San Joaquin Valley

Most ships discharging ballast water into California waters are inspected, but state officials have tested the water of only 16 ships. Experts say invaders like mussels are inevitable under current rules and enforcement.

Growers support a federal and state proposal for operating California’s massive systems that send river water south. But it could harm more salmon and other endangered fish.

In California, water politics are tricky, but they're as important as hydrological factors like precipitation and storage.

The unprecedented decision by the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority to shut down the Antioch-Pittsburg Amtrak station deserves immediate legal scrutiny from the attorney general, a Bay Area transit advocate argues.

Drinking water contamination is a chronic, insidious threat in California’s rural communities. Some have been waiting for clean water for years.

Inland communities with big population booms will experience the most extreme heat days under climate change projections. The combination puts more people at risk — and many cities are unprepared.

The closure of Madera Community Hospital created a new health care desert in a community that already had fewer doctors per capita than other parts of the state. UCSF and Adventist have a plan to reopen it.

If you listen to California’s political class, the high-speed rail project sounds like a textbook boondoggle. Yet in communities across California’s farm belt, the discourse is different. High-speed rail isn't "a train to nowhere" – it's a symbol of transformation.

Fifty years ago, two drifters murdered nine people in the bedroom of a home near Lodi. The memory of it never fades.

Hundreds of wells in Tulare Lake aquifer are at risk of going dry. Today's recommendation is the first time that state officials have moved to crack down on local plans that fail to stop excessive groundwater pumping.