The Latest Breaking News from Central Valley

Thousands of years ago during the last Ice Age, rivers flowed from giant glaciers in the Sierra Nevada down to the Central Valley, carving into rock and gouging channels at a time when the sea level was about 400 feet lower. When the glaciers retreated, meltwater coursed down and buried…

LOS ANGELES — Democratic Rep. Josh Harder won election to a Stockton-centered congressional district, beating Republican Tom Patti, a San Joaquin County supervisor and businessman.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — On an unusually cool morning in the Central Valley, Sen. Alex Padilla rallied campaign volunteers, urging them to knock on doors and phone voters to promote a Democratic candidate in one of the most competitive congressional districts in the nation.

It's the sunny beaches and the Golden Gate that make it onto the postcards. But look at a topographic map of California and you'll see that one of its defining features is the Central Valley, a 450-mile-long basin of agricultural heartland, source of almonds and fruit bound for distant states,…

Advocates say it's a good time to take a closer look at the water use behind your milk

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It starts to rain, and it doesn’t stop. Day after day after day. The rivers keep rising. Mud, ash and burned logs from recent wildfires clog the rapidly rising channels. Levees overtop or burst. Dams strain or buckle. Neighborhoods are submerged. Flood waters wash over freeways.

WASHINGTON — Many Latino voters sat out California’s primary election last month, according to counts by Political Data, which tracks voter trends.

Republican congressional candidates did better than expected last month in California’s Central Valley, the purple, 450-mile stretch down the middle of a deep blue state.

After wrangling over the future of California’s high-speed rail, state lawmakers plan to release a critical batch of money to finish a bullet train in the Central Valley, while also establishing an inspector general to audit the beleaguered project and authorizing billions of dollars in new money for rail plans…