San Joaquin Valley

In a rundown shopping center on Rancho Drive in the heart of the Las Vegas Valley, there's a tiny shop that sells herbal products for recent immigrants. It offers traditional village remedies for stomach ailments, head colds and achy backs. The familiar Mexican and Central American brands lack the stylish packaging of popular American products. Less than a quarter mile south sits a bright, antiseptic Walgreens. Hispanic marketing specialist Miguel Barrientos says thousands of immigrants will drive past it. As with any group, Hispanic customers gravitate to businesses where they feel respected, understood, appreciated, valued. "Look at that Walgreens there," Barrientos says. "They're not marketing to Latinos." Then he turns to the tightly stocked shelves of the worn shop. "If all of those natural products are on these shelves, why wouldn't they be at Walgreens or CVS or Target? It's a missed opportunity."

Sourcing program hopes to catch more than flies after honey industry soured by illegal imports. Honey companies and importers are launching a program in January to try to stop the flow of illegally sourced honey from coming into the country.

Californians roll up sleeves to spend Christmas weekend cleaning up mud, flooding, debris. Leslie Constante burst into tears when she saw a red tag slapped on her parents' garage in Highland, deeming it unsafe to enter.

California air regulators give business more time to comply with diesel emission standards. Business owners will have more time to comply with California's tough diesel emissions standards for trucks, school buses and construction equipment under more relaxed rules that air quality officials adopted on Friday.

Federal judge calls parts of delta smelt protection plan 'unlawful,' orders agency revisions. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rewrite parts of its plan to protect a tiny, threatened fish that lives in California's freshwater delta.

Filipino workers sue Calif. hospital alleging discrimination over rule requiring English. Dozens of Filipino hospital workers in California claim they were the only ethnic group targeted by a rule requiring them to speak only English at work, and want to take their case to federal court.

Appeals court allows Calif. air district to impose fee for controlling construction emissions. A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that air quality regulators in California's smog-laden San Joaquin Valley have the right to charge home builders a fee to control their pollution emissions.

Filipino workers sue Calif. hospital alleging discrimination over rule requiring English. Dozens of Filipino hospital workers in California sued their employer Tuesday alleging they were the sole ethnic group targeted by a rule requiring them to speak only English.

EPA fines West's largest toxic dump for improper disposal of cancer-causing chemicals. A vast toxic waste dump at the center of a birth defects controversy in Central California has been fined more than $300,000 for allowing cancer-causing chemicals to leach into the soil, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.

Probe finds no common cause for rash of birth defects near West's largest toxic waste dump. California health officials said Monday they found no common cause for birth defects plaguing infants in an impoverished San Joaquin Valley farm town where residents are battling plans to expand the largest toxic waste dump in the West.

Western winemakers say cool summer, late harvest produced grapes with potential for fine wine. A cool summer along the West Coast has made for a hurried harvest in the nation's top winemaking regions as growers rush to beat the first frost. Vintners, however, are hopeful the late grapes will make great wine.

US ban on Iranian pistachios leaves California farmers with domestic market. California farmers may be the big beneficiaries of a U.S. ban on Iranian pistachios that began Wednesday.

AP Enterprise: Despite poor economy, most Americans don't want to work in California fields. It's a question rekindled by the recession: Are immigrants taking jobs away from American citizens? In the heart of the nation's biggest farming state, the answer is a resounding no.

Architectural gems languish on Calif. housing market, as downturn hits storied structures. Southern California's home-sale listings are beginning to resemble an index to the country's most famous mid-20th-century architects, with more marquee properties languishing on the market as the well-heeled become increasingly reluctant to buy.

Evacuations lifted in Southern California mountains as wildfire's spread slows. Rising humidity levels have slowed the spread of a wildfire that burned some 1,300 acres and threatened homes in the mountainous area northwest of Los Angeles. Officials responded by lifting evacuation orders Tuesday evening.

Former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn dies after fall from roof of home in Las Vegas. Former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a two-term moderate Republican whose tenure marked a prosperous era in a state now facing severe budget problems, died Thursday after falling from the roof of his Las Vegas home while making repairs. He was 73.

Former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a two-term moderate Republican whose tenure marked a prosperous era in a state now facing severe budget problems, died Thursday after falling from the roof of his Las Vegas home while making repairs. He was 73.

A Greyhound bus carrying 35 people and traveling to Sacramento from Los Angeles crashed on a highway in California's Central Valley on Thursday, killing six and injuring many others.

Late storms allow federal government to boost water deliveries to San Joaquin Valley farmers. Farmers in California's vast agricultural valley will have no problem growing much of the nation's fall lettuce crop thanks to late-season storms that freed up more water to nurture their fields.

Huge air-land-sea study of California views pollution as air quality-climate change issue. Instrument-laden aircraft and a research ship equipped to sniff the atmosphere and ocean have joined land-based monitoring stations in a huge field study of air pollution and climate change in California.