Alma Villegas

Liquor licenses abound in the Valley. How many is too many? Valley retail businesses hold almost 3,900 off-sale licenses to sell liquor, about 1 for every 1,100 residents in the region, a higher concentration than all California.

"Earlier this year, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on alcohol and cancer risk, describing alcohol use 'as a leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States...'" Story by @timsheehannews.bsky.social
themercedfocus.org/liquor-licen...

Here’s Every Local Police Agency Enforcing for ICE – The Markup Partnerships more than doubled during the first months of Trump's current term under a program known as 287(g)

themarkup.org/tools/2025/0...

The First Drag Queen Was a Former Slave Who fought for queer freedom a century before Stonewall.

www.thenation.com/article/soci... Story by Channing Gerard Joseph

Finally seeing a train! Hoping we move momentarily.

Traffic jam along M street due to activated railroad crossing gate blocking road. No cargo trains running by and traffic has been stopped for at least 15 minutes.

Trump criticizes CA rules on trans athletes ahead of CIF championships in Clovis The president threatened to withhold federal funds in response.

www.fresnobee.com/news/local/e... Story by Leqi Zhong and Nick Fenley

Israel Kills Journalist Moataz Rajab, at Least the 221st Media Worker Killed in Genocide Israeli attacks so far today have killed at least 55 people across Gaza. Among the dead is Palestinian journalist Moataz Rajab, who was killed along with four other civilians in an Israeli strike on h...

Israeli armed forces shot and killed at least 10 Palestinian people as starved thousands raided a food distribution warehouse, @democracynow.org reported. Moataz Rajab is believed to be the 221st journalist killed in the genocide since October 7, 2023.

www.democracynow.org/2025/5/29/he...

Harvard ends legal battle over early photos of enslaved people, agrees to relinquish images A lawyer says the images will be transferred to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history with a woman who says she is one of the subjects' descendants.

“This pilfered property, images taken without dignity or consent and used to promote a racist psychoscience will now be repatriated to a home where their stories can be told and their humanity can be restored.” - Tamara Lanier

www.pbs.org/newshour/nat... Story by Leah Willingham

Thank you for sharing @melissa-myrna.bsky.social !

My favorite photos of UC Merced’s 2025 commencement ceremony: the beaming graduates on one side and their proud families waiting to receive them on the other.

With 3rd world title, Madera Unified team creates robotics competition dynasty “We put all of our hard work, not just for the school, not just for the district, but for the entire Madera County,” said MadTown Robotics’ lead scout.

An impressive accomplishment. Put some respect on Madera County's name!

“These guys are the hardest-working kids on campus,” Valmonte said. “They live, breathe, eat robotics.” Story by @erikgalicia.bsky.social

www.fresnobee.com/news/local/a...

"The company went through the city’s competitive bidding process for the Yosemite Avenue project and was the lowest of six bids, coming in at around $5.8 million. The highest bid the city received was over $14 million."
By @briannavaccari.bsky.social

Affordable housing is bustling in Merced, but smaller cities face barriers. ‘It’s not for lack of trying’ The city of Merced has a number of low-income, affordable housing projects in the works, but other, smaller Merced County cities have none.

While Merced has more than 500 new affordable housing units in the pipeline, smaller Merced County cities have none. Recently proposed legislation might help change that. Story by @reportingmerced.bsky.social

Merced high school forfeits volleyball match over claims of transgender athlete on opposing team A Merced high school recently chose not to show up to a state playoff volleyball match because it believes there is a transgender athlete on the opposing team.

abc30.com/post/merced-...

Great reporting 🙌🏼

cuts, cuts, cuts. "cut my life into pieces" 😒

Why Fresno County could hurt more from potential Medicaid cuts There’s no doubt amongst experts that Medicaid cuts would impact California greatly. But for Fresno County, the impacts could be dire.

The Central Valley has the highest number of Medi-Cal enrollees. In Merced, 52% of county residents receive benefits.

Why Fresno County could hurt more from Medicaid cuts than most of the country by @omarsrashad.bsky.social fresnoland.org/2025/03/11/m...

The proposed cuts would have a significant impact on the San Joaquin Valley, which has the highest rate of households in California that use CalFresh, the program that helps low-income residents buy groceries. Link in the comments.

Merced Police Department addressing a traffic stop next to the Civic Center. An officer said it was “nothing too crazy.” There were six department vehicles on scene.

:-( I wanted to check out a book and open a library card. What’s your favorite part about the Merced County library? Mine is that people use the charging stations for their vape pens 😂 #librariesareacommunityresource

Hello 👋 Merced. Ya hay mucho sucediendo esta semana en el condado después de las vacaciones del Día de Acción de Gracias. A fire at a vacant building, election certification results (tomorrow), and plans to remodel historic landmarks. Stay tuned, and say hi! I'm also on X and IG as @reportingmerced