for California.

SACRAMENTO - Sen. Dave Cogdill outlined his determined stance that this is "no time to raise taxes" to balance the budget, citing the state's sagging economy and ongoing mortgage crisis in a wide-ranging interview with Sacramento Bee reporters.

SACRAMENTO -- The animal-rights group Mercy For Animals plans to release a video today shot by an undercover worker at a Merced County egg barn that shows hens crammed into cages, suffering from open sores and being handled roughly and stepped on by workers.

WASHINGTON -- Four years after the National Park Service curtailed international travel when Congress complained about foreign junkets, semi-grounded park officials are improvising to maintain ties with colleagues abroad.

SACRAMENTO — An Assembly committee today shelved legislation to build a canal around the suffering Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, telling the bill's author to try again next year.

Juan Carlos, 24, swiftly cut and gathered stalk after stalk of asparagus in a remote part of the San Joaquin Delta. He felt safe enough to admit that he is as fresh to California as the produce he harvests.