There is nothing quite like the magic of a Christmas tree farm.

The smell of fresh evergreens wafts through the air while the brisk winter breeze ruffles your hair.

Fresno-area residents can cut down their Christmas trees or buy fresh firs, spruces and other varieties at local farms this holiday season.

From noble firs to Monterey pines, here’s where you can find real Christmas trees in the Fresno area.

At Hillcrest Farm, you can cut down your Christmas tree.

“This year, we have Monterey pines that you can cut yourself,” the Reedley farm said its website.

You can bring your own saw or borrow one on site.

All cut-your-own trees are $85 each “no matter what size, so get the biggest one you can find!” Hillcrest Farm said.

Hillcrest Farm has a variety of activities on the weekends, such as steam train rides, food vendors and a visit to Santa.

The farm also hosts Christmas-themed pajama nights, where guests can don their snuggliest pajamas and stay after dark, according to the farm’s website.

Photos with Santa Claus are available Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as well as during Pajama Nights.

Trees come in all shapes and sizes at this Fresno farm.

The farm also offers gift packs filled with locally grown nuts and sweet treats for tree shoppers.

Visitors can get into the holiday spirit by stopping and taking a photo at the Christmas-themed photo booth station, according to the business.

Tree prices range from $49 to $200 depending on the size and type of tree.

Sid’s Christmas Tree’s in Clovis supplies locals with fresh trees from Washington and Oregon.

The farm sells Noble, Fraser and Douglas fir trees.

A Noble fir tree measuring 2 to 4 feet tall is priced at $29 while a 11- to 12-foot-tall tree is priced at $450.

A Fraser tree measuring 5 to 6 feet tall costs $50 and one standing 9 to 10 feet tall is $150.

“I have a great relationship with the growers so I can get the best trees possible for my season every year I love what I do,” farm owner Sid Boolootian said.

Sid’s Christmas Tree’s offers flocked trees to create the look of freshly fallen snow.

This Fresno farm has more than 50 years of experience offering freshly-cut trees.

Skookum Trees has “a new look but the same quality, freshness and convenience you have grown to count on over the years,” the business said on its website.

Customers can purchase a variety of tree types, including Noble, grand and Douglas firs. Skookum Trees even has a delivery option.

The smallest trees stand 2 to 3 feet tall and the largest are 11 to 12 feet tall, according to the business.

Tree prices range from $27 to $445.

The business offers flocking and fireproofing for the trees.

This tree farm in Madera sells a wide selection of fresh Douglas and Noble firs with tree stands.

“Our reusable tree stands are built to last,” the farm said in a Facebook post. “They include a water bowl to keep your Christmas tree fresh and standing tall throughout the entire Christmas season.”

Trees range in height from 2 to 3 feet to 16 feet tall, according to the business.

A 6- to 7-foot-tall Douglas fir tree costs about $69 plus the stand, according to “R” Christmas Trees.

Customers can add flocking to create their own winter wonderland.

Willow Tree Farms offers fresh cut Christmas trees and trees available for delivery as well as a bunch of fun social media giveaways.

“Pre-flocked as well as custom-flocked Christmas trees are available,” the business said via social media.

“We sell Nobel firs, Douglas firs, Nordmann firs and Fraziers firs,” Willow Tree Farms said.

Where: 2917 E. Shepherd Ave., Clovis

When: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday

How much: Free entry

Info: 559-569-7643 or Facebook or Instagram

Some Save Mart locations also have a wide selection of farm fresh Christmas trees, including Noble firs in a variety of sizes according to the stores website.

A tabletop tree that stands 3 to 4 feet tall costs about $35.

You can also cut your own tree at Sequoia National Forest with a permit. However, permits, which began selling on Nov 25 for $10, were sold out as of Tuesday, Dec. 3.

This story was originally published November 29, 2024, 5:30 AM.

Less than a week after California health officers confirmed a finding of bird flu virus in store-bought raw milk, state agriculture officials descended on Mark McAfee’s Raw Farm dairy “like never before” Wednesday and began collecting samples from the farm’s two herds, creamery, bulk milk tanks and trucks, according to the owner.

The visit follows a recall of Raw Farm products, and also comes amid a growing series of H5N1 bird flu outbreaks in state dairy farms. Raw Farm maintains 1,800 head of cattle spread over two herds — one in Fresno, the other outside of Hanford, according to McAfee. The company also owns a Fowler-based creamery.

“I think they are on full attack mode,” he said, describing the search as thorough. In addition to milk, Raw Farm produces cheese and kefir.

As California Department of Food and Agriculture officials collected samples and conducted tests at the dairy Wednesday, some health experts raised questions and concerns about the recent positive test results.

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Nov. 26, 2024

Last week, public health officials in Santa Clara County detected bird flu virus in a store-bought sample of McAfee’s raw milk. Two days later, the California Department of Public Health confirmed the finding.

But when state agriculture officials tested cows at McAfee’s dairy farm on Monday, they failed to detect the virus.

The fact that none of the animals are known to be infected with the virus has puzzled and concerned public health experts. Generally, once the virus appears on a farm, it spreads and does not just disappear.

“The fact that all the supplemental testing is negative really bothers me,” said John Korslund, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian epidemiologist, in an email.

Officials from the CDFA could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but infectious disease experts told The Times that officials were likely reviewing testing procedures, as well as the actual origin of the sampled milk.

According to testing records, the initial sample of store-bought raw milk carried high levels of the virus, and was found to have a polymerase chain reaction cycle threshold — or Ct — of roughly 25.

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“A herd should not be immediately negative after a reading of 25 if it is truly milk from the same herd, IMO,” Korslund wrote in an email.

Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds, and a researcher in the department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., agreed.

“OK, that’s not a weak positive … and definitely not on the borderline where some tests would be positive and others negative,” he said after reviewing the test records.

Webby, Korslund and other experts say the test that was used only looks for the H5 part of the H5N1 virus, and it can’t determine if the virus is inactive, or alive. A second test — one called a virus isolation test — needs to be done to confirm the sample is H5N1 and that it is active.

Climate & Environment

Nov. 26, 2024

State and federal health officials say the H5N1 bird flu virus poses a low risk to the public. However, they have urged people not to drink raw, unpasteurized milk. There has been no reported outbreak in consumers associated with the bird flu in contaminated raw milk.

The milk was bottled on Nov. 9. Raw Farm LLC has recalled all products associated with the positive sample. McAfee estimates the recall involved roughly 2,000 gallons of half- and quarter-gallon “cream top” whole milk products.

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Since the beginning of the outbreak, 461 herds have been infected in California — including herds in Fresno and Kings County, where McAfee’s herds are located.

Early in the H5N1 dairy outbreak, federal health officials tested pasteurized milk samples and found virus in 20% of the samples collected from retail shelves. However, when further testing was conducted — virus isolation — they were able to show it was inactivated virus that had been denatured by heat.

So, why then would a raw milk sample test highly for virus and a dairy herd not test positive?

Korslund acknowledged that testing and sampling can sometimes be compromised, but he was not inclined to doubt the tests in this instance. He said the Ct value — and the lack of subsequent positive tests — suggests a “product integrity issue rather than a herd infection.”

“What if somewhere in the bottling process, pasteurized shelf milk was spiked into the raw milk to meet inadequate supply demands? In such a scenario, we don’t have a testing issue; rather it’s a product integrity issue that normally would be undetectable,” he said.

This is why virus isolation testing is critical, Korslund said. It would help determine whether the virus in the sample collected was alive or not.

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A spokesman for the state’s health department said testing on the sample was complete. He did not say whether viral isolation had been completed, but noted the positive result has been confirmed by state and now federal laboratories.

McAfee said he does not think the virus is present in his herd. The tests that the state’s agriculture department have been regularly conducting — twice a week — on his bulk milk have been negative. In addition, he noted, a test taken on Monday also showed no virus.

In addition, he said, he monitors each cow at his farms with a high-tech device — made by the Austrian company smaXtec — which sits in a cow’s udder and sends real-time information about the animal’s body temperature, milk acidity, etc.

He said there are no indications that virus is moving through his herd based on that data.

He also said all his equipment — from his trucks, to his bulk tanks and bottling plant — are closed to outside farms and milk; they are used only by Raw Farm, LLC.

He said he’s worried state officials are determined “to find something.”

A California man was sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $1.6 million from the Fresno-based trucking company where he worked for 15 years.

Once released from prison, Gabriel Ruiz De Chavez, 47, of Fresno, who served as operations manager for a small trucking firm, which was not named in court filings, will serve three years of supervised release.

In July, Ruiz De Chavez, 46, of Fresno, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

His attorney, Nicholas F. Reyes, did not respond to FreightWaves’ request for comment.

U.S. District Court Judge Troy L. Nunley also ordered Ruiz De Chavez to pay nearly $1.6 million in restitution to his former employer, which has a fleet of approximately 22 trucks that haul agricultural products.

What happened?

Federal prosecutors say that over a seven-year period – between 2012 and 2019 – Ruiz De Chavez used his position to generate over 600 fake invoices, purportedly created by genuine vendors for goods and services. Court filings state that Ruiz De Chavez presented these fake invoices and corresponding checks made out to the real vendors with his employer’s signature and then deposited the checks into his personal bank account.

“It was through this close relationship with the owners, coupled with his duties as an operations manager — especially concerning his duties involving invoicing — that Ruiz De Chavez was placed in a position of trust that enabled him to perpetrate his scheme to defraud undetected for so long,” court documents state.

Prosecutors say the theft was uncovered by the trucking company’s owners after an independent audit found that Ruiz De Chavez had deleted 10 years of accounts payable records for 2010 to 2020. According to court filings, the former operations manager “knew about the audit and quit” before it was completed in June 2020.

“He used the funds to pay for personal expenses including credit card payments, cash withdrawals, mortgage payments, vacations, and car loans,” according to court filings.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s sentencing memorandum claims that Ruiz De Chavez’s theft had a “significant and negative impact on his employer.

“The victim company had to take out loans during the period between 2012 and 2020 to maintain cash flow because of the theft,” federal prosecutors stated.

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An updated tsunami warning was issued by the NWS National Tsunami Warning Center on Thursday at 11:24 a.m. in effect until 12:24 p.m. The warning is for Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore, North Bay Interior Valleys, San Francisco Bay Shoreline, San Francisco Peninsula Coast, Mendocino Coast, Southwestern Humboldt, Northern Humboldt Coast and Coastal Del Norte as well as San Francisco County.

"If you are located in this coastal area, move inland to higher ground. Tsunami warnings mean that a tsunami with significant inundation is possible or is already occurring. Tsunamis are a series of waves dangerous many hours after initial arrival time. The first wave may not be the largest. At 10:44 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on December 5 an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 7.0 occurred 45 miles southwest of Eureka California. Estimated tsunami start times for selected sites are; Fort Bragg California 11:10 a.m. PST. December 5. Crescent City California 11:20 a.m. PST. December 5. Port Orford Oregon 11:20 a.m. PST. December 5. Brookings Oregon 11:25 a.m. PST. December 5. Charleston Oregon 11:40 a.m. PST. December 5. San Francisco California 12:10 p.m. PST. December 5," says the NWS.

This warning is in effect until 12:24 p.m.

When it comes to tsunami alerts, understanding the levels of risk is crucial. The NWS classifies them into four distinct categories:

Tsunami warning: Immediate action required

A tsunami that may cause widespread flooding is expected or occurring. Dangerous coastal flooding and powerful currents are possible and may continue for several hours or days after initial arrival. Follow instructions from local officials. Evacuation is recommended. Move to high ground or inland (away from the water).

Tsunami advisory: Exercise caution

When a tsunami with strong currents or hazardous waves near the water's edge is expected or occurring, a tsunami advisory is issued. Flooding in beach and harbor areas may occur. Stay out of the water and follow instructions from local authorities.

Tsunami watch: Be prepared

A tsunami watch is initiated when a distant earthquake occurs, raising the possibility of a tsunami. People in affected areas should stay tuned for updates and be prepared to take action if necessary, even though the threat isn't immediate.

Tsunami information statement: No immediate threat

This statement is issued when an earthquake has occurred, but there is no threat of a destructive tsunami. In some cases, the earthquake may have been too distant to pose any danger.

There may not always be enough time for an official warning for tsunamis, so it is important that you understand natural warnings. If you are at the coast and feel a strong or long earthquake, see a sudden rise or fall of the ocean, or hear a loud roar from the ocean, a tsunami may follow. This is your warning. Take action and move to a safe place. Do not wait for official instructions.

Source: The National Weather Service

This article was generated by the CA Weather Bot, software that analyzes structured information, such as data, and applies it to articles based on templates created by journalists in the newsroom. No human journalist was harmed in this experiment. You can report errors or bugs to [email protected]

This story was originally published December 5, 2024, 10:55 AM.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge granted a motion for a protective order on Wednesday that prevents Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis from being deposed in a harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by a Fresno State employee.

The plaintiff, Terrance Wilson, was locked out of the campus building where he worked days after he was quoted in a scathing February 2022 USA Today article. The expose detailed the mishandling of sexual harassment allegations at the university, and also Wilson’s complaints to university officials of bullying, harassment and retaliation by former vice president of student affairs Frank Lamas. Wilson and his attorneys allege that the lockout—university officials have confirmed in depositions that his access key card was disabled—was another act of retaliation.

They sought to depose Kounalakis over a phone conversion the lieutenant governor had with CSU Chancellor Joseph. I Castro days after the article was published.

“An interesting result,” attorney Stephen Hammers told The Fresno Bee. “The judge advised that the standard is higher for a public official and on these papers doesn’t think there’s a compelling reason to depose her, but acknowledged she had read every page of our papers and understood our position in opposing the motion and multiple times asked the parties about moving toward settlement.

“All of those things tell me that the court appreciates our position and that’s frankly as good as anything else. The fact of the matter is, Dr. Castro most definitely spoke with Lt. Gov. Kounalakis days before my client was thrown out of the university and if the lieutenant governor chooses not to testify then we’ll leave it to the trier of fact, namely the jury, to decide what happened with the lockout.”

The plaintiff’s attorneys will proceed with the case and depose Fresno State president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and former Title IX deputy Erin Boele in January. They have already taken depositions in the case from Castro, Lamas, vice president of administration Deborah Adishian-Astone, associate vice president of human resources Marylou Mendoza-Miller and former dean of students Carolyn Coon.

A jury trial would start on Feb. 24.

Kounalakis said in a sworn declaration attached to the motion for the protective order filed by CSU attorneys that she had no specific recollection of speaking to Castro about the article in USA Today.

Castro, in an Aug. 21 deposition, described in detail a conversation he had with Kounalakis days after the USA Today article was published, according to court documents.

Castro testified that he had hoped to explain the situation, but Kounalakis wanted him to be terminated. The lieutenant governor, Castro testified, was upset that he had asked former San Jose State president Mary Papazian to resign in 2021 after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found the university failed to adequately respond to allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against its director of sports medicine.

“She was very angry with me about that. Told me I needed to pay for that,” Castro said in the deposition, portions of which are included as exhibits in the plaintiff’s motion in opposition to the protective order for Kounalakis.

Castro also testified that Kounalakis had wanted Papazian to be CSU chancellor. Asked if he thought Kounalakis was using her animus about the Papazian resignation, parlaying it into terminating his position, Castro said, “It felt that way.”

Wilson and his attorneys in deposing Kounalakis wanted to know what else had been discussed in the call Castro said in his deposition lasted “probably half an hour.”

“Quite frankly, the lack of her testimony could be as beneficial to our client as the actual testimony itself, and I’m surprised she doesn’t want to attend a deposition and explain what that phone call was about with Dr. Castro, given the USA Today article came out only a few days before that conversation,” Hammers said.

“Her election to stand on the sidelines based upon her position as lieutenant governor is, in my opinion, nearly the same as her attending a deposition. There’s an inference. I mentioned to the court, I would think that the lieutenant governor would want to attend deposition to clarify what was said in that conversation, because we intend to put her on the witness list for trial.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2024, 5:30 AM.