Alcohol may have been involved in the fatal crash that took the life of Alejandro Martinez of Tulare, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The California Medical Association , the nation's second-largest state medical association with 35,000 physician members, said late Monday that Dustin Corcoran, an 11-year CMA veteran, has been named CEO.

The California Medical Association went in-house to pick its next chief executive officer, promoting a 12-year veteran of the organization, Dustin Corcoran, the CMA announced.

Editor's note: This is the third in a four-part series. At the same time Attorney General Pat Brown sent investigators to bore enough holes in the city of Jackson's 1950s vice establishment to cause it to collapse under the weight of grand-jury hearings, he was becoming the state's chief player in moving foothills water to Southern California.

My family moved in the Pasadena, California area to beautiful Altadena, relocating from a very small town "Corcoran California" where one of the main events was the "Cotton Parade". Corcoran was Cotton Grower's Capitol.

Our governor recently signed an emergency spending bill for more than $8 billion for rapid prison expansions to avert a federal judge's mandate to ease prison overcrowding or California would face the early release of potentially thousands of prisoners.

Successful bond measures are paying for College of the Sequoias projects in Visalia, Tulare and Hanford.

During nearly 15 years as a press operator at several Valley newspapers - one with a three-story press that was "built like a battleship" - Robert Hudson became familiar with massive, unwieldy machinery.

The Schwarzenegger administration filed an appeal Wednesday in a lawsuit over his furloughs of state workers, contesting a decision by the state controller to restore pay for prison guards.

Well, we wrapped up 2009. Just as with every year, it had its highs and lows, hoorays and boos, peaks and valley.

Trading on the floor of the Nasdaq stock market's Philadelphia Stock Exchange was halted for an hour because of smoke.

A judge on Thursday ruled against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough order for thousands of California prison guards in a decision that could cost the state millions.

Nursing employees, such as this one at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, often work extreme schedules to keep up with the health care needs of inmates.

Dr. Sasan Salmi examines an inmate at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran in February.

An inmate rests under suicide watch at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran.

Bob Bowen never did gather his courage to ask classmate Joy Howard out when the two were attending Tulare Union High School in the late 1950s.

Seven Valley cities are getting $800,000 grants for housing programs to benefit first-time homebuyers, housing renovation or rental assistance.

California's water supply is hitting an historic low. The department of Water Resources said state contractors will only receive 5% of water allocations next year.

The report comes a day before the Obama administration is to hold a "jobs summit" at the White House that will gather economists, academics and corporate executives to consider how the government can spur job creation.

An old house in Corcoran was ravished by flames Friday night and now investigators are having a difficult time identifying a body found inside.